What is fresh?

What is fresh? Answering that question for the Asian consumer, Evelyn Lee, Beijing based manager for the consulting and research firm Accenture may have also shed light on why farmers markets in the U.S. are appealing to consumers.
Retailers in Asia are striving to capture more of the consumer dollar spend on fruits and vegetables, but wet markets continue to maintain a dominant edge. Many consumers in Asian consumers feel that wet markets offer a freshness advantage in addition to their typical price position.
Given the fact that these wet markets are not refrigerated, it is hard to understand why outdoor markets rate higher in freshness. In the same way, it may be hard for some to understand the appeal of U.S. farmers markets as opposed to a modern retailer.
In Asia, Lee said a consumer survey showed that “refrigerated displays” had a low correlation in the consumer’s mind to freshness, while “direct farm appearance,” a “tidy fresh food area” and the “presence of foot traffic” convey fresh appeal.
In fact, having a little grit on the vegetables may be a selling advantage for modern channel retailers in Asia, Lee said. To modern retailers, she also suggested replenishing of produce during store house and visibly promoting the supermarket’s hygiene advantage by having workers wear gloves. Yet she noted having produce available to touch and feel, rather than packaged in plastic, is appealing to the Asian consumer.
Supermarkets could also gain an advantage by providing advice to consumers from produce department staff and providing other point of sale information.
Her survey showed that 41% of Asian consumers are “authority seekers” who respond well to information provided to them about fresh produce. “Easy life seekers” account for 30% of the consumer base, with value seekers at 23% and quality seekers at 6%.
One deductive takeaway for the U.S. market is that the more interactive and vibrant a produce department can be, the higher the department will rate in freshness.

Here is the audio link to Lee's presentation, and here is the link to the Q and A session afterward.
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Pretty peach

Several of the booths at the Asia Fruit Logistica show featured Japanese fruit exporters. I stopped by and visited with a couple and I was blown away with the quality, particularly the visual perfection, size and sweetness of the fruit. I asked how much the peaches would retail for and a woman told me one peach would sell for about $10. Try packing a lunch with a Japanese peach every day.

I also sampled Envy, the new apple variety from Enza. Sounds like the sweet, hard apple is receiving a lot of validation from Asian buyers this week.

On a totally unrelated note, I watched coverage from the BBC last night that indicated growing worries in China about the U.S. economy. Apparently about 5% of all U.S. home loans are in arrears. A recession in the U.S. would wreak havoc in export-oriented China, creating a cycle of pain that no one wants to see.

I just checked in with the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group and there is plenty of activity there in my absence. Here are a few highlights:

Nutrition sells and Order your local veggies online Luis posts this link:
After analyzing a year's worth of sales data, Hannaford found that customers tended to buy leaner cuts of meat. Sales of ground beef with stars on their labels increased 7 percent, and sales of chicken that had a star rating rose 5 percent. Sales of ground beef labeled with no stars dropped by 5 percent, while sales of chicken that had a zero- star rating declined 3 percent.
Similarly, sales of whole milk, which received no stars, declined by 4 percent, while sales of fat-free milk (three stars) increased 1 percent.
Sales of fruits and vegetables, however, remained about the same as they did before the ratings were introduced. All fresh produce received stars.

Also a story about online f/v purchases
A Web site is scheduled to go online next spring where people can place orders with Wisconsin farmers for their foods that can then be picked up at local farmers markets.
WHO'S DOING IT: The idea is the brainchild of Heather Hilleren, who also is developing a Web site to link farmers with grocers, schools, hospitals and restaurants that want to buy foods locally rather than from distributors hundreds of miles away.

Hot export market for U.S. ag Big Apple posts links to news about booming exports and rising demand for grain crops:
According to the Indiana Prairie Farmer, all four major U.S. crops, corn, soybeans, wheat, and cotton will need more acreage in 2008. This is due to increased demand for corn, lack of soybean supply, and strong price strength for cotton and wheat.


Cultivating a Crop of Hope Big Apple posts link about the hope for ethanol production from switchgrass, by The Washington Post:
When it grows high and thick in midsummer, the crop that might fill Virginia's gas tanks, revitalize its farm belt and keep its mud and manure out of the Chesapeake Bay looks like . . . weeds. Like the world's most overgrown lawn.
At a Virginia Tech agricultural research center here, in this small town west of Fredericksburg, the switchgrass plot is an unruly, waving thicket of seven-foot-tall green stalks. But it only looks neglected: This is one of the center's most prized plants, a formerly obscure prairie grass now projected to be a major source of farm-grown fuel.


Dole to test every acre of spinach Several members chime in on what is the reasonable standard for testing produce safety.

AsiaFruit Congress wraps up

While there are about three hours left to go here at the AsiaFruit Logistica expo, the Asia Fruit Congress just wrapped up. The total event, which teamed the organizational power of Fruit Logistica and the industry knowledge of Chris White and Market Intelligence, came off well. About 650 delegates attended from 50 countries, and exhibitors ran about 120 in number from24 countries. Next year's show is in Hong Kong from Sept. 10-12.

Compared to the PMA and United, the production values were solid but not larger than life. There were no giant video boards for the speakers, and neither was there any meal served in association with the event.

One thing that worked well at this show were one-hour networking breaks between AsiaFruit Congress sessions. With a spacious hall to circulate, the networing breaks were great opportunities to meet traders. The sessions themselves lent to high levels of interaction and plenty of questions from attendees.
From the theme of those questions, I can tell some suppliers are wondering if the investment in food safety will be rewarded with higher prices, and if savings from direct relationships with retailers will be passed on to them. I'll try to put a couple of the Q and A sessions in audio format for the blog.

While traffic on the expo floor is bound to be down today, it didn't suffer much at all on the second day. All in all, the best thing about this show was that it had produce people there. Whether from India, China, the U.S., or Thailand, produce people share the passion and the pain of perishables. And that goes beyond culture and language.