After Christmas in Nebraska

Here in Nebraska for some post-Christmas feasting, gaming and other indulgent activities at mom and dad's. Guest bloggers feel free to chime in while I'm on a restricted schedule, but I should have some time to post tomorrow. Right now the gang is playing "Apples to Apples" - a fruit and vegetable friendly game if ever there was one.

Rude and unusual

I got a classic anonymous comment the other day that slammed the Fresh Talk blog pretty good. I decided not to publish it in its entirety because it also took some unfounded and untrue swipes at others. One of things that the poster said, however, was that the blog was all about massaging egos. Here is what the commenter said.

"Too much time and energy is being dedicated to this medium only to massage the egos of a few reporters and editors."


TK: I would suggest the anonymous commenter needs to relax and enjoy the season. Leave your name next time and we can dialogue.

Losing ground in Europe

These are not the best of times for U.S. fresh fruit exports to Europe. From this USDA FAS report, published Dec. 19.

European Union imports of fresh fruit approached 8 billion EUR in 2006, a 25 percent increase from 2001. Despite the overall increase, the U.S. fresh fruit industry experienced a 15 percent decrease from 2002 to 2006. The main suppliers of fresh fruit to the EU-27 market are South Africa (grapes, oranges, apples), Costa Rica (bananas and pineapples), and Ecuador (bananas). In 2006, the United States was the 15th largest supplier of fresh fruit to the EU- 27.

Nuts have done better, however....

Imports of tree nuts4 into the EU-27 grew 63 percent between 2001 and 2006. The United States has been successful in increasing imports in this category; market share increased by 6 percent while actual value of imports from the United States more than doubled in the six year period. The United States maintains a leading share in almond exports and is also the main exporter of pistachios. Turkey is the main supplier of hazelnuts while India provides the majority of the cashews. Note that peanuts are not included in this market. EU-27 imports of fruit and vegetable juices increased by 21 percent in the six year period. The United States and Brazil both lost market share in the six year period and had a decrease in the value of their products imported. Switzerland, a center for juice processing, captured a greater share of the market in 2006 than 2001.4 Tree nuts include coconuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, chestnuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts, pecans, pignolia, and nuts or seeds not otherwise specified.

Chad Vader - Day Shift manager

TK: I hope you get a kick out of this like I did. The lesser known brother encounters the challenges of supermarket management. A link to the origin of the YouTube series is here.