Bruce Taylor - Taylor Farms - Fresh Summit 2008 - Outgoing Chairman's Address

FRESH SUMMIT 2008 - OUTGOING CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS
BRUCE TAYLOR, TAYLOR FARMS


As long as we are honoring winners, let me acknowledge the service of Past Chairman Peter Goulet as he leaves the PMA board. Peter became chairman two years ago in the midst of the spinach crises. He worked tirelessly on our behalf to help promote the message of food safety to the industry, and to the public. Peter also devoted significant time and effort to bring together leadership of United Fresh and PMA to explore opportunities for collaboration. One of the results of this dialogue was my invitation this past year to the chairman of United Fresh and the chairman of Western Growers to join us at our PMA board meeting, so we could make sure our respective organizations were in alignment and not duplicating efforts. With Peter, we are not just celebrating one year of chairmanship, but nine years of participation in leadership on PMA’s board. Peter, thank you for your service, for your wisdom, for your passion and for your friendship these many years.

PMA is an organization in which industry leaders and members can come together to accomplish what they cannot accomplish on their own. An association where bold ideas of individuals can be transformed into tools to advance the greater good of the industry. A forum to help build a better produce industry for its members. As Abraham Lincoln said, “none of us is as good as all of us,” and this is certainly reflected in the promise of PMA.

Recently, the economy is slowing. Though I always have hope… in the near future, hope is not a plan. I believe you need to work diligently and quickly to properly position you and your organization for a tough road. At the same time, there are things we can do together to help the industry and ourselves.

A year ago in Houston, I spoke of three ongoing objectives for PMA to help create a stronger produce industry. The objectives were to speak with “One Industry Voice in Government Relations”, to develop “One Standard for Food Safety”, and to “Deliver One Promise” of consistent product satisfaction and excitement to consumers. I believe with concerted effort, we can continue to make great progress.

The inclusion of specialty crops in the 2008 farm bill is a huge victory for the produce industry. I believe this started with a bold idea from Tom Nassif, then the new president of Western Growers. Western Growers, United Fresh and PMA worked together to get produce included in the 2002 farm bill with very limited success. These last two years, PMA worked with the same partners and a larger coalition of stake holders to achieve the historic appropriation for specialty crops of almost $3 billion over five years. This is not a hand-out… this is an important investment of resources to support production programs, consumption-boosting nutrition efforts, food safety research, crop protection, and domestic and global market-building programs.

This is a tremendous affirmation for the produce industry. Think about the ramifications. We are valued for our healthful products. Our industry has new allies in the fields of nutrition, health care, education and government. “One Industry Voice” won the day! But we are not finished. The challenge now is to stay united with our partners to work together to direct funding to our highest priorities, to the greatest benefit for the industry.

Second, we spoke of coming together to develop “One Standard for Food Safety.” I think most of you understand how vulnerable each of us is to the current state of food safety management. In a nutshell, the federal government has successfully set up a sophisticated, real-time information system to detect patterns of disease or infectious outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention manages this information system with doctors and scientists who are paid to be scared…because their task is to protect the public. CDC and the Food and Drug Administration are looking for patterns of outbreaks… and they have become very good at finding them. Our fundamental problem today is that while they have become very accomplished at finding a problem, they have not enhanced their ability to identify the cause of the problem. With good intention, they trashed the tomato industry before they settled on peppers. PMA and United Fresh are pushing for immediate industry involvement in the event of outbreaks to assist FDA and CDC with our in-depth industry knowledge.

The government is looking to us to enhance our systems of traceability. Bryan talked yesterday about our excellent progress in this area. Traceability is important because it gives us an opportunity to follow a problem backwards and learn from its creation. It also gives us an opportunity to give the consumer more confidence, because there can be a sense of closure. Problem identified, problem solved, problem over.

But let’s be clear. In the end, traceability is like putting lipstick on a pig. It is an after-the-fact reaction to a damaging outbreak. I believe the only viable long term option for food safety in our industry is to produce safe food. It sounds simple…and working together I believe it will be achievable. Since the spinach outbreak, our company has tested raw product from 25,000 different fields of leafy greens. We found only eight positives for E, coli O157. We linked three of the eight to organic fertilizer, and the supplier has since changed their composting protocol for all customers. Through better information, we have reduced our collective risk. Thanks to Fresh Express-funded research presented last month, we learned these dangerous microbes attach to the outside of leafy greens, they are not inside the plants. This is great news…it means we have the opportunity to eliminate them with post-harvest treatments and wash systems. The Center for Produce Safety will issue its first research grants in two weeks, and important work continues throughout the industry. Working together, we are systematically developing rules and tools to deliver safe food. As we succeed, we will attain the most precious commodity… consumer trust and confidence.

Third, we spoke of “One Promise”… to delight our customers with superb quality, great tasting and nutritious products every day. If our buying relationships are transactional in nature…for example, Internet bids that reward the lowest price supplier that day…we lose the systematic benefits of a well tuned supply chain…a supply chain that is designed from seed to plate to delight the consumer. New college courses in supply chain management teach graduates all the tools they need to take cost out of the system. A common mistake they make is to view the transaction solely from the eyes of the buying entity… not from the perspective of the ultimate consumer. If we think of ourselves as a commodity business, we lose the ability to use unique seed varieties, unique growing micro climates and nuances of production that could delight the consumer.

A familiar example is the retail packaged salad business… a product USA Today voted as one of the top 25 products invented in the 20th century. Buyers routinely pit the major suppliers against each other to drive down prices. The suppliers respond to lower prices with efforts to reduce cost. There are many ways to make a salad cheaper. If consumers get an inferior product, they stop buying and the category goes flat at retail. Nobody wins. If we are to succeed in this difficult economy, our supply chain must be tuned to meeting the needs of our consumers, and the partners must be in alignment throughout the chain to accomplish this.

The good news for us is simple… our customers are going to eat. Our opportunity is to excite them to eat our products. One Promise – from a strong cne supply chain.

Farm bill success for new resources…Center for Produce Safety success for enhanced consumer trust… Supply chain success for quality improvements…we have three great drivers for optimism and growth for our industry.

Finally, let me tell you a personal story to provide encouragement for you. I am sure a touch of fear has crossed your mind recently. Fourteen years ago I did not have a job. I had started a new company, but that was only a piece of paper. I had business cards made at Kinko’s. I would spend the day in a small office at our home…and when no one was looking I would lie on the floor and stare at the ceiling… for hours. I was scared… and it felt like I had nothing. But usually about the time I was feeling sorriest for myself, our youngest son would crawl in and lay on top of me… and Linda would come in with a hug and a word of encouragement. In the next twelve months I came to learn that instead of having nothing… I really had everything. I had a loving and supportive family; I had former suppliers and former customers who wanted to support me; I had friends and former associates who wanted to be on the new team; and I had the benefit of thirteen years of PMA-inspired events, education and relationships.

I tell you this because today, each of you has more going for you than you think. You have more strength and support than you know. The relationships you have built and the things you can learn from those all around you in Orlando this week will continue to accrue to your benefit.

You are the best and brightest in the produce industry. Your speed of innovation and depth of creativity are inspiring. This year alone, we will see innovations such as hybrid seed varieties, automated lettuce harvesting, optical laser sorting and food safety breakthroughs. In my 27 years in the industry I have never seen more opportunities to work together for positive change. But this will take a commitment to leadership…your leadership…to leverage your skills for the greater good of our fine industry. Together, we can create a lasting legacy for generations to come.

Thank you.