National Retail Report - Feb. 8

From the USDA's National Retail Report:

Valentine’s Day Sales Prevalent Nationwide

The majority of retailers followed up last week’s Super Bowl themes with Valentine’s Day themes this week. Features included floral and novelty items, candy, bakery items and strawberries. Many retailers also featured seafood for the Lenten season; various potatoes for Potato Lover’s month; and items such as Asian pears, bok choy, Napa cabbage, and sugar snap peas for the Chinese New Year. Produce ads this week were up more than 6 percent with vegetable ads increasing nearly 19 percent and fruit ads down slightly compared to the previous week. The majority of produce ads this week were focused on imports as is normal this time of year. The top features this week, with the exception of potatoes, were primarily imported products. The top five items included: grapes, peaches, nectarines, blueberries, and potatoes. Notable changes included: a hefty decline in avocadoes and limes post-Super bowl; an increase in strawberries as Valentine’s Day approaches; and an increase in potatoes as Potato Lover’s month progresses.


Fruits as Percentage of Total Fruit Ads - February 8, 2008
Bananas 2%
Avocadoes, hass 2%
Watermelon, mini 1%
Strawberries 6%
Plums 6%
Pineapple 4%
Peaches 12%
Oranges, navel 4%
Nectarines, yellow flesh 11%
Honeydew 0%
Lemons 2%
Mangoes 7%
Limes 1%
Grapefruit, red 5%
Bananas, organic 1%
Blueberries 9%
Cantaloupe 8%
Cherries 0%
Clementines 0%
Grapes, green/red 17%
Apples, red delicious 3%



Vegetables as Percentage of Total Vegetable Ads
February 8, 2008
Tomatoes, grape 6%
Tomatoes, grape organic 3%
Tomatoes on the vine 0%
Cucumbers 5%
Lettuce, romaine 1%
Celery 2%
Carrots, baby organic 6%
Carrots, baby 7%
Cabbage 5%
Beans, round green 1%
Broccoli 2%
Broccoli, organic 1%
Asparagus 9%
Tomatoes 6%
Sweet Potatoes 2%
Squash, zucchini 2%
Potatoes, russet 11%
Peppers, bell red 9%
Peppers, bell green 5%
Onions, sweet 4%
Lettuce, iceberg 1%
Mushrooms, white 6%
Onions, yellow 7%

Chat session - Amy Philpott

Amy Philpott of United Fresh Produce Association agreed to be the second Google Chat subject this week, and you can find our short keyboard-driven chat here. You might be surprised that Amy once was equally at home in auto shop as she is now as an association executive.....

10:05 AM me: Thanks for chatting today for the benefit of Fresh Talk readers!
amyphilpott1: Happy to do so. This Google Talk is fun.
me: Amy, tell us where you grew up - what's your hometown and what is it famous for, besides you
10:06 AM amyphilpott1: I grew up on a farm about 5 miles outside of Centerville, CA. – a small town (fewer than 100 pop) located about 20 miles east of Fresno, CA. It sits at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Sunmaid Raisin plant is not too far away, so I guess that is our biggest claim to fame.
10:07 AM me: So your father was a farmer - is he still on the farm?
10:09 AM amyphilpott1: Yes, he is a small farmer - the farm is now down to about 20 acres of oranges only. When I was younger, we grew Thompson Seedless Grapes for the Gallo winery in Clovis and oranges, which we sold to the Sunkist Co-op in Sanger. I remember going to the co-op to deliver the oranges and pick up more picking bins. I have wonderful childhood memories growing up in the country.
10:10 AM me: That sounds very picturesque. You were intentional about staying involved with agriculture as you went to college, then?
10:11 AM amyphilpott1: It wasn't intential at first, but after going away to college and realizing how much I loved coming back home to the farm, I knew I wanted to stay involved someway.
10:12 AM me: What college did you go to and what was your first job after graduation?
10:14 AM amyphilpott1: I studied in San Francisco for a few years and then moved back to Cal State Fresno to graduate with my bachlor's in business administration. I worked all through college as a manager at an auto parts store. After graduation I worked for FMC - Farm Machinery Corporation.
10:15 AM me: If you can manage an auto parts store, I expect you can handle most anything! So you have no problem changing the oil, I take it?
10:17 AM amyphilpott1: Funny you ask - given that we didn't really have enough acreage to make a fulling living off of farming, my dad was also the auto shop teacher at Sanger High School. I had to learn how to change the oil, change the tires and do a complete tune up before he would get me a car.
10:18 AM me: Good for him?- and you. So what or who opened the door to your first produce related job?
10:21 AM amyphilpott1: During my first graduate studies, I worked at Kalashian Packing, a fig packing plant in Fresno. We processed figs for Nabisco's fig newtons. HOWEVER, I have my mentor Scott Horsfall to thank for my first career position. He and Bruce Obbink hired me as an international marketing director after I graduated with a Masters in International Marketing from Cal Stat Univeristy, Fresno. (I won't say what year)
10:22 AM sorry - for those who don't know Scott or Bruce - that was with the California Table Grape Commission
10:24 AM me: Bruce was/is quite an astute man - and Scott has done quite well for himself as well. There is so much to ask you about, but I won't make you spend all day at the keyboard. What did you enjoy most about your time with the grape commission and how did United get you to come to Washington, D.C.?
10:28 AM amyphilpott1: The part I loved most about my job with the commission - the part that I also love about my current job - was the contact with the industry and with growers in particular. I know from experience that is it so easy to get absorbed in what goes on the farm. When I realized how important it is to help form farm and food policies at the national level, I knew coming to DC was another way to help my dad and others in the produce industry.
10:29 AM me: For the benefit of our readers, what is your job title and responsibilitiees and what is one project that you have been working lately?
10:32 AM amyphilpott1: My title here at United Fresh Produce Association is vice president of marketing and industry relations. Among the many projects that I'm working on concurrently, the Retail Produce Manager Awards program is at the top - we'll be announcing the winners in the next week or two and it is always exciting to bring these retailers to our show in Las Vegas where we honor what they do to promote fresh produce.
10:37 AM me: Amy, thanks for your time. I appreciate it.
amyphilpott1: My pleasure!

FMI: Fee outrageous

As Luis notes in this post on the discussion board, the proposed fee on retailers to help pay for COOL oversight is a nonstarter for ag groups and for retailers.

Here is what FMI said yesterday when I asked them about the issue:

From : John J. Motley III, FMI senior vice president of government and public affairs.

"USDA's proposal to charge the industry 'user fees' to pay for COOL compliance inspections is outrageous. It violates the government's own definition of "user fees," which are supposed to provide the user a clear benefit. In this case, USDA is pursuing a backdoor method to pay for a government regulatory program. The only good news is that this idea is opposed by just about everyone affected by COOL, including one of its strongest proponents, the National Farmers Union. This abusive amendment does not even merit consideration by Congress."

TK: Even if it was trying to prompt Congress to repeal the law by pointing out future program costs, USDA AMS wins no points for this clumsy episode, executed apparently without vetting through industry associations first.

Organic reaction

This just in, from a reader:

"have you noticed that the poll on the comparative nutritional value of organic produce versus conventional produce? It started out 9 to zero - organic produce has no better nutrition values than conventional. However, now the poll says 13 to 6, with 6 indicating belief that research will show that organic produce is more nutritious than conventional f/v. "

Once again, The Packer leads the way in all things produce... why so afraid of organics? I'd really like to find one logical argument against organic farming; all I hear from you, The Packer, "growers", etc., is whining about one thing or another. You are dinosaurs in the business who believe the produce department is all about "tonnage" and "chopping" prices, when the future is organics, quality, and customer service. Next time you're shopping at Hen House or whichever Ball's or Cosentino's Price Chopper clone you go to, ask the clerk in the produce department what he/she thinks is the best pear in the department, where it comes from, and ask for a sample. No, better not; I'd hate for you to be responsible for an epidemic of cross-eyed youngsters in the Kansas City metro area...

sincerely,

Christopher Mitchell

TK: Chris, perhaps the perception is that I give short shrift to organic produce, but by no means should you extrapolate that to The Packer in general. We have plenty of coverage of organic produce, and more in recent years as the segment finds more commercial attention. Sometimes I'm confused; is buying organic produce a vote for a certain way of farming and marketing, or is it a protest against another way?