Posts Tagged “feature”
Wenatchee, WA: In a thrilling new development four years in the making—Starr Ranch Growers™/Oneonta Trading Company, which includes Custom Apple, Diamond Fruit and Apple King—announce an agreement has been reached to join forces with CMI Orchards, delivering more than 8 million cartons to CMI’s manifest. This strategic move marks a momentous milestone in the world of fresh produce, forging a powerhouse of innovation, quality, and building on CMI’s commitment to leading the industry with the largest selection of core, organic and specialty apples, pears and cherries under one roof.
The addition of Juici® and Karma® apples from Starr Ranch enhances CMI’s high-flavor arsenal, which includes varieties such as Ambrosia Gold®, KIKU®, Kanzi®, Jazz™, Envy™, Smitten®, SugarBee®, Sunrise Magic®, EverCrisp®, and Cosmic Crisp®. In combination with core conventional varietals from Custom Apple, and organics from Apple King, the move boosts CMI’s total volume by around 4.3 million cartons of apples.
The new partnership with Diamond Fruit Growers in Hood River, OR, brings an additional 2 million pear cartons into CMI’s fold, establishing CMI as the largest pear shipper globally with optical sorting technology and pre-sizing for versatility. Hood River represents one of the three best pear growing locales around the world, and this addition means CMI now supplies pears from all three regions—Hood River (Diamond), the upper Wenatchee Valley (McDougall and Sons, Independent Warehouse and Hi-Up) and imports from Rio Negro, Argentina (Kleppe).
Along with apples and pears, CMI anticipates an additional volume of 1.8 million cartons of cherries, with more early and late season offerings. “Extending the high-velocity cherry season means our retail partners can reap the benefits of one of the most lucrative times of year for longer, and come to one place for all the very best apples and pears year-round,” explains Bob Mast, President of CMI Orchards.
Jim Thomas, owner of Custom Apple Packing and Chairman of Starr Ranch shares his excitement about the partnership. “After 90 cherished years nurturing the Starr Ranch community of growers, team members, and customers with unwavering integrity, the visionary path forward is unmistakably clear—uniting with CMI Orchards. This forward-thinking collaboration has been a long time in the making, promising unprecedented benefits and a bright future for our growers and retail partners.”
Thomas extends heartfelt gratitude to Starr Ranch CEO Don Odegard for his guidance and dedication during this pivotal transition period, laying a solid foundation for prosperous times ahead. “As we transition, the seasoned leadership of Bob Mast, who has guided CMI Orchards with distinction for over a decade, instills great confidence in what lies ahead,” Thomas said. “United, the CMI and Starr Ranch teams herald a future brimming with potential, grounded in a shared vision of success, innovation, and diligence. I remain as committed as ever to not only our orchard but to nurturing a vibrant and sustainable future for the Wenatchee Valley’s fruit industry.”
Bryon McDougall, Chairperson of CMI Orchards, expresses his excitement about collaborating with the esteemed Thomas family of Starr Ranch Growers, envisioning a golden chapter ahead for CMI. “We hold Jim Thomas and the Thomas family in the highest regard,” says McDougall. “Uniting with a company of Starr Ranch’s stature—a true powerhouse that has significantly shaped the tree fruit industry—not only marks the onset of an exhilarating new chapter for CMI but symbolizes a partnership rooted in deep respect, integrity and a shared vision for the future.”
“Customers, partners, and fruit enthusiasts can expect an even greater focus on quality, sustainability, and customer satisfaction, all while meeting CMI’s outstanding standard of service,” adds Mast. “Starr Ranch and CMI have an exceptional legacy of integrity and producing the finest apples, pears and cherries, and this move leverages our collective strengths, expands our offerings, and combines the skills and experience of two outstanding teams of people, allowing us to drive innovation like never before.”
About CMI Orchards
CMI Orchards is one of Washington State’s largest growers, shippers, and packers of premium-quality conventional and organic apples, pears, and cherries. Based in Wenatchee, WA, CMI Orchards delivers outstanding fruit across the U.S.A. and exports to over 60 countries worldwide. www.cmiorchards.com
By Iyer Amruthur, ALC San Antonio
One of the most refreshing things on a hot Texas (or hotter Arizona!) day is an ice-cold sarsaparilla soda, or at least I’ve been told. My generation grew up during one of the peak periods for soda, candy, snacks, and a cornucopia of “consumables” that tasted great, but usually ended up in more than a few dentist visits. It’s safe to say a lot of us are still on the “high-fructose”, “high carbonation” train; admittedly, I was the same way. I gave up soda in my youth because I always felt the sugar crash pretty rapidly, and eventually, many sugar-based products began to weigh down my digestion. Fast forward to the current date and I’ve almost entirely cut out refined sugars from my diet. So what’s been my go-to fix while being healthy, you ask? Well, maybe you’ve heard of nootropic beverages?
Instead of being taste-centric, these beverages are purchased for their perceived nutritional benefits. In the same way you might drink/consume pre-workout supplements, or take a shot of apple cider vinegar per a daily schedule, you would now pursue these commercially available products. Some of my favorite examples include companies like Soylent, Huel, and Ka’chava for their dedication to nutrition/complete meals as a drink. They provide consumers with a bag of powdered food that prioritizes all the vitamins, minerals, carbs, protein, and fats humans need to operate (just add water!). Another example is Kin Euphorics and several similar companies that have created “mocktails” that taste similar to a non-sweetened cocktail; the drinks are chock-full of roots, herbs, vitamins, and more, meant to enhance mood, cognition, and digestion.
The category that was so dominated by the sensation of taste has now become a laterally divided market between taste and utility. The latter has become popular with younger demographics and those concerned with improving their health or creating better consumption habits in general. While these drinks are often smaller in volume and higher in price, they have been flying off the shelves at most common stores (Walmart, Costco, Kroger, etc.). So, what’s popular, healthy, and tasty?
Enter Kombucha! Kombucha is what I call “the produce of beverages,” and for good reason. Kombucha takes black tea, sugar, water, and a culture of bacteria (think yeast for bread) called a S.C.O.B.Y. (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). These mix together, and over time, they ferment into a delicious and bubbly beverage. Most commercial retailers pasteurize any alcohol retained during the process and ship it to major stores to be sold as a healthy, tasty, and unique alternative to sugary sodas.
It’s safe to say this is going to be a growing market, and we may see “soda” spots be replaced with kombucha, meal-based-beverages, smoothies, pressed juices, and even some drinks that might twist your tongue from the flavor profile, but deliver a calm nights rest.
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| Iyer Amruthur is a national sales manager in the ALC San Antonio office and has been with the company for three years. He attended The University of Georgia where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Marketing, with a minor in Communications. iyer.amruthur@allenlund.com |
Elgin, Minn. – This National Apple Month, Honeybear Brands, a leading grower, packer, shipper, and developer of premium apples, is reporting a strong Pazazz apple crop.
“We’re seeing robust crops across all our orchards, including those on both coasts and the Midwest,” says Don Roper, vice president at Honeybear Brands.
Shipments are originating from Washington, the Midwest, New York and Nova Scotia. For the second year in a row, Honeybear Brands will provide Pazazz from Chilean orchards insuring that year round availability.
Various storage capabilities provide shorter shipping distances to markets throughout the year.
About Honeybear Brands
Family owned and operated for more than 40 years, Honeybear is a dual hemisphere grower, packer, shipper and importer of apples, pears and cherries year-round. It is a pioneer in the commercialization of Honeycrisp apples. Honeybear Brands is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wescott Agri Products
Riveridge Produce Marketing of Sparta, MI. is Michigan’s largest apple grower-packer-shipper and the company reports its 2023 apple crop, as well as that of Michigan – is the second largest ever, trailing only 2022. This season, Riveridge has the same acreage but more production because maturing, premium-variety blocks have developed to boost productivity.
The company estimates Michigan’s 2023 fresh market apple harvest will be between 30 and 32 million bushels. A primary difference is the final pack-outs for this new crop should be much better than the 2022 Michigan apple crop, thanks to more favorable growing conditions.
Riveridge finished shipping its 2022 apple crop just in time to start packing the new 2023 season.
For the coming year, Riverridge is shipping five varieties until the beginning of 2024’s harvest. These varieties are Gala, Fuji, Honey Crisp, Red Delicious and Ambrosia. Ambrosia is only in its third season for Riveridge to grow and ship and is rapidly gaining in popularity.
The company began harvesting its Red Delicious crop in the first week of October. Red Delicious accounts for about 10-12% of Riveridge’s volume.
As part of a food-as-medicine strategic initiative, Kroger Health, the healthcare division of Cincinnati-based The Kroger Co., is collaborating with Performance Kitchen to offer medically tailored meals (MTMs) aimed at improving consumers’ overall health and potentially saving the nation billions in health care costs.
The partnership marks the first time Kroger Health is offering evidence-based, registered dietitian-approved meals that will offer nutrition intervention for people who are living with various health conditions including diabetes, heart disease and cancer, according to a news release. MTMs are created to meet the specific needs of individuals and may significantly improve a person’s overall health and wellness while providing access to nutritious foods, the release said.
“We believe in empowering people with resources to help them make healthy choices that will deliver the best outcomes for them,” James Kirby, Kroger Health chief commercial officer, said in the release. “Offering MTMs allows us an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to supporting individuals on their wellness journeys, while providing a personalized approach to help them transform their health. Through better options and access, we are assisting people in improving their quality of life, disease prevention and management.”
A recent evidence review and national simulation modeling study by researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University estimated that MTM programs could help prevent 1.6 million hospitalizations and save health insurers $13.6 billion across the country in one year after paying for the cost of food, the release said. Over 10 years, the health care cost-savings from MTM program participants where they receive 10 MTMs per week for eight months were estimated to reach $185.1 billion, on top of the cost of the MTMs.
Performance Kitchen and Kroger Health are focused on implementing food as medicine into people’s daily lifestyles, the release said. To encourage consumption, the medically tailored meals are crafted to meet nutritional standards while considering the needs of increasingly diverse populations and the inclusion of culturally relevant foods, according to the release.
The Performance Kitchen and Kroger Health MTMs include options such as Chicken Dijon with Kale, Moroccan Style Chicken with Quinoa, Vegetable Chickpea Curry, and Salmon Pasta.
Kroger Health is able to pair the MTMs with preexisting Kroger Health services such as virtual appointments with registered dietitians and access to healthy groceries for a holistic approach to improving nutrition security and patient outcomes, the release said.
Performance Kitchen’s team of chefs, doctors and registered dietitians seeks to deliver nutritionally balanced meals by using high-quality proteins, full servings of vegetables, healthy fats, whole grains and fiber, while limiting sodium and added sugar. The meals are frozen, single-serve and ready to heat, making them convenient for people who are concerned about the amount of time it takes to prepare and cook a healthy meal, the release said.
All Performance Kitchen meals crafted for the collaboration are also approved by Kroger Health registered dietitians, according to the release.
“MTMs help us achieve our goal of making sure people have access to food that helps them feel their best and improve their health,” Taylor Newman, Ph.D., a registered dietitian nutritionist and director of nutrition for Kroger Health, said in the release. “While the meals are personalized for an individual’s specific health condition, we’re also proud to offer a variety of culturally diverse recipes and flavors to make sure everyone’s needs are met.”
The collaboration with Performance Kitchen is the latest initiative from Kroger Health’s Food as Medicine platform, which comes after the release of SuperWIN, a retail-based randomized controlled trial, and the company’s participation in the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health.
“We’re excited to work with Kroger Health in our unified goal of empowering the country to live healthier lives through food,” Mark Walker, chairman and CEO of Performance Kitchen, said in the release. “In a country where we spend $4.3 trillion on sick care annually, states and insurance companies that have begun offering millions of Americans these new meal benefits, along with organizations like Kroger Health who are making these benefits available, should be celebrated. Together, we are pioneering a new horizon of preventative care through nutritious food.”
Payers, providers, employers, and community organizations interested in learning more about Kroger Health and Performance Kitchen’s medically tailored meal collaboration should contact khb2b@krogerhealth.com.
Kroger Health and the Kroger Family of Pharmacies and clinics operate more than 2,200 pharmacies and more than 220 clinics in 35 states serving more than 17 million customers annually.
Performance Kitchen says it provides the next generation of chronic disease management through healthy medically tailored meals, paid for by insurance and delivered directly to consumers’ homes.
Projected Chilean avocado volumes for 2023-24 will remain close to 2022-23 levels. This would put the numbers at about 165,346 tons for the Hass variety, according to the Chilean Avocado Committee.
The committee, reports fruit size is good, yet factors such as water availability and location will be considered.
Chile’s main destination markets remain Europe, the U.S., China and Argentina.
The committee estimate about 90,000 tons will be exported, which is 60% of the total production.
Chile’s share in the U.S. avocado market has slowed down in the past few years, as Mexico’s geographical proximity and abundant offer gives Chilean fruit little space.
As for domestic consumption, Chile continues to have one of the higher per capita consumption indexes in the world with 17 pounds. It is only surpassed by Mexico, at 19 pounds.
Syracuse, UT- Onions 52, Inc. announces plans to expand operations to the east coast; with a distribution and packing facility in Cincinnati, Ohio set to be fully operational beginning early 2024. With existing FOB shipping locations in Utah, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Texas, and New Mexico, the expansion will better serve east coast retailers and foodservice partners.
Onions 52, a vertically integrated onion supplier grows, packs, and ships all varieties of onions 52 weeks a year – ensuring there is a never a week without onions. While some companies focus on many different commodities, Onions 52 focuses on one thing, onions, and does it the very best.
Trevor Flint, CFO of Onions 52 said, “The expansion will increase production capacity through additional space and process improvements by adding an additional 60,000 square feet of consumer packing machines and sorting lines.” Flint continued, “As the demand for same-day and next-day order fulfillment increases, this new facility will make operations more efficient and help supply our top-quality onions coast to coast.”
About Onions 52
Onions 52, Inc. was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Syracuse, UT. The vertically integrated onion supplier is the country’s leading year-round grower-shipper of yellow, red, white, sweet, and organic onions.
North Bay Produce, Inc., based in Traverse City, MI, is adding “significant” acres to its Florida and Mexican strawberry production for the 2023-24 season. This strengthens the firm’s commitment to developing a 52-week program for strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. A year-round supply of these berries offers consumers a one-stop-shop for all their berry needs, North Bay indicates in a recent press release.
The strawberry offerings include conventional and organic, all shipped under the North Bay label in one- and two-pound clamshells.
“With the addition of a more robust strawberry program, North Bay is now bringing more value to our retail partners and consumers through continuous, uninterrupted, high-quality supplies and experiences,” stated Ryan Lockman, vice president of sales and procurement. He adds that North Bay is a grower-owned cooperative with a focus on varietal development.”
North Bay’s Mexico season for strawberries will run from about Oct. 1 through the beginning of April. Zamora, Mexico, operation is enjoying favorable growing weather to start the season.
North Bay’s Florida strawberry production will begin about Nov. 25 and end in April. North Bay also has strawberries growing in California to support the low season in Mexico and Florida.
So far during the 2023-2024 Peruvian fresh blueberry season, 40,527 tons of fruit was shipped until mid September, revealing a 50 percent plunge compared to the same time span of the previous year, according to Agraria.
In mid September, the largest amount shipped in this season was recorded, totaling 6,626 tons, representing 62 percent less volume than the same period in 2022.
In that week, the exports reached 27 countries, of which three accounted for 88 percent of all exports. These were the U.S., with 53 percent, followed by the Netherlands, 24 percent and China, with 10 percent.
Shipments to the U.S. totaled 3,513 tons, which showed a decrease of 64 percent compared to last year. The biggest Peruvian exporters were Camposol S.A., with 19 percent, and Agrícola Cerro Prieto S.A., with 14 percent.
The Netherlands received 1,623 tons, 66 percent less than the same week in 2022. Regarding Peruvian export companies, those that led in exports were Camposol S.A., with 15 percent, and Complejo Agroindustrial Beta S.A., with 9 percent.
Finally, exports to China totaled 684 tons, representing a 41 percent decrease compared to last year. The Peruvian exporters that had the most exports to this market were Agrovisión Perú S.A.C., with 25 percent, and Camposol S.A., with 18 percent.
Mexico has surpassed record avocado exports to the U.S. so far in 2023, according to the trade association Avocados From Mexico (AFM) based in Dallas.
Imports to the United States are expected to increase this year, which would mark the beginning of a new record, due to increasing international demand over 2022.
Export volumes to the U.S. this year could exceeded 1.19 billion tons.
Avocados are gaining in popularity, mainly with celebrations and events, when consumption soars. The Super Bowl and Cinco de Mayo are the United States’ leading avocado events.
The Association of Mexican Avocado Producers and Packers and Exporters is the only Mexican cooperating partner with the United States, as well as with the USDA-APHIS for Mexican avocado exports. It is also responsible for avocado promotions in other countries under the Avocados From Mexico brand. Currently, the association involves almost 35,000 growers and 84 packing houses.