Beanstalk Global

Global Women Fresh.

Their mission is to change the status quo and leverage the talent of Women in Produce to close the industry’s gender divide by inspiring, connecting and empowering women around the world. And their mission matters more than ever.

Today, women account for 80% of purchasing decisions, but only 20% of the voices guiding decisions in the boardroom. What’s more, is that by 2030 we’ll need the equivalent of two planets to feed a growing world population of 10 billion people – half of them female.

Our industry is being called upon to feed the world more humanely, sustainably and efficiently – and more female leadership is a critical part of the answer.

Beanstalk Global has partnered up with Global Women Fresh to create a unique monthly Broadcast interview series. This to further promote the great work they do, to gain them more members ongoing and additional corporate sponsorship as well as to assist them to make a long-term difference in the Global Fresh Produce sectors.

Next in our series, we discuss Social Impact with a focus on Gender Equality. Our panelists will be:

Julie Escobar, VP of Partnerships at Renewable Resources Group (Private Equity Group).

Jennie Coleman, President – Equifruit, Canada

Lina Alvarez, Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), Cartama – Colombia

Dr Martha Givaudan, General Director – Yo Quiero Yo Puedo

Eunice Mbeneka Mutua, Director – Select Fresh Produce Kenya Company Ltd

Babarara Aguayo, Siete Agro Marketing – Spain

The Produce Marketing Association is a key international trade organisation representing companies from every segment of the global fresh produce and floral supply chain. The PMA helps members grow by providing connections that expand business opportunities and increase sales and consumption. Their mission is to connect, inform and deliver industry solutions to enhance their members’ prosperity.

Each month, we will be focusing on a major area of South African fresh produce and discussing that all with the country’s key industry experts so we can learn and appreciate fantastic South African Fresh Produce. In our next Broadcast we will be speaking to several leading experts on the South African Citrus Industry. As a precursor to the main event, we speak to Justin Chadwick the CEO of the Citrus Growers Association from South Africa and Lianne Jones the Country Manager for the PMA. Enjoy!

We know how important it is to be inspired by both big businesses and individuals, which is why we are excited to present Talking Leaders, a monthly initiative from the AHDB which will see a series of inspirational speakers share their life experiences and deliver impactful stories to the AgriLeader community.

Tim Bradshaw is a British army officer and Everest mountaineer. During this short event, Tim will discuss how to deal with a crisis and cope with situations where a carefully laid-out plan has been ruined by factors outside of your control – how you deal with it, how you keep moving forward and how you bring your team with you.

Discover how to:

• Use intelligence not information
• Approach problems form an entirely different perspective
• Equip yourself with practical tools to make decisions under pressure
• Focus on an outcome not a process
• Develop a toolkit not a mindset

Also on the broadcast:

Mark Campbell - Knowledge Exchange Manager, AgriLeader.  Mark specialises in providing bespoke solutions for UK leading farmers and growers in leadership, people management, skills development and business management. He is also a certified CowSignals Master Trainer.

Izak Van Heerden - Senior Knowledge Exchange Manager – Business, Insights & Skills, AHDB.  Izak's expertise is in people management, leadership and motivation. He has a particular interest in mindset change and protocols. He leads the AgriLeader programme working with forward-thinking producers across sectors and production systems.

It will be a fantastic opportunity to pick up some tips that you can implement in your business to help manage situations when they don’t go to plan.

Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be.

For many, coaching is a life-changing experience that dramatically improves the individuals outlook on work and life while improving leadership skills. Coaching helps people tap into their potential, unlocking sources of creativity and productivity.

Is there a shortfall of both mentoring and coaching within the fresh food sectors both in the UK and Internationally? We believe so. We want to look to make a difference and encourage people to investigate both mentoring and coaching by listening to our real word experts.

Joining us to discuss this will be:

Jacqui Green - Director, Viridis Associates

Beverly Dixon - Group HR Director, G's

Ashleigh Tennent, Founder, More Happi

And the headlines scream:

"Fruit farming on ‘brink of collapse’ as Brexit causes shortage of pickers"

"Applications for seasonal work at one Kent-based company are down 90% in the last two years and there are fears for the future"

"A shortage of workers is driving up wages: are we entering a new economic era?"

"Brexit 'leads to a 90% drop' in the number of foreign workers coming to the UK to work on farms in the summer"

In the UK, over the last four weeks, labour supply has got significantly worse. Some Farms have had to raise wages by over 60% to nearly £20 per hour for packhouse staff and in addition pay them up to £20 in addition a day to just turn up for work. Businesses bringing product in from overseas are suffering the same issues and are now potentially looking to pack at their international source to supply their UK markets. Or just not supply the UK again.

This is of course totally unsustainable.

Why are we in this situation and what is the potential range of short and long term solutions?

Join us with industry experts to hear their views in this extremely challenging time around labour.

Tim O’Malley – Group MD of Nationwide Produce

Derek Wilkinson - Managing Director Sandfields Farms Ltd

Mark Crawford – Global Sales & Marketing Director – Blues Skies

Max MacGillivray – Editor in Chief of Beanstalk Global

Tim O'Malley Group MD of Nationwide Produce plc:

"A shocking headline….but true. The acute shortage of HGV drivers is now the direct cause of perfectly good, graded and packed fresh produce being dumped or rotting in cold stores, waiting for wheels to go under it. Supermarket shelves and restaurant plates are going empty – this is a crisis of national importance.

In all my years in fresh produce I’ve never seen anything like this. Example – we supply one of the largest restaurant chains in the UK. It goes without saying how much they’ve suffered throughout the pandemic. However, business is booming for them at the moment. On Sunday, our guy who handles their account received a call from our haulier at 1pm to say that due to a shortage of lorry drivers, they cannot deliver anything to any of the depots for our restaurant customer that evening. We reminded them that all the goods were graded and packed and ready to go. They said they simply could not deliver due to a lack of drivers. After hours of begging and pleading we managed to get them to deliver to one of the eight depots. And we were one of a number of suppliers to the restaurant chain that the haulier was breaking the same bad news to. The restaurant chain went drastically short of fresh produce this weekend.

And this is by no means an isolated incident. It’s happening throughout the industry, every day and across all sectors. I heard of one major supermarket chain which had 22 full loads of produce not delivered this weekend due to the shortage of drivers. Goods are being produced….but not delivered."

On this key Beanstalk Broadcast - to discuss and debate this very serious situation and the possible solutions - are:

John Lucy - Head of International Transport at The Road Haulage Association

Tim O'Malley - Group MD of Nationwide Produce plc

Max MacGillivray - Editor in Chief of Beanstalk Global

The hugely well thought of and recognised British Growers Association is a grower owned, grower led, not for profit umbrella group. They comprise a range of organisations operating in the key UK horticulture industry and fresh produce sectors. Their membership includes Crop Associations, Producer Organisations, marketing groups and professional membership groups. The organisation is run by a Board of Directors drawn from all sectors of the fresh produce industry with a great team running the day to day operations and communications. Their mission is very straight forward – to support their growers to do what they do best.

Jack Ward is the Group CEO and he has a prestigious background in the sectors having previously held roles such as Regional Director for the NFU, Director for the Oxford Farming Conference, Chairman & Trustee for Nuffield Farming Scholarship, CEO of the City & Guilds Land Based Services before becoming CEO of British Growers in 2014.

With the Monthly Broadcast with Beanstalk, Jack wishes to explore and discuss key elements of the day. Joining them on this months’ broadcast is Dan Parker of Veg Power and Rikesh Panchmatia – Client Manager at Kantar.

Dan has worked in marketing and advertising for 25 years. As Chief Executive and Executive Creative Director of marketing innovation agency Sponge, he pioneered online, mobile and location marketing for the world’s largest food, restaurant, grocery, media, and technology brands, He is the project lead and Chief Marketing Officer of Veg Power, a not-for-profit organisation which inspires kids to eat more vegetables. Veg Power is best known for the Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign for kids which reached into the homes of 40m people in 2019.

How do we mitigate it's use and fast? Find out on this important broadcast.

It All Started with a Plastic Free Aisle...

In early 2017, A Plastic Planet co-founder, Siân Sutherland launched the first award-winning campaign for A Plastic Free Aisle. A self-confessed plastic addict, who could stand by no longer once she became aware of what we are all collectively doing to our oceans, our land and ultimately to our own health. A Plastic Planet is now an army of like-minded passionate people, experts in all relevant fields, standing up for the public who want the choice to buy plastic free.

Knowing the truth about the damage our addiction to plastic has caused, it is indefensible not to change our ways as quickly as possible. Not in 25 years, not even in 5; but now, today. 2017 was the year we all woke up to this disaster. Now we know, we cannot un-know. Their mission at A Plastic Planet is to keep up the pressure, help introduce plastic-free alternatives and champion those who are doing the right thing.

In our June Broadcast, we have the great pleasure of Clare Keegan, Business Development Manager at Harper Adams University joining us to discuss Degree Level Apprentices – the Benefits & Challenges for Participants & Employers.

Clare's role is aimed at managing collaborative and commercial relationships, strengthening Harper Adams University’s links and opportunities with regional, national and international businesses and other activities to support the growth and increase the diversity of students and apprentices.

She has previously developed projects in knowledge exchange and enterprise, including Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), Growth Fund and Innovate UK. She networks with Partners across the West Midlands and national business/skills committees, LEPs, Chambers of Commerce and subject specific organisations and represents Food and Drink and Agri-Tech on the Telford Business Board. She contributes to bids for additional funds related to business and enterprise development such as the Catalyst Fund, Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), European Social Investment Fund (ESIF) and the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Regional Growth fund. She has written many enterprise and innovation award nominations for Business including the Queens Awards.

She is currently working on a new Benchmarking Project to benchmark productivity for companies who employ apprentices. And as a member of the West Midlands Apprentice Ambassadors Network she assist organisations who want to know more about Apprenticeships.

On our 20on 20 Interview series...”20 minutes with inspirational people from the international food sectors”, we catch up with Annabel Makin-Jones, Founder of Annabel's Deliciously British.

Annabel is a curator, innovator, and champion of exquisite produce! She has a natural gift for spotting the potential of beautiful British products and, as a third-generation Yorkshire farmer, knows how to put it to effect – Annabel’s goods are all exceptional in quality, but familiar in origin. With an irrepressible enthusiasm, she creates delicacies that celebrate and sustain the diversity of the British countryside.

It was whilst she was at university she decided to grow premium strawberries with her father on their family farm in the heart of Yorkshire. Establishing a reputation for excellence, her strawberry enterprise grew rapidly to supply top restaurants and retailers with the finest UK strawberries.

Over a decade later, she founded Annabel’s Deliciously British – a food brand that produces exquisite products for people who care about taste and provenance. Inspired by the astonishing diversity of the land around her, in 2019 Annabel founded a sister company, Tame and Wild, which produces fruit- and botanical-infused sparkling drinks. Using our wonky fruit, these infusions are unreservedly grown up in flavour, but refreshingly alcohol-free. Today, Annabel’s Deliciously British is one of the best-selling brands in Booths, the chain of high-end supermarkets in the north of England, and supplies Ocado, the world’s largest dedicated online supermarket, as well as a growing list of premium food and beverage retailers and restaurants.