Fruitnet podcasts

Dr Manuel Madrid has worked for some of the biggest businesses in the fresh produce industry – Syngenta, Driscoll’s, SanLucar and Chiquita to name four giants of the trade – but for more than a decade now he has been running his own consultancy, Fruit Profits.

Now, as he reveals in the latest episode of Fruitnet’s conversation series Fruitbox, he’s preparing to relocate from Valencia in Spain to a new base in Costa Rica, from where he will work with a number of fruit companies to help them grow and improve their business.

Top of his list, especially for those banana and pineapple companies in the region that face rising costs and diminishing returns, will be to help them identify new ways to secure more value in their supply chains – by introducing better techniques and technology, by switching from traditional crops to higher-value items like mangoes, papayas, avocados or berries, or perhaps even by exploring new markets in other parts of the world.

“I think we need to change the model for agriculture and change it to [be] much less dependent on inputs and more sustainable, which is also going to be less costly to produce,” he tells Fruitbox host Chris White. “That would be a win-win on the economic and sustainability side.”

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in twice a week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Andriy Yarmak, economist at the United Nations FAO Investment Centre, spends a large part of his time monitoring developments in central Asia’s fresh produce business.

As Yarmak explains in the latest episode of Fruitbox, recent developments in countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan reflect a growing interest in the region as a potentially global source of fruits and vegetables.

Last year, for example, German buyers purchased fresh table grapes and persimmons from this part of the world, while the UK took a small but significant volume of sweet cherries from Uzbekistan.

China too is actively looking to source more from central Asia, Yarmak notes, and even though Russia remains the dominant buyer in the region, it’s clear that these countries are going to play a bigger role in the international fruit and veg market in years to come.

“They’re important because they are among the top global players already, and many people don’t realise it,” Yarmak tells Fruitnet’s Chris White. “Uzbekistan stands out. It’s already among the largest producers of many different types of fruit and vegetable. For example, it’s the second-largest exporter of raisins in the world, the second-largest exporter of apricots in the world, and the third-largest global exporter of fresh apricots.”

What’s more, the quality and taste of products being grown in central Asia is “just amazing”, he adds. “They have a unique, very dry climate with a lot of sunny days, and it’s really hot in summer. But it’s also pretty cold in winter. I would compare Uzbekistan with Chile in some ways. It’s fairly remote from consumers, but it can reach them with a variety of products.”

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in twice a week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

FPJ Stories is the talkshow series in which contributing editor Michael Barker chats in depth to leading industry figures about their life, career, inspirations and hobbies.

Inspired by the hugely popular Life Stories segment at FPJ Live, this video and podcast series gives unique access into the worlds of some of the most charismatic and fascinating figures working in the fresh produce industry today.

In Episode Two, Michael talks to outgoing Groceries Code Adjudicator Christine Tacon about her years transforming relations between suppliers and supermarkets, her views on the future of the food industry and what more can be done to help the next generation of fresh produce professionals realise their dreams. She also talks about some fascinating personal interests, a successful sporting sibling and what she plans to do next.

www.fpj.co.uk

Music: Welcome to the Show by Kevin MacLeod

Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4614-we…-to-the-show

License: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Ksenia Gorovaya, managing director of St Petersburg-based Crisp Consulting, was in the eye of the storm in the summer of 2014, when Russia decided to ban a range of food imports – including fresh fruit and vegetables – from the EU, US, Australia, Norway and Canada.

Six years on, with the blockade still very much in place, she talks to Chris White about the ongoing impact of that decision on the country’s fresh produce import business, part of which has refocused on the former Soviet republics as well as places like Iran, and also on its local, domestic supply.

“Russia still imports quite a lot, but crops that can be grown locally are gaining more share on retail shelves,” she reveals in the latest episode of Fruitbox. “For example sufficiency for potato production is close to 95 per cent.”

Russia’s self-sufficiency in the commercial tomato sector, she adds, expanded from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. Within the past five years, about 1,000ha of greenhouses were launched both by the governmental and private investments, while retailers themselves have been investing in their own production.

“Magnit now aims to produce up to one-third of their tomato assortment in their own greenhouse facilities, which is an example of how rapidly it is going,” Gorovaya points out.

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in twice a week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Fruitbox speaks to Steven Roberts and Annelies Blaauwkamer of Rijk Zwaan, founders of the Love My Salad campaign, which celebrates its tenth anniversary in August.

Designed as a way to inspire and engage with consumers in an age of social media, Love My Salad has aimed to build up a positive image of vegetables among consumers, rather than building a more traditional message around the idea that doing so should be compulsory.

The project now operates in more than 20 countries worldwide as well as 14 different languages, encouraging more than 4m people every year to see vegetables differently and be inspired to eat more of them as a result.

“We wanted to create a positive image for vegetables, a place where people could share knowledge and inspiration, and essentially create, share and enjoy them every day,” says Roberts.

As Blaauwkamer explains, the public perception of vegetables has changed very much for the better in the past ten years. “Food consumption in general is changing and I think vegetables can benefit from this,” she comments. “We still have a long way to go, but I think these developments are really positive.”

During their conversation with Fruitnet’s Chris White, Steven and Annelies talk about the marketing work they have done to connect with chefs, bloggers, growers and consumers, as well as outlining their plans for the campaign’s future development through a new startup accelerator programme.

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in twice a week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

Episode 32 of Fruitbox is sponsored by Rijk Zwaan.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Uri Krieger’s roots go deep when it comes to developing new types of vegetable. Recently appointed as global head of vegetables and flowers R&D at Syngenta, he says he’s determined to use his background in plant breeding to overcome public scepticism about genetics and, even more crucially, to help growers produce more and better crops with greater efficiency.

“By 2050, the world population will be around 30 per cent higher, at about 10bn, so demand for food is expected to grow,” Krieger tells Fruitnet's Chris White in the latest edition of Fruitbox. “We’re going to have many more people and increased consumption.”

At the same time, producers need to know that the vegetables they grow in future can cope with changes in climate, he insists. “We have to find ways to grow our food more efficiently, [because] at the same time the amount of resources available, like water and soil, have either stayed flat or in some cases have been reduced.”

He adds: “Our challenge as an industry is to find a sustainable solution, to grow much more with far less.”

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in twice a week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

Episode 32 of Fruitbox is sponsored by Syngenta Vegetable Seeds.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Phil Lempert believes many supermarkets were selling fresh fruit and vegetables wrong even before the coronavirus pandemic began. Now, with the crisis causing dramatic changes to the entire food distribution business, he thinks a radical overhaul of the supermarket format is coming, while foodservice outlets could see new opportunities to offer consumers an attractive alternative place to buy their fresh produce.

Lempert certainly knows a thing or two about what makes supermarkets tick, not to mention where they need to improve. Known to many as the SupermarketGuru, he makes regular appearances talking about grocery trends on CNN, NBC, ABC, Fox News and even the Oprah Winfrey show.

Speaking to Chris White in the latest episode of Fruitnet’s conversation series Fruitbox, Lempert casts a critical eye over supermarket fresh produce departments, explains where they can improve, and considers what the supermarket of the future will look like.

He also comments on the rise and predicted fall of retail’s answer to foodservice the groceraunt, the apparent arrival of a new distribution channel in the form of the so-called restaumart, the expansion of e-commerce and discount retailing, an expected increase in the popularity of scratch cooking, and the great upheaval being seen in the restaurant business as a result of Covid-19.

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in twice a week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Barbara Bray MBE, a nutritionist and food safety consultant, noticed something strange going on as the coronavirus crisis began to take hold in Europe. Google data showed that searches for the words immunity and veg were much higher than usual.

In the latest episode of Fruitbox, Fruitnet’s series of conversations about the fresh fruit and vegetable business, Bray joins host Chris White to discuss the potential lasting effects of lockdown and the pandemic on our diets.

As consumers, for example, are we eating more healthy products, more unhealthy snack products, or in fact both? And what happens in the longer term if, as expected, spending power decreases? How accessible will healthy eating be for the estimated 820m people worldwide who are already undernourished or the two billion adults around the globe who are reckoned to be obese? And could concerns over future food supply cause ripples of tension in domestic politics or international trade?

“Before the pandemic we ate out a lot and ate a lot food on the go, so we weren’t really putting together meals that were well balanced. More people have had time to do that now, so we’re starting to reap the benefits of that,” Bray comments.

“The only problem is that, once we’re into that post-pandemic world, if we pick up our old routines we could slip back into old habits and start to lose some of those qualities we picked up about preparing healthy, balanced meals. I really hope there is a lot of drift into eating more fruits and vegetables., but I guess it’s inevitable there will be some slowdown.”

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in twice a week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

As the coronavirus outbreak pushes the world towards a very different kind of recession, Joe Shaw Roberts of consumer research company Kantar looks at how consumers are responding to the crisis and considers what lasting impact it is having on the way people buy fresh fruit and vegetables.

Speaking on the latest episode of Fruitbox, Fruitnet’s series of fresh produce industry conversations, Shaw Roberts explains how the pandemic is reshaping the market and driving important consumer trends to do with health, convenience, organics, local sourcing, discounting, online shopping and home delivery services.

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in twice a week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Matt Hancock and Will Wolmer both see huge opportunities to grow the market for cherries.

The managing directors respectively of British cherry importer and distributor Norton Folgate and Hampshire-based producer Blackmoor Estate speak to Chris White during the latest episode of Fruitnet’s conversation series Fruitbox.

They admit that achieving the potential growth they can see ahead will depend on them effectively managing one of the most volatile product categories in the fresh produce business, as well as finding a way to have fruit in the market all year round.

Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes in twice a week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].