Today's Pricing

WATERMELON — F.O.B.S AS OF MAY 13

MEXICO CROSSINGS THROUGH NOGALES, ARIZ. — Crossings (705-766-766, seedless 683-751-759, seeded 22-15-7) — Movement expected about the same. Trading seeded slow, others moderate. Prices seedless 35-60 counts lower, others generally unchanged. Red-flesh seedless-type per pound 24-inch bins approximately 35-60 counts mostly 20 cents, 75-80s 14-16 cents; red-flesh seeded-type approximately 35-55 counts 12-14 cents. Flat cartons red-flesh seedless miniature 6-9s $7-9. Quality variable. Many present shipments from prior bookings and/or previous commitments.

LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS — Shipments (29-96-255, seedless 26-83-223, seeded 3-13-32) — Movement expected to decrease slightly. Trading very active at slightly lower prices. Prices 24-inch bins per-pound red-flesh seedless-type approximately 35-60 counts 28 cents, seeded-type approximately 28-35 counts mostly 21-22 cents. Quality generally good. Most present shipments from prior bookings and/or previous commitments at lower prices.

FLORIDA — Shipments (124-159-233, red-flesh seeded 16-29-53, red-flesh seedless 51-130-180) — Movement expected to increase as more growers start the season in central Florida. Harvesting slowed. Trading very active. Prices generally unchanged. 24-inch bins per-pound red-flesh seeded-type 35s 24-25 cents; red-flesh seedless-type 45 count 29-30 cents, 60 count 29-30 cents. Quality generally good.

IMPERIAL AND COACHELLA VALLEYS, CALIF., AND CENTRAL AND WESTERN ARIZONA — Shipments (AZ seedless 0-23-16, CA 0-26-78, seedless 0-24-73, seeded 0-2-5) — Movement from western Arizona, Imperial and Coachella valleys expected to increase seasonally. Trading fairly active at slightly lower prices. Prices slightly lower. Red-flesh seedless-type per pound 24-inch bins approximately 35 and 45 counts mostly 22 cents. Organic red-flesh seedless 24-inch bins per pound approximately 35 and 45 counts 35 cents; miniature carton 6s and 8s $20.50. Quality generally good. Harvest central Arizona expected to begin the week of May 27.



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Organic Vegetables

A touch of attitude spices Foxy billboards

Chuck Robinson, Media WatchChuck Robinson, Media Watch Our Salinas, Calif., reporter Mike Hornick sent in a picture of a billboard beside a highway in his area.

“Supersize This,” the sign read, next to what resembled a french fry sleeve with the Foxy organic label on it that was filled with celery sticks.

It caught Mike’s eye and made me smile too.

The “Supersize This” campaign is set to run through 2013 in New Jersey, Boston and Buffalo, N.Y., said Matt Seeley, vice president of marketing with The Nunes Co., a Salinas-based vegetable grower-shipper that markets under the Foxy brand.

The campaign seems a nice riff on the 2004 movie “Super Size Me” but not as preachy.

I appreciate the touch of attitude.

We often seem so afraid of alienating someone somewhere that it is nice to see something with an understated piquant taste of snark. A touch is enough.

“We tried to have a little fun with it and have a little edge,” Seeley said.

Billboards are a key element of marketing plans at The Nunes Co., Seeley said.

Television and radio advertising is expensive, he said, and the impact so fleeting.

“We’ve stuck with outdoor advertising — you can’t turn it off,” he said.

Mike Hornick The billboards are concentrated in key locations. In Boston, for instance, commuters and others see them along Interstate 93, which cuts right through the heart of the city. This reaches a wide swath of potential consumers of Foxy products.

It reaches a group of potential consumers that, say, advertising on subways or bus routes could not.

I wonder what marketing of organics can suggest to marketers of conventionally grown produce.

In November, The Packer published an Organics Marketing special section. In it, Simcha Weinstein, director of marketing for Albert’s Organics, Bridgeport, N.J., said people don’t just buy a product.

“They buy the concept of what that product will do for them or help them do for themselves,” Weinstein told The Packer’s Melissa Shipman.

So when people buy organic products they are buying more than just organically grown fruits and vegetables.

They are buying a sustainable future for themselves, their families and future generations, he said.

Yes, I tend to agree.

Is that a lot to read into a billboard with two words and a picture placed in key locations? And a smidge of attitude.

And, of course, advertising the product of a competitor for Weinstein’s company.

No, it scratches the surface.

crobinson@thepacker.com

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