Seen and heard at OPS 2023 — Part 2

MONTEREY, CALIF. — The organic produce industry is more vibrant than ever — making major investments in farming, branding, packaging and people — examples of which were on display at the well-attended Organic Produce Summit 2023, held July 12-13. 

For the first time at OPS, Envy apples exhibited from its own branded booth, where its organics team was ready to talk opportunities.

“The Envy apple shopper visits the store more often and spends more,” said Envy’s Cecilia Flores Paez, head of marketing, North America, for T&G Global Ltd. They are also repeat customers, she added.

Envy featured a host of promotional materials it makes available to its retail partners, including a gift box for a single apple.

During last year’s holiday season, Sendik’s Food Market gave shoppers who made an online purchase the Envy apple gift box with each order. “We saw a significant lift in Envy apple sales for six weeks [following the giveaway],” said Brian Penfield, produce director for Sendik’s. “Retailers get so hung up on Honeycrisp. It was nice to get shoppers into another apple variety.”

Where there’s organic produce, there’s sustainable packaging innovation.

Side Delights showed off its newly redesigned packaging for its Side Delights Organic red, yellow and russet potatoes. The 3-pound offering is now available in sustainable and recyclable BioFlex bags, said Kathleen Triou, president and CEO of Fresh Solutions Network.

“It’s so hard to tell people how to recycle,” Triou continued. "Though the BioFlex bag can be recycled, if it’s accidentally thrown away, it will biodegrade in landfill within three to five years. Especially with an organic product, it’s important to have sustainable packaging.”

Honeybear Brands is making a “big investment in organics” with its new all-organic facility in Pateros, Wash., said Honeybear Brands’ Don Roper. The company also recently acquired a Big River cherry facility in Pateros.

Honeybear Brands seized OPS as an opportunity to showcase new sustainable packaging for its organic apples.

“One of our sustainability goals is to get rid of plastic in all branded products,” said Roper, pointing to prototypes of the company’s new recyclable and compostable apple box. He says the new boxes will be part of a pilot program with retailers in the late fall.

Every show is an opportunity for Equifruit to capture the attention of attendees in a new way and then engage them in conversation around its organic, fair trade bananas, and OPS 2023 was no exception. As a drone-powered shark hovered above the booth, Equifruit President Jennie Coleman told The Packer the key to consumer engagement is using “very simple messages.” She pointed to a sign in the Equifruit booth that read: “I like long walks on the beach and paying farmers fairly.”

“You don’t have to read a novel on fair trade,” said Coleman, who added Equifruit’s QR codes take consumers to additional information should they want to learn more.

“We also want to make people laugh,” she continued. “The need for fair trade is an intense story. It’s a story of people being exploited by companies. It’s not something consumers want to think about. People want to be lifted up.”

With this in mind, Equifruit strives to make fair trade mainstream while also seeking to put a smile on the faces of consumers, Coleman said.

Soli Organic shared the big news that its 100,000-square-foot Anderson County, S.C., facility is up and running. “We’re on a mission to move 3-5 million pounds of greens from this single-largest vertical farm,” said President and CEO Philip Karp.

It’s “full steam ahead” on farming the facility’s 100% organic greens under the Soli Organic brand. As a result, the company will phase out its That’s Tasty legacy brand in the next six months, Karp said.

The new facility is part of the Rockingham, Va.-based company’s strategic and ambitious expansion plans in key markets across the U.S.

“Our San Antonio facility is on track to open in the first quarter of next year and it will add another 3-5 million pounds of indoor-grown greens sold at the same [affordable] price point,” Karp said. An additional farm in Marysville, Wash., was announced last year.

Soli Organic is also on a mission to offer something different from controlled environment agriculture. “It’s a lot of the same in indoor-grown greens — it’s a very similar looking assortment,” Karp said. “We’re focusing our efforts on spinach.”

While Pythium root rot is a challenge for spinach growth in CEA, because Soli grows its greens in soil, “it’s not a problem for us,” he said.

Washington cherries were a hot topic at the Stemilt booth, where Marketing Director Brianna Shales said last year’s cherry crop couldn’t be more different than the crop this year. Last year saw record low yields, while this year supplies are strong.

“It’s driven opportunities at retail for aggressive promotion on dark cherries,” said Shales, who added that supplies will go through the end of August. Stemilt’s Artisan Organics Cherries will be followed by Moon Cherries, which will finish out the season in August.

“Cherry size and quality have been really strong this year,” she added.

Related: Seen and heard at OPS 2023 — Part 1