COVID
After numerous industry questions and an exchange of letters between national trade associations and the USDA, Tom Stenzel believes it is time to focus on the positives of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program.
Marketing the spring harvest and stored produce of the Carolinas isn’t the same game these days.
Labor is a top concern when it comes to the effects of the new coronavirus on Georgia’s produce industry — besides worker safety and customer demand.
Even as they stay home to ride out the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are still getting out, if only via their computers and smart phones, and onion marketers are looking at social media initiatives.
The Produce Marketing Association’s Center for Growing Talent is inviting the industry to participate in a Virtual Wellness Walk/Run Challenge to promote health and support the center’s programs.
Are we already in the “new normal”?
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect industry companies in different ways, and they are responding with everything from donations to frontline employees to rolling out plans to keep employees safe.
COVID-19 has had a profound effect on the economy of Florida, nearly stopping tourism and related industry in its tracks since mid-March.
The COVID-19 pandemic had the 400-500 members of the Greeley, Colo.-based National Onion Association wondering whether they would have their summer meeting, as scheduled, July 15-18 in Nashville, Tenn.
Just how vulnerable is our food supply?
U.S. onion growers should be paid $5 for every 50-pound bag of onions they have had to dump or donate because of the COVID-19 crisis and the subsequent loss of foodservice sales.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has posted a recording of its May 14 web seminar for growers interested in applying for direct payments through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.
With a price tag of $1.22 billion and hundreds of contracts, the USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program is a massive endeavor to move fresh produce and other foods to needy families through food banks.
The USDA now has the authority under the Defense Production Act to help prevent supply interruptions at FDA-regulated food facilities, including farms, packinghouses and fresh-cut processing facilities.
Baker Farms planned to begin construction in February on a new cooler to provide 30% more capactiy overall, but the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed those plans.
The U.S. Apple Association is changing its annual Crop Outlook and Marketing Conference into a virtual event to comply with regulations in Chicago limiting the amount of people who can congregate.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, video conferencing is the new thing with Yakima-based Northwest Cherry Growers, said B.J. Thurlby, president.
Testing of an unknown number of watermelon harvesters in three north Florida counties revealed that three out of four were positive for COVID-19, Florida health officials told industry leaders.
Moving about 1 million boxes a day to food banks and other charities, the USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program is gaining speed and is on track to hit 44 million boxes delivered by the end of June.
Sustainability is more than a buzzword in packaging these days; it’s common sense, manufacturers say.
The Packer’s West Coast Produce Expo has a new date and format to provide streaming and digital content to complement the Palm Desert, Calif., event. with an expo that encourages social distancing.
The Organic Trade Association reports that organic food sales in 2019 surpassed $50 billion, including $18 billion for organic produce.
I was talking with an East Coast distributor the other day who mentioned that fruit buying patterns have been unusually hard to anticipate.
Awe Sum Organics, Santa Cruz, Calif., expects to have Pacific Northwest blueberries starting June 22.
Quebec Produce Marketing Association is hosting a free webinar on the pandemic and how it has affected fresh produce consumption.
The Packer’s Tom Karst visited June 8 with Mike Mauti, managing partner of the consulting firm Execulytics on the Canadian retail perspective during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture web seminar for specialty crop growers on how to apply for Coronavirus Food Assistance Program is at 3 p.m. Eastern today.
House Democrats are raising concerns about the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, saying it fails to recognize the premium value of organic crops and does not fully account for the farm value of some specialty crops.
Virtual tours and demos, an online wine auction and food box donations enabled the fresh produce industry to response to the realities caused by the pandemic.