MONTREAL — The Canadian Produce Marketing Association Convention and Trade Show, held April 8-10, celebrated 100 years of the organization with a nod to the past and an eye to the future.
For the Ocean Mist Farms team, the event was about relationship building, said Mark Munger, senior director of marketing. Munger said there's a lot of uncertainty with tariffs among Ocean Mist's customers, so conversations at the event stemmed around reassuring its partners.
“We're reassuring we're here to serve them,” Munger said.
Other topics included the start of spring artichoke season out of Castroville, Calif., which will start in about four weeks. Munger said it looks like it'll be a great crop.
“We're establishing conversation and building excitement [for the upcoming season],” he said. “It's always a fun time of year, and we expect a high-quality crop.”
Reusable plastic containers were the main topic of conversation with IFCO Systems. Visitors to the company's booth also talked about the pressure of the modern supply chain.
JF Delorme, director of retail sales for IFCO Systems, said visitors sought more sustainable options that are also durable and protect produce.
“They want to remove wax corrugate,” he said. “We're just here saving the world one RPC at a time.”
The team at Cosmic Crisp visited the CMI Orchards booth. Many CPMA conversations for CMI Orchards involved Ambrosia Gold. The company launched an organic kids snack pack program called “Crunchy Munchy,” which was drawing keen interest.
And the early June start to the cherry season was also a topic of conversation. CMI Orchards shared with booth visitors its specialty cherry program including Skylar Rae, Strawberry Cherries, rainier and its XXL program, which features larger fruit.
“It's up to Mother Nature,” Rich Mendonsa, vice president of business development, said of pinpointing exactly when cherry season will begin for the grower-packer-shipper. “So far things are set up for a good crop.”
“Berries are a popular fruit here in Canada,” said Mario Ramirez, communications coordinator for Aneberries, which represents Mexico's berry growing sector.
Aneberries offered to booth visitors samples of its Mexican-grown blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries.
Visitors also learned about Aneberries 15th International Congress, which will be held July 23-24 in Guadalajara. Ramirez said the organization expects about 3,000 attendees for the “biggest berry show in the world.”
“We've had a lot of good conversations with customers walking through the show,” said Harlan Ewert, director of sales, West, for Verdant Technologies.
The Verdant team said they spent a lot of time at the booth, and through different networking opportunities, connected with growers the company already works with and introduced new growers to its HarvestHold product.
“There's a lot of demand, and it's good to connect with our grower and retailers at breakfast and lunch,” Ewert said.
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