Thursday, December 3, 2020
EUROPE

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Maintenance Engineer (CA, USA)

Head of Horticulture - Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

Executive Officer - Brisbane, Australia

European Export Sales Manager (Asia Market)

Greenhouse Manager - Carlisle (PA) USA

Electricians / Irrigation Technicians International Horticultural Projects (USA)

Regional Sales Manager - LED Horticulture / Benelux and France

Sales Representatives Horticultural Greenhouses - Mexico

Export Development Manager - Avocados Australia, Brisbane

Chief Commercial Officer - Las Vegas (Nevada) USA

Greek strawberry season will have its focus on European markets this year

“Overseas shipping of strawberries isn’t sustainable at the moment”

The Greek strawberry season is looking positive, despite higher airfreight rates for overseas shipments. Greece has increased its strawberry acreage by about ten per cent…

John Gijbels, Euro Gijbels, Belgium:

"We're expecting a slight overlap with cauliflower this year"

Euro Gijbels always starts the Spanish season a little later. This Belgian company has a farm and partner growers in that country. These are located further north in the…

Antoine Guyot, Del Monte:

"The higher air freight rates continue to have an impact on the price of goods transported by air".

On the MIN at Rungis, you can find Del Monte Extra Sweet pineapples of Kenyan origin transported by plane, as well as the Extra Sweet pineapple of Costa Rican origin sold…

Markus Nöthen, Redpack Europe LLC:

"Packaging asparagus is not a challenge in itself - the short season is"

Traditionally, the asparagus season is short and intensive: the first goods -produced via heated cultivation- will arrive at the market at the end of February at the earliest,…

Arthur Georges, Ag'Pom:

"A new production area for winter carrots"

"Although the production of French carrots is stagnating in terms of acreage, we are seeing a geographical shift," reports Arthur Georges of 'Ag'Pom. "Carrot growers in the…

Alexander Van Orshaegen, Group A. De Witte, Belgium

“This year, we’re expecting 25% more Spanish citrus than last season”

The Spanish citrus season is off to a good start this year. Even though there’s still quite a bit of overseas volume on the Belgian market. There’s far less uncertainty about…

Lifeprint LLC develops new method for dentification of apples

"Already, 55 of the most common apple varieties can be identified"

Apples have always been the most popular fruit among German consumers. The individual apple varieties differ in their appearance and taste, among other things. lifeprint LLC-…

Agricola Lusia

The Italian imported citrus fruit campaign in 2020

Agricola Lusia is a relatively-young company that boasts the experience of three generations and which specializes in the procurement, packaging and distribution of oranges,…

Julia Bouwsema & Tanith Freeman – Cherry Time Dutoit

South African cherries in the ascendant

Aggressive cherry expansion within the Dutoit group in the Koue Bokkeveld over the last four to five years – in some cases replacing uneconomical apple orchards – is coming to…

An overview of the situation with the operator Maurizio Filippi

The kiwi market is in a state of confusion

The commercialization of kiwis in Italy is still in its early stage, but the level of confusion is already high. "At the moment there are Italian kiwis and Greek kiwis on the…

Special Year Overview

Year Overview 2020: January

It seems like the year 2020 had a surprise for us just about every month, and it was hardly ever a positive one. In the Year Overview we'll look back on some of the major…

Global Focus Exotic/Tropical Fruit

Looking for markets for new cactus pear varieties

As the cactus pear harvest is getting ready to begin late December in Argentina, La Pirucha Farms, an Argentinian/California venture is looking to expand into new markets. The…

Thomas Piou, IDMAT Arboriculture:

"We are fighting the devastation caused by pests and climatic disturbances in the orchard"

The heads of the IDMAT group since 2000, Philippe Cantet and Lucas Merceron, crop specialist and steel specialist, have joined forces to provide a personalised, complete and…

Clementines from the Sibari plain sold under the Orsero brand

The Sibari plain in Calabria is well known in Italy for clementine cultivation and for the production of citrus fruit in general thanks to a particularly suitable…

Frank Döscher (Elbe-Obst) on this apple season

"Challenging export season due to current Corona situation"

Asia Fruit Logistica, the important industry gathering for the international apple industry and starting signal of the export season, was held on 18th November, but due to…

Charles Couralet, of Les Jardins d'Aquitaine; an adapted company:

"Our new brand will allow us to put our solidarity management under the spotlight"

The winter vegetable season is in full swing and Les Jardins d'Aquitaine, a company specialized in ready-to-eat products, is working at full capacity. The flagship products of…

"The Fruit Farm Group's application for protection has no consequences for Greenyard"

Greenyard has noted the publication of articles in the Belgian press, on The Fruit Farm Group, which is in the procedure for judicial reorganisation. The Fruit…

Christophe Vermeulen to be the new CEO of Belgapom and director of FVPhouse

The Board of Directors of Belgapom has unanimously chosen to collaborate with Christophe Vermeulen as the successor to Romain Cools as the CEO of Belgapom. He…

Massimo Savini from RLA

Consumption drops and so does transport

Consumption is decreasing and, as a consequence, so is transport. According to Massimo Savini from RLA, the drop is between 10 and 20% compared to last year, depending on the…

The campaign will last until May 2021

Avocado harvest kicks off in Spain

The month of December is the starting point for the Hass avocado campaign in Spain, which is expected to last until May 2021, and whose results should exceed those of the…

Early bird discount for fruit farmers

Fonkels Fruity line further expanded

Last season, Fonkels introduced various eco-friendly fruit trays. These apple trays and strawberry, cherry, and soft fruit punnets form part of the Fonkels Fruity line. This…

New MSP Onions processing plant running at full steam

"Sometimes we do a few onions"

"Sometimes we do a few onions", says MSP Onions' Lindert Moerdijk - a clear understatement. This clip shows this Dutch company's new onion processing plant currently running…

Campaign kicks off for Spain's largest kiwifruit producer

"The characteristics of green kiwifruit make it the healthiest on the market"

Kiwi Atlántico has already started its new campaign and reports that its fruit is "larger and with excellent flavor." This has been confirmed by the managing director of the…

The Port of Antwerp becomes the gateway to Europe for Ecuadorian bananas

The Port of Antwerp, in Belgium, has become the gateway to Europe for Ecuadorian bananas. In fact, in order to strengthen and promote commercial relations…

Aroas

But with only 700 members out of 170,000 farms

Croatia has 17 producer organisations in eight sectors

At this point in time, Croatia currently has 17 producer organisations in eight sectors but they have only 700 members of a total of 170,000 farms. The process…

Statista

Spain and Netherlands are main German market suppliers of sweet peppers

In 2019, Germany mainly imported peppers from Spain and the Netherlands: Around 215,000 tons of Spanish peppers and 114,000 tons of Dutch peppers were imported. Other…

Lineage Logistics enters Polish Cold Storage Market with acquisition of Pago Sp. z o.o.

Lineage further expands its growing presence in Europe with the acquisition of Pago, Poland’s largest cold storage and logistics provider Lineage Logistics…

Romanian president says food markets will reopen at end of the week

Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has announced that indoor food markets will reopen at the end of this week. About one month ago, the Romanian authorities…

Russia increases fruit and vegetable imports

Imports of fruit and vegetable products to Russia grew by 7% to $5.3 billion year-on-year in the first nine months of 2020. The three main fruit and vegetable…

Morocco's agricultural export campaign off to a good start

The Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture anticipates a promising 2020-2021 export campaign. The indicators show a positive start to the agricultural export season…

Regular Demeter pome fruit program from Argentina

Last week Global Fruit Point successfully renewed its organic audit, which also included an update of the Demeter certification. What began in March last year with the first…

Australia experiences a reduction in fruit consumption during pandemic year as vegetables surge

While there was a growth in the overall take-home consumption of vegetables during the past year, it was a different story for fruit items, according to one of Australia's…

Marcial Hernandez of Pacific Trellis Fruit

Supplies of Chilean cherries to US increase by 140% compared to same time last year

The Chilean cherry season has started, and volumes are up this season. The interest from China is usually very high for the product, but, so far, the supplies sent to the US…

Chinese garlic market grows weaker as export volume declines

The Chinese garlic market has steadily grown weaker since the new harvest entered the market, but the price has not seen major fluctuations. Overseas demand for Chinese garlic…

Gerard Mostert, Betrex, Spain

"This year's lack of tourists affected our imports"

Gerard Mostert is a logistics provider and owns Betrex in Spain. The seasons, therefore, play a part in his business. Fruit and vegetable exports make up more than 80% of…

PMA virtual town hall

Finding, recruiting and maintaining talent in the produce industry

This week’s PMA virtual town hall featured three young individuals at various stages of their careers in the produce industry, who discussed what attracted them to the…

The banana sector would be one of the most affected sectors

EU changes on pesticide MRLs threaten Costa Rica's exports

The European Union's proposal of reducing the maximum residue limits (MRLs) of pesticides in agricultural products will directly impact Costa Rican exports. As a result, Costa…

Plentiful supplies and good retail demand for North America sweet potatoes

Supplies of sweet potatoes are plentiful right now. “They’re good here—I have more than last year. Last year I didn’t make it 12 months with supplies and currently it looks…

The Green House Sussex next step for UK grower Eric Wall Ltd

In 1977 Eric Wall and Hugh Stevenson began growing tomatoes at the Pollards Nursery in Barnham near Chichester, West Sussex on an area of 2.5 acres. Eric Wall…

San Miguel announces Pablo Plá as new CEO starting February 2021

Citrus company San Miguel announced that Pablo Plá will assume the leadership of the company as its new CEO in February 2021. From that date on, Romain…

Pavel Kusmartsev

Andalusian companies exporting to UK increase by 7,8%

The crisis of Covid-19 has caused extensive drops in GDP around the world, especially in the second quarter of the year, due to restrictions on mobility and…

Rainforest Alliance and the concept of Shared Responsibility

Last Friday, November 27, banana producers and exporters unions from 7 Latin American countries convened a tripartite table to which they invited the most…

DSV Panalpina acquires Globeflight

DSV Panalpina will acquire Globeflight Worldwide Express, a South African based courier company. The acquisition includes all Globeflight’s operations in South Africa and…

Organto expands supply of organic limes

Organto Foods Inc., an integrated provider of organic and value-added organic fruits and vegetables today announced the expansion of its organic limes…

Fair Trade USA appoints Ricardo Crisantes as new board chair

Fair Trade USA®, the leading certifier of fair trade products in North America including coffee, produce, consumer packaged goods, apparel, and home goods,…

Chiquita unveils banana-inspired limited-edition art sticker series

Chiquita is celebrating an eclectic range of much-loved classic art by launching an all new, limited-edition sticker series that highlights the brand’s playful, creative…

University of New South Wales

Including fruit and vegetables

University of New South Wales develops robotic 'snake' device that can grip and pick up objects

University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney researchers are exploring ways of handling delicate objects. Their soft fabric robotic gripper behaves like an elephant's trunk to…

Chilean cherry prices stabilize in China after reaching record highs

In early November, some small shipments of early-ripening Chilean cherries began arriving in China, registering record prices of up to 2,000 yuan ($ 304) for…

China International Marine Containers

CMIC - Container shortages results in slew of orders

According to a spokesperson from China International Marine Containers, the world’s largest container manufacturer, the shortage of containers has resulted in…

Import fruit loses Chinese market shares

Domestic fruit becomes more popular with Chinese customers

Seasonal fruits such as oranges, tangerines, apples, pears, and strawberries are all available in the Chinese market. There is more than enough supply. In…

Valentyn75

Republic of Georgia: Growers consider developing pomegranate orchards

Georgia consumes more than one million US dollars-worth of imported pomegranates every season. These fruits are produced locally, some in large-scale orchards.…

Fruit shipments arriving in China are being diverted to Hong Kong due to port congestion

According to a report by The Loadstar, the reinforcement of the inspections of imported products in Chinese ports due to COVID-19 is causing congestion in the…

Luisgea

Lawmakers to debate farm law in effort to defuse blockade

Peruvian farm workers block major road, demanding better wages

Hundreds of workers from agricultural export companies in southern Peru have blocked a key highway in the country's south, stranding dozens of tractor-trailers…

Renzzo

Health benefits of green leafy vegetables, baby greens and microgreens

Vegetables are an essential component of our diet and not getting enough of them can have harmful effects on our health. The US Centres for Disease Control and…

Retail

Dreamstime

Spar: Global partnership with Too Good To Go

Grab and Gojek working out a deal in what would be the biggest internet merger in Southeast Asia

UK: Morrisons follows Tesco in paying business rates during pandemicBritish supermarket group Morrisons joined market leader Tesco in deciding to pay government business rates…

FreshPlaza Funny

Hoop team

BC Produce Marketing Association award recognizes decades of industry service

The British Columbia Produce Marketing Association (BCPMA) recently recognized Oppy’s Chairman, CEO and Managing Partner John Anderson with its Lifetime Achievement award,…