Time to peel away from plastic?

Hello from the Fruitnet newsroom. Fruit stickers have been stuck with the same problem for years. Ok, they give brands great visibility and carry a product’s PLU code, which makes checkout scanning a breeze. But the billions of tiny labels applied to fresh fruits and vegetables around the world amount to a large volume of plastic that cannot feasibly be recycled, and does not break down naturally. Until now.

Late last year, I drove across England to a small industrial estate on the outskirts of Norwich, where I interviewed Tim Watkins of Sinclair International. He was as keen as Colman’s to tell me how the company was testing a new home-compostable label – one that could dissolve environmental concerns by literally decomposing into natural, harmless materials.

A year later, Sinclair seems to have cracked it. The launch of its T55?certified home-compostable?label offers, for the first time, an answer to those environmental concerns. “What took you so long?” my colleague Chris White asks Sinclair’s senior marketing manager Duncan Jones in the latest episode of our podcast Fruitbox, which is out this week. As Jones goes on to explain, these new labels will put the fresh produce business on a more sustainable path. We should stick with them.

More freshly picked stories…

Grove danger ?? Florida’s citrus forecast makes for grim reading. Hurricane Milton dealt growers a devastating blow in October, and their crop is now predicted to be the smallest in over a century. In the past two decades, the industry has been rocked by weather disasters, poor returns, and a debilitating greening outbreak – 80 per cent of Floridian citrus trees are now infected with the disease. As more fruit is lost, the industry’s ability to fund reparative reinvestment is further compromised. And after this latest blowout, the concern is that Florida citrus may have entered a death spiral.

Soft power ?? Maura Maxwell has the scoop on Frutura’s decision to create a new, dedicated berry division. As CEO David Krause explains, it’s a move which should help it to grow faster in soft fruit, a category in which it sees plenty of scope for commercial growth. At the heart of this new division will be the Sun Belle brand and Mexican supplier Giddings Fruit, which California-based Frutura bought last year. And at the helm is JC Clinard, former chief operating officer of Florida berry marketer Wish Farms.

Seeding the market ?? European buyers and consumers want more fresh grapes, and they want them from Europe itself until the end of the year and beyond. That’s the message from Anna Giacovelli of Italian company Giacovelli Group, and it means growers must find a way to extend the end of their season from June “through to December or even January”. It’s a big ask. For a start, to produce grapes so late requires different varieties and more sophisticated growing methods. In a similar vein, Arra’s new red varieties could open similar opportunities for growers in Namibia to supply international markets at the start of the year.

Aotearoa approves ?? New Zealand kiwifruit growers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of Zespri’s plan to increase SunGold production in Europe and Asia. The group could allocate licences for up to 420ha per year over six years in Italy, France, Japan, South Korea and Greece. As a result, we can expect to see more B2C marketing for the yellow-fleshed variety in future.

Core strength ?? Given last week’s BayWa revelations, it’s not a bad time for T&G Global to remind the world how strong its New Zealand apple business remains, especially this year. Returns for its Envy and Jazz apples are the “highest for a number of seasons”, says Shane Kingston, the group’s?newly promoted?chief operating officer for apples. In the UK, locally grown Pink Lady apples are back in the supermarkets thanks to suppliers Worldwide Fruit and Adrian Scripps, who say they are “delighted” with what is only the country’s third ever commercial crop. Worldwide Fruit, which is 50 per cent owned by T&G Global, has officially partnered with the Fresh Produce Journal’s annual Festival of Fresh 2025. The UK’s best fresh produce business event takes place on 5 June at the home of?FreshLinc,?in the vegetable heartland of Spalding and just across the road from?Worldwide Fruit, which will host tours of its cutting-edge facility. More details at fruitnet.com/festivaloffresh

Blue bonds ?? What links Morocco, Spain, Peru, and Chile? Well, blueberries for a start. Morocco expects to produce 80,000 tonnes of the fruit this season, another record crop. To the north, Global Plant Genetics says it has high hopes for its early season low-chill blueberry variety, Tropical Blue, in Spain this season. Almost a thousand kilometres to the north-east in Zaragoza, SanLucar plans to invest €20mn in what traditionally is wine country. It wants to develop production of fruits including blueberries, as well as kiwifruit and table grapes. Across the Atlantic and the Andes to Peru, blueberries and avocados have supercharged the country’s exports: in January to October this year, blueberry shipments were worth US$1.64bn, more than 50 per cent up on the year-earlier period, while avocado exports rose 29 per cent to US$1.23bn. Then south into Chile, where Frutas de Chile general manager Miguel Canala-Echeverría sees an opportunity to ship more fruit to a country he describes as “a new Netherlands”. A country with modern infrastructure and port connections to 77 countries. A country where, by coincidence, Frutas de Chile’s marketing director for Europe, Asia and the Middle East is based. A country which produces a lot of blueberries.

Flying start ?? In the same week that Chile celebrated the official opening of its cherry campaign in China – following the arrival of this season’s first direct shipment of 240 containers in Guangzhou – Garcés Fruit became the first Chilean cherry exporter to catch up with some flying salmon and be recognised as an approved shipper by air transport body DGAC. In Brazil, Bollo Natural Fruit has launched a new ‘melon by plane’ label for air-flown melons grown on its farms and sold in Spain. And the Peruvian authorities have banned certain forms of flight, to protect fresh mango production in Piura.

Document drama ?? UK-based Banana Link has called for migrant workers in the Dominican Republic’s banana industry to be officially documented. It says thousands of them, most from Haiti, face deportation despite complying with regulations. All the while, it adds, the country’s banana export trade has lost market share in Europe due to labour shortages. To the north in the US state of Michigan, the USDA has awarded agricultural economist Zach Rutledge a US$650,000 grant to assess labour challenges in food supply chains and identify potential policy options to alleviate them.

Bio best ?? Sustainability is a noble goal, but its meaning is often muddled and misappropriated. Ethical trade? Healthy food? Climate protection? Financial viability? No wonder the general idea of sustainability as a concept has been stretched out over the past decade. For IPD, it’s about transparency, quality standards and long-term partnerships with producers. For international lobby group Ifoam, it’s about something similar, but centred around organic production. This week, it encouraged the European Commission to define organic agriculture as the best legally regulated sustainability system. Meanwhile, Tom Joyce’s exclusive interview with Ceyhun Gündüz of Turkish exporter Alya Fruits underlines how climate and sustainability are more important with each passing year. “The natural balance that we rely on for agriculture is shifting,” he says, “and these changes make it difficult to plan for the long term.” In Italy, Vog Products says it has made “impressive progress” on its environmental and ethical goals by reducing water consumption, expanding solar energy capacity, and protecting bees. And just down the road, Vip Val Venosta is working hard to cope with increasingly variable yields, the spread of aphids, early blooms, and late frosts.

Taking the lead ?? In Ireland, the Fyffes Fit Squad is back on the campaign trail in search of the country’s fittest school, with the help of Olympic sprinter David Gillick. But, of course, the bigger question is: will Freddy Fyffes turn up for Fruit Logistica’s first-ever official mascot race? The trade fair returns to Berlin on 5-7 February 2025 and is once again set to bring more visitors and exhibitors combined through its doors than any other produce industry exhibition. This year’s event features Startup World, an expanded, three-day showcase of new agtech companies. And the organisers have teamed up with Global Women Fresh and IPD to explore opportunities for women in agriculture, promote innovation, and inspire greater diversity within the fresh produce industry.

Addio Domenico ???? Tributes have been paid to Domenico Scarpellini, founder of the Italian fresh produce trade fair Macfrut and former director of Cesena Wholesale Market, who died last weekend following a long illness.

Still ripe and ready…

Retail division ?? Boy, that escalated quickly. Senior executives at Kroger and Albertsons are coming to terms with the acrimonious collapse of their proposed merger.

Brand equity ?? Our video series The Power of Branding looks at how brands can connect with consumers and make the fresh produce aisle a place of education and interest. Here's the most recent episode.

Thanks for reading…

Mike Knowles, Fruitnet Europe

Fruitnet Citrus Congress reconvenes in Valencia on 25-26 March 2025. As the region recovers from its worst floods in decades, we ask what are the citrus sector’s next steps in Spain and globally. More information at www.fruitnet.com/citruscongress