Central Florida – The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and Seald Sweet International sponsored the third annual “Fresh From Florida” farm tour in early March, 2014. The tour is held in cooperation with area growers in an effort to educate fresh produce procurement and merchandising personnel of the Military Produce Group (MPG) regarding the diversity of crops grown on Florida farms.
Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, MPG procures and distributes produce to the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) military commissaries for all eastern US military bases. The commissaries are a core support element of US military families and a valued part of military benefit.
The group of procurement and produce specialists toured a diversity of crops and operations including strawberries at Astin Strawberry Exchange, peaches at Florida Classic Growers, citrus at Seald Sweet’s packing house, Hunt Brothers Cooperative, potatoes at Mack Farms, and mushrooms at Monterrey Mushrooms.
"These farm tours are very beneficial to us. Meeting with our growers and evaluating the crops is so valuable," said Randy Brittain, Director of Procurement for Military Produce Group. "We always come away from these farm tours with opportunities to increase our sales and promotions. This tour is special in that we have our field merchandising specialists with us so they are able to see the sales opportunities first hand and can provide great support at store level. They will also leave with a better perspective and appreciation of what it takes to get these products to their stores."
Education of the procurement and produce specialist teams is an important step in understanding the challenges associated with cold chain supply for both growers as well as produce mangers. From the field to the table, it is imperative we maintain a safe and abundant supply of fresh, high quality produce. Movement of perishable products is a constantly changing business.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services administers marketing efforts on behalf of the state’s agriculture industries through its “Fresh From Florida” program. Florida’s 47,000 farms produce over 300 agricultural commodities.
“Fresh From Florida fruits and vegetables are second to none,” said Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam. “We are proud to partner with the Military Produce Group and Florida-based producers to supply our armed forces with the best Florida has to offer.”
Seald Sweet International, a worldwide marketer of fruits and vegetables based in Vero Beach, FL, has co-sponsored and organized this tour each year. “We are so pleased and very fortunate to have this opportunity again,” says Kim Flores, Director of Marketing at Seald Sweet. “The produce merchandising specialists are very knowledgeable of promoting product at the point of sale. This group of produce buyers and merchandisers are continuously in the retail marketplace daily, working with consumers. They educate us as well on how to better meet consumer’s needs and demands. This is an overall win-win event from several perspectives.”
For more information contact:
Kimberly Flores – kflores@sealdsweet.com
Seald Sweet Corp. Headquarters – Vero Beach, Florida USA
Telephone: (772) 569-2244
Source: Seald Sweet International
