Special Report Apples
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pples as a crop may never completely separate from its connotations of the American frontier, but today’s growers are anything but representative of that slower-paced agricultural life from a different era. Apple suppliers now occupy a full spectrum of industry ranging from the agrarian to the high tech, from continuing to innovate more apple varieties, to meeting consumer demand for sustainable—yet, Covid-safe—packaging, from convincing the public to eat more apples while markets are giving more shelf space to imported, exotic fruits, to figuring out the best way to reach their target audiences and working with retailers to get those points across. “Sage Fruit is committed to providing the highest quality product and service to our customers, and we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of technology and innovation,” said Chuck Sinks, President, Sage Fruit. “We successfully provide a one-stop shop for our partners that includes conventional and organic apples, pears and cherries. As we work to keep our retail partners ahead of the curve, we are currently testing more environmentally friendly packaging that we know their consumers are demanding.” Founded in 1934, Starr Ranch Growers has kept pace with new technologies and demand as well. “Starr Ranch Growers is one of the original apple growers out here in Washington state,” said Brent Shammo, National Marketing Representative for Starr Ranch Growers. “We have continuously improved our business with new varieties, more sustainable and fully recyclable packaging, updated tech in our packing sheds and out in the orchards, and countless innovative solutions to meet an ever-changing consumer.” FirstFruits Marketing of Washington is currently making great headway with its Opal variety, said General Manager Chuck Zeutenhorst, but getting this innovation into the hands—and stomachs—of consumers demands a high level of execution, he said. “By execution, I mean all areas of your company are executing at a very high level. We’ve PG 8 / GR O C E R Y I N S I G H T
had to change and up our game on the farming level, on the storage level, on the packing level, and on the sales and marketing level and ultimately into the retailer where you’re executing through your entire process to create a value to the end consumer that every time he picks up an apple, he has a good eating experience. That’s our goal every day.” Further compounding the various needs that apple growers are trying to meet are consumers’ concerns for product safety, overall ethical business practices and sustainability, often conveyed through the retailers they patronize. It wasn’t like this a few decades ago, said Zeutenhorst. “The retailer now wants to make sure we’re taking care of our employees appropriately. They want to make sure we’re taking care of the land appropriately, judicious use of electricity, integrated pest management programs and on and on and on. It’s just become much more interrelated between us and them. It’s become much more of a partnership than just a sales experience, them buying product from us.” Starr Ranch Growers sustains its partnerships, in part, with relevant point of sale material, social media campaigns and its website, said Shammo. "Explaining how all our varieties are naturally cross pollinated and how our new sustainable packaging helps the environment are key to giving the customers a great eating experience and letting them know we are all doing our part to protect the environment. Customers are also realizing that we have a lot of great varieties out there that eat better than some of the older varieties which leads to newer apples like the Juici, Envy, Honeycrisp leading the category in growth,” he said. As all apple growers find ways to encourage greater consumption of apples, Sage Fruit is embarking on a “Good Health in Hand” campaign for its retail partners for next year’s apple season to highlight the healthy attributes of apples, Sinks said. The company continues to explore packaging options that meet consumers’ demands for more sustainable options even while keeping them safe in the era of Covid. “There was an
increase in demand for bagged product over the last year and a half, and while it’s leveling out now, we expect to see a higher number of bags on retail shelves than what we would have seen five years ago,” he said. To protect the integrity of its apples, Sage Fruit will continue to offer Apeel-treated organic apples next season, Sinks said. “Utilizing Apeel technology, we create a barrier on the fruit that helps prevent moisture loss and keeps product fresher for longer,” he said. “Our goal is to provide our customers, and their consumers, with increased availability of premium organic apples.” While Apeel is a plant-derived coating, the use of an external ingredient to treat the apples may turn some consumers off, and this is where Zeutenhorst said consumer education is so important. “We do a lot of organic farming here,” he said. “It’s incredibly regulated. One of the central themes for us as growers is to let people know how involved we are as companies. There’s this generalized idea that we sit out here trying to do negative things to the environment or whatever else. Absolutely not true. We live in these areas. Our families are in these areas, and we work hard every day to produce really safe products for the US consumer and beyond. That’s a huge, huge thing not only in apples but in produce, is bridging that gap between the producer, the grower and the consumer for there to be an understanding of what’s going on, not only how safe their produce items are, but the amount of effort that goes in to making an apple or a potato or onion or whatever else.” For Starr Ranch Growers, the effort also includes a concerted effort to improve packaging. “New, sustainable packaging from corrugated cardboard consumer packs that use no plastic to our new 100 percent recyclable HiC2 #2 pouch bags have helped us to become a leader in innovative packaging for the apple/pear/cherry category,” said Shammo. “We are continuously innovating and changing our orchards to match customer demands for great tasting apples.”
