Pundit’s Mailbag — Joint Response To Produce Traceability Cost Concerns
This is in regards to your January 29, 2009 story, Is Produce Traceability Initiative Worth the Investment? in which you ran a letter addressed to Dr. David Gombas from Greg Fritz. We are glad that Greg raised his questions, and while Dr. Gombas contacted Greg directly, CPMA, PMA and United Fresh wanted to share our […]
'Professor' Bruce Peterson Talks About Traceability, Immigration, Transportation and Water Utilization
Since its founding, the Pundit been honored to play a role on the faculty of the United Fresh/Cornell University Produce Executive Development Program. It is really an incredible program. Set on the Ivy League campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, the setting requires a trek for many in the industry. Yet our experience […]
Perishable Thoughts —
Taking A Stand On Presidential Language
“I’m frustrated with myself, with our team…I’m here on television saying I screwed up…” — President Barack Obama Interview with NBC’s Brian WilliamsFebruary 3, 2009 Political leaders are not just responsible for enacting policies; through their conduct they affect the tone of political discourse in the country and the manners and mores that define the […]
Headstrong Tesco Claims Success
With 98-Cent Fresh & Easy Line
As part of our in-depth analysis of Tesco’s journey to America in the form of Fresh & Easy, we recently ran a piece titled, Fresh & Easy’s 98-cent Sale Causes More Consumer Confusion. As part of that piece, we ran the assessment of a noted retail produce expert: Fresh & Easy currently has a big […]
Pundit’s Mailbag — After Avocadogate,
A Closer Look At Boards Of Directors
We first discussed the issues surrounding the allegations of financial improprieties at the California Avocado Commission with a piece titled, Audit Of California Avocado Commission Raises Questions Of Use Of Funds And Governance Policies. This was quickly followed with Pundit’s Mailbag — Lesson From Avocadogate: You Get What You Tolerate, in which we compared the […]
Pundit’s Mailbag — Organic Industry’s
‘Situational’ Standard
Our piece, ‘Spiked’ Organic Fertilizer Raises Consumer Doubts About Organic Definition, brought a number of responses. One pithy note came in response to a point we made comparing a violation of kosher requirements with a violation of organic standards. As we wrote: It is not really a question of evil intent or not; it is […]
Pundit’s Mailbag — More Credit For Banks, More Debt For Families
As the industry and the nation mull over the matter of a giant national stimulus program, we might do well to turn to the wisdom of Joe McGuire. We’ve quoted Joe before — in this piece, where he spoke of “special interests,” and in this piece, where he accused the Pundit of being excessively socialist. […]
Advice For Republicans:
Seize The High Ground
The debate over President Obama’s stimulus proposal is gaining traction as people come to see it as a grab-bag of special-interest projects the Democrats are trying to push through without scrutiny. So when Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Senate Minority Leader, proposes modifying the stimulus bill with specific plans of interest to specific industries or interest […]
Perishable Thoughts —
Urgency Of Desire
Steve Travis, Director of Sales and Business Development for Hartmann Foods, a Snoqualmie, Washington-headquartered distributor and importer of fruits and asparagus, had earlier sent in a quote from Colin Powell that we used in our Perishable Thoughts section. We owe Steve another hat tip for sending along this quote: “Without a sense of urgency, desire […]
Peterson Steps Down As President/CEO Of Naturipe, But Joins Its Board Of Directors
The man who built the largest produce operation in the world is going to be a focus of interest for this industry for a very long time. When we first announced Wal-Mart’s Bruce Peterson Resigns, the industry was dumbstruck as company after company recalled meeting with him when Wal-Mart had seven, eight, nine supercenters and […]
