Supermarket Perimeter - January 2020 - 43

varieties that grow as a whole head, instead of individual leaves, and
stay in the ground almost twice as long as our baby leaf lettuces," Harris
says. "This allows them to develop more crunchy texture and sweeter
taste."
The multi-leaf lettuce that Earthbound Farm is most excited about is
its red baby butter, which launched in 2018 and Harris says is a star on
its own and mixed into some of the company's salad blends.
"Look for Earthbound Farm to return to our roots with some heritage
branding hitting the stores in early 2020," she adds.

Stemilt Growers has
been growing organic
fruit for 30 years.

Demand for organic fruit surging
Stemilt Growers LLC, Wenatchee, Washington, recently celebrated
the 30th anniversary of growing organic fruit under its Artisan
Organics brand.
"Not many can say they've been organic that long, but it was something our founder believed in and a big focus that his grandsons, who
lead the company today, have continued to advocate for," says Brianna
Shales, senior marketing manager for Stemilt.
Stemilt heavily promotes its Artisan Organics apples during the
winter and spring seasons, and nearly all year long. The company also
markets its Artisan Organics cherries, peaches and nectarines in the
summer months.
About 40% of Stemilt's Honeycrisp apple crop is grown and certiﬁed
organic, Shales says.
"We also have a good share of organic fuji, pinata, pink lady and
SweeTango apples (though SweeTango will be out of season until it
harvests again in August 2020)," she adds.
Jim Grabowski, director of marketing for Watsonville, Californiabased Well-Pict Inc. says this year, the company will be offering retailers
its organic strawberries packaged in 1-pound and 2-pound clamshell
containers.
"For winter and spring, we will offer our organic strawberries from
Florida (our ﬁrst year doing so) as well as organic strawberries from our
ﬁelds in Oxnard, California," he says. "So far, both regions are experiencing good growing conditions."
Grabowski says organic produce sales are still going strong, though
they have leveled off a bit from the large sales gains made three to ﬁve
years ago.
From January until April, The Oppenheimer Group, Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada, will focus on promoting its marquee-brand organic
apples JAZZ and Envy.
"Both of these delicious varieties have great supply and have had
a tremendous growing season last year in terms of the fruit coming
to certiﬁcation," says Karin Gardner, executive director of marketing
for Oppy.
"In 2020, we are looking forward to year-round supply of Ocean
Spray organic strawberries and blueberries, as well as a year-round
organic hothouse category with Divemex and OriginO, and of course,
our always exceptional Zespri kiwifruit program," she adds.
Chuck Sinks, president of sales and marketing for Sage Fruit, Yakima,
Washington, says this year, the company will be promoting several
organic commodities including apples, pears, cherries and stone fruit.
"Currently, our focus remains on apples and pears, given we are only
in the early part of the 2020 season; harvest for these items recently

concluded," he says, featuring varieties such as red delicious, granny
smith, gala, fuji, pink lady and Honeycrisp apples; and bosc, anjou and
bartlett pears.
New this season, Sage Fruit has partnered with Apeel Sciences.
"In doing this, our organic apples are treated with Apeel, a plantbased solution, to help reduce moisture loss on the retail shelf and
provide consumers with a better, more crisp and ﬂavorful eating experience," Sinks says. "We are treating numerous mainstream organic apple
varieties including gala, fuji, Honeycrisp, granny smith and pink lady.
We're the ﬁrst, and currently the only, apple shipper to offering Apeeltreated product."
In 2020, Los Angeles-based Giumarra Cos. plans to heavily promote
organic apples, avocados, bell peppers, pears, squash and tomatoes,
says Gary Caloroso, business development director for the company.
"Organic avocados, bell peppers, squash and tomatoes are ideal to
promote during the winter and the spring," he says. "The winter is also
a good time for our organic kiwifruit. We have great success with our
organic apples and pears - particularly during the spring and summer."

Organic trends
Mayra Velazquez de Leon, president and CEO for Organics Unlimited
Inc., San Diego, says current consumer trends are all about sustainability and social responsibility, taking care of the environment and
our health.
"Buying organic has become a way of life and Organics Unlimited is
sustainable across the board: We grow organic, have the lowest carbon
footprint and are socially responsible with our GROW label," she says
about the organic banana wholesaler with year-round production.
Shales of Stemilt says the growth in volume of organic Honeycrisp is
allowing for active promotion of the consumer favorite.
The company offers its long-standing 3-pound pouch bag program
- Lil Snappers - which markets kid-size fruit to parents and kids, and a
5-pound pouch bag for Organic Apple Lovers.
"The industry too often promotes organic apples in smaller bag sizes
to keep retail prices down," she says. "With a larger crop of organics and

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