National trade associations have historically played a critical and influential role in the produce industry.
They have provided training and market support tools for all segments of the supply chain and a “voice” for the produce industry at the national level on regulatory and trade issues. And their respective trade shows have been “must attend” events for buyers and sellers to interact.
For me, their most important role has been bringing industry leaders together in a setting where issues impacting the industry on a national level can be identified, discussed, and resolutions created to address these concerns.
Forums such as task forces, division boards, and boards of directors enabled industry leaders to take off their “company hats” and put on their “industry hats” to forge action plans to resolve issues affecting the produce supply chain.
Make no mistake about it: the leaders I was privileged to know and collaborate with during my time in trade association leadership were fierce competitors for market share. Competing with Vons, Safeway, Albertsons, Kroger, HEB, Publix, Dominick’s, and others was no small task.
They were outstanding merchants with a passion for the produce industry; but they also recognized coming together to solve difficult issues at a national level benefitted their companies as well as their competitors.
“A rising tide lifts all ships” was a principle embraced by these volunteer leaders who, while having an uncompromising dedication to their respective companies, also wanted to help elevate the industry as a whole. Issues such as standardized PLU codes and pallets, RPCs, technology training, country of origin labeling, and the Produce for Better Health Foundation are just a few that came to fruition.
And it wasn’t just retail leadership involved in these discussions: the foodservice sector had top level representation and senior leaders from major suppliers and growers highlighted the impact of initiatives on the supply chain.
And when a particular direction was to be undertaken, all were assured that the unified retail support to adopt new initiatives would, in fact, happen. Leaders had the clout to go back to their respective organizations and implement change.
Three important things took place at the national leadership level: (1) issues were identified and given focus; (2) collaboration and discussion crafted resolutions and a sense of direction; and (3) implementation took place in a significant portion of the supply chain’s distribution channels.
Said another way—things happened.
Today, things are different at the leadership level. Because of concentration within the retail sector with fewer companies and many being publicly held, their representation, along with foodservice distributors, is either nonexistent or held by more junior members of their leadership teams.
This is not to say these individuals are not capable, intelligent people, but they do not have the clout in their respective companies to enact significant change. Also, due to the nature of publicly held companies, their senior leaders are not as visible to the trade press as was once the case.
As a result, the “voice” the industry hears most often is the staff of trade associations. Again, there are many capable individuals, but they don’t have the ability to enact initiatives in the marketplace.
So instead of a singular focus on a national issue, we hear plenty of comments on interesting yet relatively not impactful events domestically and internationally. From a marketing standpoint, I suppose there’s value to being perceived as cutting edge, but the need is to identify and resolve pressing industry issues.
It takes engaged and influential leadership at the volunteer level to make this happen. In our ever-changing produce industry, it will be interesting to see how today’s volunteer leadership will determine the direction of the industry.
National trade associations have historically played a critical and influential role in the produce industry.
They have provided training and market support tools for all segments of the supply chain and a “voice” for the produce industry at the national level on regulatory and trade issues. And their respective trade shows have been “must attend” events for buyers and sellers to interact.
For me, their most important role has been bringing industry leaders together in a setting where issues impacting the industry on a national level can be identified, discussed, and resolutions created to address these concerns.
Forums such as task forces, division boards, and boards of directors enabled industry leaders to take off their “company hats” and put on their “industry hats” to forge action plans to resolve issues affecting the produce supply chain.
Make no mistake about it: the leaders I was privileged to know and collaborate with during my time in trade association leadership were fierce competitors for market share. Competing with Vons, Safeway, Albertsons, Kroger, HEB, Publix, Dominick’s, and others was no small task.
They were outstanding merchants with a passion for the produce industry; but they also recognized coming together to solve difficult issues at a national level benefitted their companies as well as their competitors.
“A rising tide lifts all ships” was a principle embraced by these volunteer leaders who, while having an uncompromising dedication to their respective companies, also wanted to help elevate the industry as a whole. Issues such as standardized PLU codes and pallets, RPCs, technology training, country of origin labeling, and the Produce for Better Health Foundation are just a few that came to fruition.
And it wasn’t just retail leadership involved in these discussions: the foodservice sector had top level representation and senior leaders from major suppliers and growers highlighted the impact of initiatives on the supply chain.
And when a particular direction was to be undertaken, all were assured that the unified retail support to adopt new initiatives would, in fact, happen. Leaders had the clout to go back to their respective organizations and implement change.
Three important things took place at the national leadership level: (1) issues were identified and given focus; (2) collaboration and discussion crafted resolutions and a sense of direction; and (3) implementation took place in a significant portion of the supply chain’s distribution channels.
Said another way—things happened.
Today, things are different at the leadership level. Because of concentration within the retail sector with fewer companies and many being publicly held, their representation, along with foodservice distributors, is either nonexistent or held by more junior members of their leadership teams.
This is not to say these individuals are not capable, intelligent people, but they do not have the clout in their respective companies to enact significant change. Also, due to the nature of publicly held companies, their senior leaders are not as visible to the trade press as was once the case.
As a result, the “voice” the industry hears most often is the staff of trade associations. Again, there are many capable individuals, but they don’t have the ability to enact initiatives in the marketplace.
So instead of a singular focus on a national issue, we hear plenty of comments on interesting yet relatively not impactful events domestically and internationally. From a marketing standpoint, I suppose there’s value to being perceived as cutting edge, but the need is to identify and resolve pressing industry issues.
It takes engaged and influential leadership at the volunteer level to make this happen. In our ever-changing produce industry, it will be interesting to see how today’s volunteer leadership will determine the direction of the industry.
Bruce Peterson is the founder and president of Peterson Insights, Inc., a consulting company specializing in the complex challenges of the fresh food industry. Peterson began his career bagging groceries, and went on to work for several supermarket chains, including 17 years at Walmart Stores, Inc. He has owned and operated a wholesale produce company and served as chief executive officer of both Naturipe Foods LLC and Bland Farms.
