The move to finally merge PMA and United Fresh took place during a long period of consolidation in food and agriculture associations, both regional and national, over the past 15 years.
In many industry segments, merging seemed to be the best solution for maximizing effectiveness and efficiency and reducing duplication of efforts.
The United Fresh Produce Association itself was formed in 2006 through the merger of the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association and the International Fresh-Cut Produce Association.
Around the same time, in 2007, the Food Products Association and the Grocery Manufacturers of America merged and became the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which has been called the Consumer Brands Association since 2020.
The mid-2010s were another period of consolidation, with notable mergers in food and ag associations like the Agribusiness Council of Indiana and Indiana Seed Trade Association in 2018, continuing as the Agribusiness Council of Indiana, while the Michigan Grocers Association and the Michigan Retailers Association also merged, with the former becoming a division of the latter.
Not all of the food-industry merger plans were completed successfully.
The Retailer-Owned Food Distributors & Associates announced it was merging with the National Grocers Association BB #:163424 in 2019, but the merger was put on hold in 2020 and the two organizations remain separate.
The fresh produce industry associations were also unable to complete their attempts at merging until the International Fresh Produce Association BB #:378962 finally came into being in 2022.
The most recent attempt was a decade ago, falling apart in July 2012 after 18 months of negotiations. United Fresh and PMA had also been in merger discussions twice before, in the early 1990s and the early 2000s, but nothing ultimately came of those attempts.
This is an excerpt from the cover story in the September/October 2023 issue of Produce Blueprints Magazine. Click here to read the whole issue.
