Orlando, Florida, USA
October 20, 2016

Agrolibano’s Founder and President Miguel Molina Sr. and Chief Operating Officer Oscar Molina receiving their innovative jewels.

The Produce Marketing Association's 67th annual Fresh Summit Convention & Expo, Oct. 14-16 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL, set a new East Coast record for attendance with a total number of 20,889 attendees from 65 countries.

The PMA event is a platform for industry leaders to exhibit new products, establish market trends, as well as, create opportunities to reinforce connections. The vegetable seeds division of Bayer was well represented with a focus on Melon and Watermelon Crops and showcasing themselves as a market leader within their products.

The strengths of the Melon and Watermelon categories within the NAFTA regions were highlighted through a booth space which focused on three main innovative products. These three products are revered as the “Jewels” of their categories: Premium Watermelon, Golden Cantaloupe and Crispy Pear Melon. This high value concept allowed for customers to envision these products as precious jewels to the industry. Many customers received ‘jewelry’ boxes to signify partnership and inspire novelty.

“PCH customers were delighted with the well-planned and executed product-centric booth #383 at PMA Fresh Summit. For many customers who cannot attend our Field Days, the PMA Fresh Summit is a great venue to learn about our company and the value of our partnership. The Jewels of Nunhems theme not only introduced customers to our high value genetics, but for many customers provided a fresh prospective to the value we provide in software and brainware.

Golden Cantaloupes with its consistent quality and golden skin indicator, placing this melon on the radar for not only with traditional retailers, but also the growing market of online retail stores. This product was also displayed in an additional booth space by a partnered company. This melon will be a game changer within both the marketplace and growing regions.

Attending members of the PMA team: Kenny Futch, Beth Ruman, Hema Abichandani, Rob Beets, Emily Stirlen and Russ Beckham.

As we learned during the expo, several direct customers are embracing Premium Watermelon. The success of Premium with several market innovators is changing the perception of Premium as just a seeded watermelon replacement. During the show Central American and Mexican Customers met with the team to discuss Premium as a potential replacement for mini watermelon. This is an exciting step and together with Ludwig Hernandez & Erik Padilla, we are working to not only tackle agronomic challenges, but provide marketing solutions to the sales force of each company.

Our last jewel on display, Crispy Pear, was the star of the show. Eating and showing exceptionally well, customers commented on the look and flavor of this melon. To highlight how special this melon truly is, one customer wanted to inquire about placing a big order! As we discuss our strategic marketing options for this melon in coming years, we were showing at this event Crispy Pear to a diverse set of customers. As we build a consortium of retailers, look for this jewel in stores in very short order.” Matt Deceault, Produce Chain Specialist Melon & Watermelon.

Beyond highlighting product, opportunity to network multinational was instigated with emphasis by the attending team. PMA held attendance that represented 65 countries; the vegetable seeds division of Bayer concentrated on many customers from these attending countries.

Ludwig Hernandez, Melon Product Specialist for Central American speaks about his experience for his region. “PMA was a big opportunity to meet with our customers and show to them our product jewels and support our promise towards innovation to help solve problems in their farm and in the market at the same time. We are bringing back the pleasure of eating good melons and watermelons produced in tropical conditions. The main Growers in the region are fully committed with us because we are specialists in the crops and have the ability of create innovation to the market. Finally, our participation as a team which included Global Heads, Management, Sales Specialists, Product Chain and Marketing brought significance to the customer to reinforce our market leading status, as well as, within the industry that ultimately enforced our message of “Strength in Nunhems”.”

“Since the PMA involves the main actor of the industries around the world, it was very exciting to see how many attendees were interested in increasing or in starting new business. Mexico has been becoming very important for producing melons and watermelons. More and more customers are looking for windows of opportunities, enhanced products and openings to move their productions. Being a part of the PMA, allows us to make the right contacts between the grower and buyers to increase our business and relationships. From the other side, showing our products and focusing on specialties like we did this time, gives us also an opportunity to catch the attention of potential growers from Mexico and other countries.” Erik Padilla, Sales Specialist Melon & Watermelon

An open door to the industry is a key element to building new relationships and also reinforcing current ones, the PMA offers this to exhibitors and attendees. The vegetable seeds division of Bayer took advantage of this open door to strengthen relationships with customers and utilized the podium to continue to build position in the market. To be surrounded by the industry, to be in front of the customer and at the same time promoting innovation is a unique opportunity and was a place for great success within Melon and Watermelon crops for Bayer.

“The melon and watermelon crop team’s main focus always is the customer, we have to be where our customers are, where the industry is taking decisions and to show we are a leader. Customer satisfaction was extremely evident and our team presented themselves to our customers as true partners. Looking forward to being in New Orleans next year with this event to continue the work we have done at this PMA event.” Paco Gonzalez, Global Head of Marketing & Sales Cucurbits.

Website: http://www.nunhems.com

Published: October 20, 2016