Richard Broadwith can find carrots presented 20 different ways at his local grocer.
“What the retailer is trying to do is put different products together to appeal to different shopper interests,” he told delegates gathered for the Saskatchewan Greenhouse and Vegetable Growers conference Nov. 10-12 in Saskatoon.
Broadwith of BCI Marketing Partners believes that trend offers growers new opportunities in convenience foods like ready-to-eat bagged salad fixings, vegetables and dip, and baby carrots.
“It’s an opportunity to add value. It’s more work for the growers and more money,” he said, citing the $12 per kilogram price charged for packaged salads and snack packs in stores.
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Broadwith believes producer organizations could work with retailers to supply a range of options for consumers, noting independent retailers are already doing this in Ontario.
He said the food industry is migrating to extremes, citing large wholesale stores that offer pianos alongside produce and smaller stores that sell locally produced goods or cater to ethnic marketplaces.
Broadwith cited examples from around the world like a New Zealand store that offers a chef to help shoppers design a dinner menu from items purchased in the store.
Weekly box deliveries of locally produced vegetables and high-end downtown shops offering valet parking are other examples of new shopping experiences.
One Ontario grower went from grower to U-pick/we-pick to branded retail products to an apple pastry product now distributed internationally, he said.
The marketplace is experiencing trends toward one-shot (vegetable/fruit) drinks, fruit and vegetable-based beauty products and organics.
“Organic is absolutely mainstream and growing 20 percent a year,” said Broadwith.
Tapping into new opportunities involves figuring out what consumers want and developing it, he said.
“Those things take time, it’s a journey,” said Broadwith.
Joan Merrill of Robertson Valley Farms near Saskatoon said that journey includes gathering more than the anecdotal information they now have about their market garden customers. She said there are big gaps of knowledge in the Saskatchewan marketplace.
“We don’t know about the people who aren’t coming,” she said.
Merrill said sales are strong for prepared and semi-prepared goods offered at their farm, and people are prepared to pay a premium.
“We have to balance the cost of production versus the extra work,” she said, noting producers often don’t factor in their own unpaid labour.
Her farm’s approach is to present a professionally run operation, with an emphasis on good presentation.
“Part of the interest in food is in appearance,” she said.
