Food Continued from Page 11
quick-serve, casual dining are going to be able to weather this. The independent, fine-dining restaurants with creative chefs will come back.” Experience from the other side of the world suggests that when sit-down restaurants do come back, they may recover quickly, according to Michael Simonetta, CEO of Perfection Fresh, an Australiangrower, processor andmarket- er of fresh fruits and vegetables. “I have friends who run restaurants, and they tell me they have been having record weeks, better than Christmas,” Simonetta said. The uncertainty and the shifts in what produce items they need, and in what volume, have led restaurant oper- ators to rely on relationships with their produce suppliers. “More than ever, we’ve had to lean on our partners like Lipman Family Farms, Taylor Farms andCalavo,” Londono said. “We’ve shared the losseswith some of our vendors, but we didn’t have to throw any milk away.” Grower-shippers at the conference also noted the spirit of cooperation that has developed between food-service op- erators and produce farmers who share supply chain uncertainty. “The collaboration is much like with food safety,” said Kent Shoemaker, CEO
at Florida-based Lipman Family Farms, which grows tomatoes and other pro- duce. “We all rise or fall together.” As food-service operators adjust to their next changes, they said theywill rely on their farmer-suppliers to help them make changes on the fly. One consequence of these closer rela- tionships: Many food-service operators said they havebecomemore conscious of their own diversity andmay be expecting the same of their suppliers. “We look at the makeup of the leader- ship of our suppliers, from the vice pres- ident up,” Kartzman said.
Other operators also advised they ex- pect their suppliers to join themin taking a closer look at the diversity of their lead- ership teams. “If you are in a leadership meeting and you look around the room and everyone looks the same, you have to seek a change,” Chance said. “You have to see genders and races repre- sented. . . . We’ve never tracked that from a supplier management view- point, but it’s going to be an impera- tive moving forward.” ( Bo b J o hn s o n i s a r e p o r t e r i n Sacramento. He may be contacted at bjohn11135@gmail.com.)
thinkingmore creatively in terms of how they do things. We’re learning quickly.” A few national restaurant outlets have done particularly wel l during the pandemic, they said, by offering people ways of getting their food from a safe distance. “The success Chipotle has had the last few months has been because of our technology platform,” said Carlos Londono, supply chain vice president for Chipotle Mexican Grill. “We launched our app, and you can come and pick up your order without spending four or five minutes in the drive-thru. Pickup and delivery are here to stay.” Other food-service operators have also developed ways for people to pick up a meal without going more than a few feet into the restaurant, and Londono said he believes that systemwill flourish after the pandemic ends. National restaurant chains that can offer drive-thru or pickup service with ordering via the internet have survived the pandemic best, and likely will come out the other side strengthened by their experience with new ways of delivering meals, speakers said. “I don’t think we’re going to know the future of in-restaurant dining for quite some time,” Kartzman said. “We in
Aphid-control insecticide enters California market
A new insecticide to control aphids has been registered by the California Department of Pesticide Registration. Versys, manufactured by BASF, has been approved for use in California on crops including Brassicas and cole crops, leaf and stemvegetables, pome fruit and stone fruit. BASF said Versys uses the active ingre- dient Inscalis, which disrupts the sen- sory responses of target insects to stop their feeding. The manufacturer said it has been classified by the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee as the only member of a new mode-of-action subgroup 9D.
Chad Asmus, BASF product manager for specialty crop insecticides, said oth- er features of the “unique set of bene- fits” offered by Versys include fast onset of action; preservation of beneficial in- sects for integrated pest management ; and no pollinator restrictions. Versys became the second insecticide with the Inscalis active ingredient ap- proved by DPR, joining the BASF prod- uct Sefina that was registered in June for control of piercing and sucking insects in a variety of row and specialty crops. For more information about Versys, see agriculture.basf.us/crop-protection/ products/versys.html.
The Produce Safety Rule is Here; ARE YOU READY?
Farm Employers Labor Service (FELS), an affiliated company of the California Farm Bureau Federation (CFBF), has partnered with the Safe Food Alliance through a California Department of Food and Agriculture grant contract, as their designated training provider for Central and Southern California, to conduct the required Produce Safety training for growers. Presented in a free two-day remote delivery webinar format! What sets Safe Food Alliance, FELS, and Farm Bureau apart is their total of over 100 years of experience and our dedication to providing technical guidance and leadership to the California agriculture community. Most farms are required to have at least one designated supervisor who has been trained in accordance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety rule. Upon completion of the course, attendees will receive an official certificate from the Association of Food & Drug Officials.
JOIN
C ALIFORNIA T OMATO G ROWERS A SSOCIATION
Working on behalf of Processed Tomato Growers STRONGER TOGETHER! For more information on joining CTGA
The Food Safety Training Partnership is offering these training courses throughout California. You can find more information and register at foodsafetytrainingpartnership.com, or call 916-561-5672. Supported by California Department of Food and Agriculture
MIKE MONTNA 916-925-0225
12 Ag Alert August 19, 2020
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