The Bottom Line No. 6, June 5, 2024 (link to full newsletter)
News (from this issue)
Market News: Stop & Shop to close underperforming stores
In an investor presentation at the end of May, Dutch-based retailer Ahold Delhaize said it plans to close an undisclosed number of its Stop & Shop U.S. store locations due to underperformance. Stop & Shop has stores in New York (100), New Jersey (57), Massachusetts (125), Connecticut (88) and Rhode Island (27).
The company has organized its strategy for revitalizing Stop & Shop around three core initiatives: improving the chain’s cost structure, optimizing its store fleet and bringing down costs for shoppers.
Ahold Delhaize owns more than 7,000 food stores in the U.S. and Europe, including the Giant Company, Giant Food, Food Lion, and Hannaford. It did not share any plans to realign or close any of these chains’ locations.
Market Trends in Produce
According to a consumer trends article in Supermarket News “How to Position produce for a growth spurt” (May 17, 2024) waste-conscious shoppers are seeking items with longer shelf lives. They are purchasing fewer value-added selections that have shorter lifespans following preparation, including sliced apples and mushrooms; cut watermelon and pineapple; and diced onions.
In a related article in The Packer, cabbage (a vegetable with a good shelf-life) purchases are up. 37% of consumers reported cabbage purchases in the past 12 months compared to 34% in a 2022 survey. “With almost 7 in 10 consumers saying they buy a larger variety of fresh produce today than they did 20 years ago, 24.5% named cabbage as an item they now purchase after not having done so previously, according to Fresh Trends 2024.”
Two schools in June to learn about new crops
Looking for a new crop for your farm? What about honeyberries or rice? There are two statewide schools sponsored by Cornell University for these crops at the end of June.
Rice in the Northeast Farm School will be held on June 27-28 at Boundbrook Farm in Vergennes, VT. Learn how to start a rice farm with rice varieties and technology adapted to the Northeastern U.S climate, growing conditions, and farming landscape. Learn about field preparation, duck-rice systems, drip-irrigation biomulching, crop varieties, harvesting, processing, and marketing.
NYS Honeyberry Conference will be on Saturday, June 29th from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Mexico, NY. Honeyberries (also known as Haskaps) ripen from the middle of June through early July, which allows the fruit to sit comfortably between the strawberry and blueberry season. When fully mature, they can produce 6 to 10 lbs. of berries that can be eaten as a fresh fruit or made into value-added products. Recently, improved cultivars have allowed a niche industry to form, and there is much interest in establishing this fruit as a specialty crop. The conference will cover the history of the fruit, best growing practices, processing, value-added production, and marketing. Guest speakers will include growers and researchers from the US and Canada, including Dr. Bob Bors, a leading honeyberry breeder from the University of Saskatchewan. Attendees can also network and attend an optional farm tour immediately after the conference.