How and why did you become involved with the PMA?

I saw an ad for the position of vice-president of member programmes at the PMA on the internet, and I have to say it intrigued me.

By that stage of my career, I had worked in a number of marketing roles in Washington DC, including one for the Direct Marketing Association and one for a financial analyst association that saw me spend a lot of time in London. When I saw this ad for the PMA, which is based in Delaware, I was actually working as a special adviser to high-tech start-up projects.

I have been very fortunate throughout my career in that I have never had to work for a company I didn’t believe in, so I’ve never had to compromise any of my values, but working for the PMA really appealed to me for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I was raised on a farm in North Carolina, so the idea of working in the produce industry was intriguing. Secondly, on a more personal level, I was spending most of my kids’ childhoods on an aeroplane, and wanted to change this.

What really convinced me that this was a great company to work for was that it was able to pull together its annual summit just four weeks after 9/11. This courage and determination in the face of adversity showed me that this was one firm based on solid foundations and real passion and commitment.

Accepting the role was therefore a decision made for the sake of both my career and my family - and it turned out to be a great one on both levels. The opportunity to contribute to such a great organisation was fantastic. I was the first vice-president they hired from outside the organisation, and one year after I started there was a structural reorganisation and I got promoted to senior vice-president, the position I hold today.

When you visited London to speak at the Re:fresh Conference on May 10, I understand you took the opportunity to tour some of the UK’s retail outlets. What similarities do you notice between the UK and US produce industries?

It is always the similarities between our two industries that strike me before the differences. It is the quality of people you meet in this business that makes it so distinctive, and their passion and commitment to drive consumption, with schemes like 5 A DAY. There is much more confidence now with regard to boosting consumption in both countries.

We face similar challenges, such as transportation, rising fuel costs, increasing food-safety standards and regulatory challenges. Buyer-seller relationships also run along a parallel vein.

On the other hand, what differences stand out?

The biggest difference between our two industries is the sales method of fresh produce. In the US, we have more retail buyers, and fresh produce sales are split almost evenly between retail and foodservice.

The US industry is also incredibly vast, and some of the traceability and technology challenges we face are exacerbated by this. Something that really impressed me in the UK was the visible traceability on fresh produce packaging - for example, the labels that link a product to a particular grower or company. With the exception of some of the larger companies, the US industry has not yet achieved this level of traceability, but from a food-safety standpoint, it is undoubtedly something we will be forced to implement. If we want to boost consumer confidence, enhancing our ability to trace backwards will be imperative.

Being able to show shoppers exactly where a product came from is also a great marketing opportunity, and US consumers would be really receptive to this. Consumers in both our countries appreciate the generational, family aspect of farming, and want to feel a social connection with their food, which this provides. One of the great things about the produce industry is that we can link to a certain product to a certain person, and we need to capitalise on this.

What lessons has the US industry learned following the fatal outbreak of E.coli last September in pre-packed bags of spinach?

Food safety has been a top priority for generations of farmers, but after last September there were many valuable lessons to learn.

Since then I have spent a lot of time out in California, to where the outbreak was sourced, discussing communication strategies with the companies out there. The US has one of the world’s safest food supplies, but when a tragedy occurs, we have to buck up our ideas.

Last month I spoke on Capitol Hill on behalf of the PMA, advising the government on what we have been doing since September to build on food-safety standards, and explaining who we are, what our work involves and also what we will be doing in the future.

One of the key elements of our testimony was that fruit and vegetables are hardly ever responsible for outbreaks like this, but when they are, our industry is ready to respond. Since then, we have invested $2 million (£1m) in the Centre for Produce Safety.

We lost $150m as a result of this outbreak - but our losses pale in comparison to those of the victims’ families and friends, and we never want to see this kind of thing again.

Sales took a blow across the whole salad bowl - after all, if you stop buying leafy greens, you stop buying tomatoes, cucumbers and salad onions as well - but they are bouncing back now, and we are exploring opportunities to work with retailers at a safety level to allay lingering consumer concerns. Something we have actively done since last September is help the industry find its voice. Consumers want to see farmers speaking about their commitment to safe produce.

On both a personal and a professional level, our growers saw this outbreak as the worst situation that could have occurred, but also the best learning opportunity. The worst tragedy of all would be if we failed to learn from our errors.

What aims has the US produce industry set itself for the future?

There is a determined and optimistic atmosphere in the business at the moment.

This is by no means an easy industry to work in - not only have we got to contend against nature, but also we have to provide the right products and services to both buyers and consumers. This is an ongoing challenge - but every challenge is also an opportunity.

There are numerous research projects on the go right now, to help find new flavours to appeal to the melting pot of consumers.

To me, this smacks of an industry thinking about the future. In any business, the measure of optimism can be related to the amount of ongoing research being conducted, and ours is continually looking for new and exciting ways to delight consumers. As our president Bryan Silbermann is so fond of saying: “We’ve got to make the consumers’ tongues smile!”

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