CFVGA Keynote Speaker Shares Consumer Trends

How do consumer trends affect the state's produce growers? The editor of the Produce Retailer Magazine Pamela Reimenschneider visits 200 grocery stores' produce aisles around the country on a yearly basis. She shares

Reimenschneider: "There is a really good study that came out in 2016 called the Power of Produce. What they looked at was the preference of local versus organic. Most consumers according to this study are picking local as a strong preference trigger versus organic. So they would rather have it local and organic of course if it is possible for some people that is a desirable item. For the main stream consumer local is a really strong trigger and organic is flipping to number two. It depends on what their core shopping trends are but local is pretty much a stronger draw especially in some areas."

She continues with trends from 2017

Reimenschneider: "Colorful — purple, especially. We're seeing purple sweet potatoes, purple carrots and even purple asparagus. So purple is big. Colorful is big. Jack fruit is trending in a lot of stores — even in some areas that I wouldn't have thought. The reason why is that it is used as a vegan meat substitute. But you are seeing a lot more of that even as a fresh cut item — especially in urban areas."

Not familiar with jack fruit? It grown in the tropics and ripe jack fruit is the inspiration flavor for juicy fruit gum. Unripe jack fruit can be stewed and has similar texture as pulled pork.

Reimeshcnieder will be a keynote speaker at the CO Fruits and Vegetables Growers Association conference on Feb. 21st in Denver.