Page 68 - 0619

WESTERN MELON TOSS-UP
Shippers are torn between long shelf-life and sweeter cantaloupe, while watermelons and honeydews diversify.
BY BOB JOHNSON
California is one of the leading state producers of watermelons and cantaloupes but its state’s growners dominate honeydew production, according to USDA
statistics. Harvest in the great Central Valley from mid-May all the way into November for some varieties, is the time to go bolder and bigger with shelf space.
“Summer is traditionally a period that consumers associate with an abundance of melons, and it is crucial retailers not only have a large display with multiple melon vari- eties, but also present only premium-quality fruit,” says Dionysios Christou, vice president for marketing at Del Monte Fresh Produce, Coral Gables, FL. “The optimal size for a melon display will depend on the retailer and its customers’ sociodemographic profile. Consumers consider larger displays much more attractive. Typically, when melons are on ad or if there is a promotion, the display will be much larger than usual.”
Golden State growers largely have shifted to seedless watermelon varieties and can offer supplies in either conventional or organic.
According to USDA statistics, the state has a virtual monopoly on honeydews, and breeders have come up with variants that offer improved color and flavor.
There is a challenge in cantaloupes, however, and it leaves retailers with a choice to make between extended shelf life and good flavor.
Some years ago, seed companies came up with a different sort of cantaloupe with the ability to endure the long trek from the fields of California and Arizona to stores around the country and still have enough left to hold up on the supermarket shelf.
“In California, there has been a rapid change in the varieties we grow,” says Garret Patricio, chief operating officer at Westside Produce, Firebaugh, CA. “The traditional ‘Western’ type melons that slip from the vine and have strong aromatics, but softer exte- riors have fallen out of favor. Long shelf- life varieties that are cut from the vine, have higher brix and harder exterior shells have become the norm.”
68 / JUNE 2019 / PRODUCE BUSINESS
CANTALOUPE IDENTITY CRISIS
This variety shift had tremendous impact because California produces half the canta- loupe in the country, according to the Cali- fornia Department of Food & Agriculture’s Agricultural Statistics Review 2017-2018.
Many of the same growers also use the same extended shelf-life varieties in nearby Arizona, which is the No. 2 cantaloupe producer.
These hard shell varieties do hold up but the crisis, however, is that because consumers do not like the way they taste, production and consumption quickly declined.
“Retailers likely prefer the long shelf life because it offers less waste and requires less stock rotation,” says Patricio. “The biggest issue and my biggest complaint is that these varieties don’t have the same flavor compo- nents as traditional melons, and we are chasing away our customer who — with a negative eating experience — doesn’t buy another melon for a while.”
According to the Ag Marketing Resource Center, U.S. cantaloupe acreage decreased from 66,350 acres in 2012 to 51,600 acres in 2015.
California cantaloupe production dropped 30 percent over the past decade to a little more than 800 million pounds, and many grower-shippers suspect the extended shelf life varieties are responsible.
PHOTO COURTESY OF LEGEND PRODUCE
The largest California grower organiza- tion, the California Cantaloupe Advisory Board, is working on answers to the drop in consumption and acreage.
“As an industry, we have seen a steady decline in consumption the past few West- side cantaloupe seasons,” says Brian Wright, sales manager at Del Mar Farms, Westley, CA.“The California Cantaloupe Advisory Board is working to increase consumption with marketing and flavor studies.”
Because the California-Arizona region supplies most of the cantaloupe in the country, these shippers figure to set the future standard.
“We also grow from 35,000 to 40,000 cartons of cantaloupe a week in Guatemala and Honduras,” says Barry Zwillinger, owner of Legend Produce, Glendale, AZ. “Domes- tically, we do 40,000 cartons a day. Our daily production in California and Arizona is roughly the same as our weekly production in Central America.”
Some shippers already have responded to the crisis in consumer confidence in canta- loupe by featuring melons that bring back the flavor of yesteryear.
“At Legend Produce, we’re all about the eating quality; we’re not trying to be the lowest-cost melon.” says Zwillinger. “We’re the largest supplier of domestically grown cantaloupe in the United States. It’s because