It’s time to tell consumers the good news about prunes

It’s time to tell consumers the good news about prunes

In the age of the superfoods and turbocharged communication about healthy food and ingredients prunes have had a tough time getting their share of attention. California prune producers feel that it is time to communicate more - and better.

I talked to Joe Turkovich, a prune grower based in the southern Sacramento Valley and currently the Chairman of the California Prune Board (CPB) and Donn Zea, Executive Director of the CPB and Prune Marketing Committee.

Turkovich’s family has been producing prunes since 1957. The family-owned farm located in Winters, California, consist of prunes, walnuts, and wheat. Mr. Turkovich has a Bachelor of Science in Ag Business Management from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Sunsweet Growers, Inc. and in addition, last year was elected Chairman of the CPB. Prior to that, he served as Chair of the CPB’s Crop Management and Sustainability Subcommittee which oversees applied research projects designed to provide growers with better ways to produce high quality prunes, enhance profitability and conserve resources.

What is your current budget at the California Prune Board?

Donn Zea: The assessment is currently at 60 US$ per ton, shared between growers and handlers. In recent years the average budget has been between

8 and 10 US$ million. Our budget comes from different sources including assessments based on tonnage and our strategic partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service which provides MAP funding (Market Access Programme) to help maintain and develop key export markets.

What export markets are you targeting in the near future?

Donn Zea: We like South Korea for a few reasons. They generally have a politically stable society with a high standard of living. Prunes are relatively new to South Korea so we’ve been working to introduce them through snacking options and as ingredients. Premium products play well there so we believe it’s a great fit for us. The fact that we have KORUS FTA (Korea-United States Free Trade Agreement) is definitely an added bonus. But I have to say, as a country we need to be better at creating new trade treaties. Some of our competitors do a much better job than our country. The Trump Administration seems to be focused on leveling the playing field. Agriculture is often the most challenging part of negotiating good deals. We’re cautiously optimistic. Of course, we have a longstanding commitment to Japan and have just begun new promotions in Canada. We still believe in China. Removing the 25% tariff on California prunes entering mainland China would help our competitiveness in that market for sure.

Joe Turkovich: We’d like to see China evolve into a market that prefers higher quality, large, sweet prunes like we grow in California. This takes time. Chinese are very familiar with plums generally, but historically have eaten other smaller, less flavorful varieties. So traditionally they flavor or salt these plums. Introducing a new variety and taste into a culture is a very daunting task. We’re the market leader in China so our educational and promotional efforts are steadily working.

Donn Zea: There are also other markets where we see opportunities – in the Middle East, Mexico, Southeast Asia. And we also want to mention Europe. It has been a difficult ride for us but it is still a market that is valuing quality. We pay 10% import tariff while South America does not which has led to losing market share in some of the price-sensitive markets like the UK. However, Europe has been very important in our efforts to develop opportunities for prunes in culinary applications and healthy ingredient options.

Joe Turkovich: The California prune industry has the same situation as France – a strong domestic market that recognizes quality. That said we still send about half of our annual production throughout the world. Our acreage is now stable, having withstood the tremendous growth of walnut and almond acreage. We are committed to export growth and as that happens our capability to increase production will grow. Growing prunes is expensive, most definitely in California. Even so they are worth paying for in so many ways – taste, versatility, health. We have to make sure our growers get the margins they need to ensure they continue to grow high quality prunes.

Donn Zea: We cannot approach markets with a commodity mindset but rather a craft mindset of producing the world’s best prunes that command loyalty and respect from our trade and consumer customers. It would be so much easier to grow smaller prunes that are less sweet but that’s not what most consumers ultimately want, particularly when they’ve had the best. That means we have to find the consumers that are looking for quality, not price. Our discovery in nutrition is preparing us to be very competitive in the booming area of functional foods and healthy eating. In bakery we are reaching out to food operators to reintroduce the prune as a really good tasting naturally healthy option to replace high calorie formulated sugars and dairy. Through market investment in bakery and cooking seminars we’re demonstrating to professionals how they can use prunes – as puree, paste or diced – to contribute to their efforts to produce the cleaner label creations consumers are looking for. We’re also reaching out to food writers and editors. It’s exciting. The strategies are beginning to produce results. Advances in pitting technology and

the prune variety that we grow have allowed us to effectively pit a smaller prune to use for ingredients while keeping the larger sizes for more customary snacking and culinary uses. We are also making progress with chocolate. Europe is a great place for that. We have a great relationship with a chocolatier from London named Paul A. Young. He loves using prunes in his chocolates in really creative ways. He recently created a Gin and Prune chocolate. We’re also working with a chocolate maker named Stefano Collomb in the majestic Alps town of La Thuile, Italy. Stefano has regular customers from as far away as New York City. We’re very excited about this relationship. These many opportunities may not create a huge demand for prunes, but are surely sending a message that the prune is a very unique and versatile fruit with many reasons to love it. Move over kale and quinoa!

What is your vision about future export growth?

In the past, in the US prunes developed a reputation of being beneficial for digestive health and associated primarily with older people. Now gut health and the importance of the microbiome are gaining significance as a critical component of total body health. We want to be part of that conversation. We’re working with registered dietitians like Hala El-Shafie in the United Kingdom and medical professionals around the world that are enthusiastic about what prunes can