PRODUCE EXPOSITIONS INTEGRATED

ROBERT VOSBURGH

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The organizers of two trade shows devoted to the grower/shipper segment of the produce industry have announced an integration agreement that creates a new, single exposition of global proportions, according to officials.

The United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, based here, signed the pact with The RAI Group, Boston, a communications and marketing firm that produces GrowTech Americas. It was launched in 1996 as a convention dedicated to emerging produce-industry technologies and services.

United has produced its own broad-based convention and exposition for the past 95 years. Under the agreement, GrowTech will merge its show activities with United's event, beginning with United 2000, to be held Feb. 26 to 28 in Phoenix.

In concluding the agreement, both sides said that economic forces, such as industry consolidation in the United States, have created a need for grower/shippers to reconsider their role in a marketplace that stretches beyond the 50 states.

"Companies today are faced with totally new challenges," said Bruce McEvoy, chairman of United and chief executive officer of Seald-Sweet Growers, Vero Beach, Fla. "They're buying and selling produce across multiple new international borders.

"They're performing new functions -- growing, packing, processing, marketing, delivering and merchandising produce -- when, at one time, they probably did just one of those things."

The new United/GrowTech partnership will permit organizers to significantly expand the scope of the annual conference and exposition, it was said.

For example, the show floor will now feature special pavilions sponsored by individual countries, as well as United's own New Variety and Research Showcase, which was launched at its show this past February, where universities and U.S. government agencies exhibited their research and programs that affect the produce industry.

Also on the show floor, the new event will bring together a larger array of worldwide companies promoting equipment, tools, technologies, goods and services for growers, packers, fresh-cut processors, greenhouse operators, distributors, wholesalers and retailers, officials noted.

In the area of education, United's seminars and roundtable discussions will now be augmented with multilingual sessions from GrowTech's show, examining a range of international trade issues in Central and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia, as well as the United States, said McEvoy.