Viva Fresh Expo Announces Interactive Education Program

A glimpse into the future, flying drones and the science of weather forecasting are just a few key items that will be included in the interactive education sessions at the Viva Fresh Produce Expo. The sessions begin on Friday, April 1 at the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort in San Antonio, Texas.

“We have an exciting and relevant lineup of topics and speakers,” says Melinda Goodman from FullTilt Marketing, who also serves as the education committee chair. “Our goal is push the boundaries of traditional lecture sessions with innovative topics and interactive presentations that engage the audience and create an ongoing dialogue that shares key learnings from examining what’s happening in Mexico, to the impact of global weather patterns and predicting the future of the grocery shopping experience with the growth of technology.”

For the second year in a row, Viva Fresh will bring the farm to the conference room with virtual field tours from Triple H produce in Sonora, Mexico and Tenaza Farms in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. “When we launched the original virtual field tours during the inaugural expo in 2015, we received tremendous positive feedback,” says Dante Galeazzi from Crescent Fruit & Vegetable who manages the tours. “Buyers were able to see and speak to the grower in the field in real time. This year, we’ll be expanding the virtual tours using drone technology during our tour with Tenaza Farms providing additional aerial views and a unique perspective that cannot be seen from the ground level.”

The session on Mexico Mythbusters will review misconceptions about doing business in Mexico with a dialogue on food safety, quality control and the growing importance of imports from Mexico. Tommy Wilkins from Grow Farms Texas will moderate the session providing his perspective as a former retailer and panelists include Will Steele, president of Frontera Farms and Guillermo Martínez general manager, Kingdom Fresh Farms.

Continuing the trend of looking forward, Melinda Goodman of FullTilt Marketing, along with Sherry Frey, senior vice president of the Nielsen Perishables Group will utilize a combination of consumer trend data and research to offer insight into consumer behavior and how that will influence the future shopping experience. Frey comments, “The industry often thinks of products as commodities and fails to understand the power of the consumer experience and how products and the environments in which they are offered impact paths to purchase and ultimately consumption.”

In a session on Water Woes and the Weather, Joe Bastardi, chief forecaster at WeatherBELL Analytics will share how the science of weather forecasting and a greater understanding of global and historical weather patterns can provide important information relevant to financial and trend indicators for business growth and profitability. 

“We’re really pleased with the comprehensive range of topics and expert speakers this year,” says Bret Erickson, president & CEO of the Texas International Produce Association.  “Education is a key component of the Viva Fresh Expo and the variety of topics is relevant to all attendees and relates to what is currently impacting the produce industry both today and in the future.”