Ways to Remain Competitive

This article by Ray Klocke appeared in "The Grower", December 1999.

  1. Develop strategic alliances or partnerships.
  2. Reduce costs, improve services, improve quality, and improve information flow.
  3. Co-brand.
  4. Pack under a private label for some of the larger chains such as Safeway and Kroger.
  5. Develop a unique product that might be done in smaller runs.
  6. Develop export markets.
  7. Globalize. For example, one grower-packer-shipper can offer grapes year-round to his customers because he’s sourcing them from around the world.
  8. Choose varieties based on taste, and promote them. Taste is the next wave that will drive the market in the produce world.
  9. Category management.
  10. Investigate the latest developments in fields such as proprietary supply technology, on-line sales, and food safety.

This article appeared in the July 2000 issue of Vegetable Production & Marketing News, edited by Frank J. Dainello, Ph.D., and produced by Extension Horticulture, Texas Agricultural Extension Service, The Texas A&M Univerisity System, College Station, Texas.