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Counting Our Blessings

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Counting Our Blessings THE FRUITS By James Prevor OF THOUGHT President & Editor-in-Chief Counting Our Blessings oward the end of 1992, Queen Elizabeth II gave a speech footprint stores, such as Tesco’s Fresh & Easy and Wal-Mart’s new in which she declared herself not unhappy to see that Marketside concept and niche concepts, such as Sam’s Club’s new year finished: “1992 is not a year on which I shall look Más Club, focused on Latinos, and Publix’s new GreenWise concept, back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my attempting to deliver “green” food without attitude. All these and more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to more are providing new venues for selling fresh produce. Tbe an Annus Horribilis.” And there are reasons to think things may be getting better for The Queen did not invent the phrase but she popularized it, and consumers: The American Automobile Association tells us that on annus horribilis, which is Latin for “horrible year,” has since entered July 17, 2008, the national average price of gasoline hit an all-time into the lexicon. high of $4.12. As of Dec. 2, 2008, the price had declined for 76 con- With the stock market down and “crisis” in the air, is it right to secutive days and was down to $1.81, the lowest since 2005. That is look at this year drawing to a close as an annus horribilis for us all? an awfully big savings for consumers all across the country. Sud- We have our challenges and it is not trivial when people lose their denly, there is a boom in refinancing as consumers look to take life savings because their homes suddenly have negative equity or advantage of the decline in mortgage rates. This will increase dis- their 401-Ks are decimated. Still, it would be ahistorical to think this posable income for many. is the “worst of times.” Yes, we are in a reces- Despite all the wailing about how bankrupt sion and have problems with foreclosures, but everyone is, sales on so-called Black Friday, it is worth reminding ourselves that our 6.7 per- the day after Thanksgiving that is traditionally cent unemployment rate means that 93.3 per- Fresh produce the biggest sales day of the year, actually rose 3 cent of all Americans who want a job have a percent from the previous year. On so-called job. TransUnion reports 3.53 percent of mort- sales are on a Cyber Monday, online sales were up 15 per- gages in America are delinquent, which means cent over 2007. 96.47 percent of Americans are paying their track to finish Sure, many retailers and restaurants are not mortgages in a timely way. doing well, but others, such as Wal-Mart and It has been a good year in other ways as well: 2008 at an McDonald’s, are thriving. Even upscale retail- For the first time, life expectancy surpassed 78 ers are starting to adjust. After suffering dou- years as it rose for men and women, for blacks all-time high. ble-digit sales declines month after month, and whites. There were declines of more than 6 Saks Fifth Avenue is working with manufactur- percent in deaths from stroke and respiratory ers to offer discounts on high-quality, stylish disease, a drop of more than 5 percent in deaths from heart disease goods and its sales drop in November shrunk to only 5.2 percent on and diabetes. In fact, despite all the talk about the epidemic of dia- a same-store sales basis. betes caused by obesity, the decline in deaths from diabetes pushed Queen Elizabeth II used the phrase annus horribilis as an allusion that disease out of the Top 5 diseases and allowed Alzheimer’s dis- to a famous poem by John Dryden. His poem, published in 1667 ease — which stayed about the same — to become the fifth most about the events of 1666, was entitled Annus Mirabilis, a Latin phrase deadly disease in the country. Flu and pneumonia deaths dropped by that translates as “year of miracles” or “year of wonders.” What was so 13 percent and infant mortality dropped 2 percent. wonderful about 1666? It was the year of the Second Anglo-Dutch One other thing: Fresh produce sales are on a track to finish 2008 war, and the British naval fleet fought three brutal battles. The year at an all-time high. In fact, many good things happened in the fresh was also marked by the Great Fire of London, which destroyed the produce industry this year: A new Farm Bill for the first time dealt homes of about 70,000 of London’s 80,000 inhabitants. seriously with the industry’s concerns and included important new So why did Dryden see 1666 as a wonder? Well, Britain wasn’t initiatives, such as the USDA School Fruit & Vegetable Snack pro- destroyed in battle and a great king, Charles II, would rebuild the City gram, which will generate benefits in the form of increased con- of London. Besides, 1666 contained “666” — the Number of the Beast sumption for years to come. The industry-wide 5-A-Day promotion from the Book of Revelation — and so was expected by many to be dis- was successfully transitioned to a new, more progressive Fruits & astrous. When all that happened is the whole city burned down and Veggies More Matters program. PMA transformed its dated education made everyone homeless, Dryden thought it cause for celebration! foundation into a modern Foundation for Industry Talent and is clos- Perhaps this is a lesson for us. It is easy to fall into despair, but ing in on raising $5 million to help attract and retain the best and most of the human race, for most of history, has had things far brightest people for the produce industry. Fresh Express presented worse than we do, recession or not. Perhaps at this holiday season, the results of its research effort to help enhance food safety while we can look to our families and friends and count our many bless- the Center for Produce Safety started funding other research efforts. ings. Tomorrow is a new day, 2009 is a new year, and we have every There has also been an explosion of new retail concepts: small reason to think we can make it a great one. pb 8 PRODUCE BUSINESS • DECEMBER 2008.
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