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News & Notes BRIEFS GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2019 www.gourmetnews.com NEWS & NOTES 6 Illinois Corn Farmers Harness Data to Increase Efficiency The Farmer Data Cooperative is a first-of-its- kind relationship between farmers and a se- lect group of University of Illinoisresearchers with special access to NASA datasets. Through a unique collaboration among the Illinois Corn Growers Association, NASA and the University of Illinois, researchers and farmers work together to develop tools and assessments to predict and address inefficien- cies in agricultural management practices, assist with participation in up-and-coming ecosystem markets, and improve manage- ment of their farming operations. Like a traditional cooperative, participat- ing farmers are part-owners in the enter- prise and will be able to influence the development of new work products, serv- ices and technologies resulting from the partnership. Unlike a normal cooperative in which customer-owners buy into the co- operative with a cash investment, farmer- owners would pay into the data cooperative by authorizing use of their farming data for development, calibration and validation of new technology tools. Farmer-owners also receive cash compensation for participation in the effort with additional opportunities for advanced access to technology resulting from the use of their data and input. Dr. Laura Gentry, Director of Water Qual- ity Research at ICGA, sees this new effort as "an unprecedented opportunity for farmers to take the lead in shaping the future of agriculture by creating exactly the tools we need to better address critical issues such as land use efficiency, nutrient management and exploring new market opportunities." Dr. Kaiyu Guan, Assistant Professor of Eco- hydrology and Remote Sensing at the Univer- sity of Illinois and one of the lead researchers in this effort, brings a wealth of technological capacity to this effort and reports that he is "excited to be part of this unique collaboration ensuring food security for this generation and the future by maximizing crop production ef- ficiency and farm sustainability." Initially, ICGA expects that farmers par- ticipating in the Precision Conservation Management program (a farmer service program led by ICGA) will be among the first offered the opportunity to participate in this landmark Farmer Data Cooperative, with the chance for other Illinois farmers to join as the program expands. GN Specialty Food Market Goes Mainstream Shenandoah Valley Organic Executive Team Changes Shenandoah Valley Organic (SVO) has made two changes to its executive leadership team. Jefferson Heatwole's new role is Chief Sales Officer (CSO) and Dorothy Muszynska is the new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Jefferson started with SVO in 2014. In his new role, he will continue to lead the sales, supply chain and customer service teams. Additionally, he will be heavily involved in new product and business development. Dorothy Muszynska is new to the company. She arrived with more than 15 years of marketing experience in the food industry. Lyle Berman Joins Board at Drake's Organic Spirits Drake's Organic Spirits announced the addition of Lyle Berman, a legendary Minnesota businessman and co-Founder of Grand Casinos Inc., to its board of directors. Berman is credited as one of the early visionaries in the development of casinos outside of the traditional gaming markets of Las Vegas and Atlantic City. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2004 and in 2009 received the Casino Lifetime Achievement Award. Process Expo Adds Pet Food Demo The Food Processing Suppliers Association (FPSA) is adding a pet food production line to the PROCESS EXPO 2019 show floor. This will be the fifth production line at this year's PROCESS EXPO taking place October 8-11, 2019 at Chicago's McCormick Place with live demonstrations scheduled throughout the four day that highlight the production process for the attendee audience. Buying Groups to Gather at AmericasMart Fourteen buying groups and professional organizations will have a presence at The Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market ® , July 9-15, 2019. Highlights include the first-ever summer market meeting of True Value Home & Garden Showplace retailers and the 10th anniversary of the GC Buying Group's Summer School in Atlanta. Nut Consumption May Improve Erectile Function A recent study, partially supported by the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council and published in the journal Nutrients, observed a significant increase in erectile function after the consumption of 60 g/day of nuts. Lifestyle risk factors such as smoking or stress may influence erectile dysfunction through the vascular and nervous system. This study explored the effects of nut supplementation on erectile function. Gift for Life to Honor Anne McGilvray Gift for Life, the gift and home industries' sole charitable organization, has announced that Anne McGilvray, founder of the eponymous sales agency, will be honored during the 28th annual Party for Life. The event will take place in a new location — Atlanta — on Wednesday, January 15, 2020. McGilvray will be presented with Gift for Life's Chuck Yancy Lifetime Achievement Award. and snacks; coffee (non-ready to drink) and hot cocoa; bread and baked goods; chocolate and other confectionery; refrig- erated entrees; frozen desserts; frozen en- trees and yogurt and kefir, with water expected to join the top 10 list next year. "Half of these top 10 are still growing faster than the average," Lockwood said. This is unusual because the fastest-growing cate- gories tend to be those that are very small. But, said Lockwood, "Specialty foods is still very robust from end to end, so that the top 10 are growing almost as fast as all the lit- tler ones." The category with the highest dollar growth last year was that for refrig- erated plant-based meat alternatives, with frozen plant-based meat alternatives in third place behind rice cakes. Specialty food products sold in the center of the store are also still growing, in contrast to market stagnation for other center store products, according to Lockwood. "In con- ventional, as we've always heard, center store is dead, dead, dead. Not in specialty prod- ucts," Lockwood said. "If you have center BY LORRIE BAUMANN Specialty food is going mainstream and be- coming a mature market, said David Lock- wood during his talk on the "State of the Specialty Food Industry" at this year's Sum- mer Fancy Food Show, held June 23-35 in New York City. Lockwood is a Consulting Director at marketing research firm Mintel and the author of the Specialty Food Asso- ciation's annual report on the state of the industry. Specialty food and beverage sales hit $148.7 billion in 2018. The specialty food market as a total of all food sales con- tinues to grow, accounting for about 16 per- cent of all food sales in the U.S., a figure that's expected to increase to more than 19 percent by 2023. "That's an important level," Lockwood said. "Somewhere be- tween 14 and 18 percent, you stop being a niche and you become part of the main- stream, and that's right where the specialty food association is in its growth phase." More than 82 percent of specialty food sales in the United States last year occurred at the cash registers in conventional gro- cery stores, and that's helping to account for a slight slowing of the rate of growth for the dollar value of the specialty foods mar- ket. Despite the slight slowing, the industry still achieved a healthy 10.3 percent growth rate, three times higher than the growth rate for conventional grocery sales. "We're just at that very tip edge of maturing," Lockwood said. "You can expect that spe- cialty food will keep on growing about three times faster than all conventional." The top 10 specialty food categories are now cheese (including plant-based cheese); meat, poultry and seafood; chips, pretzels store specialty products, you have a big ad- vantage because center store specialty goods are still growing pretty fast – you see here 9.5 percent over the last two years. That's far, far faster than center store for conventional. So that's a good thing for this industry." Beverages are a leading growth category, driven by innovation. "Everything bubbly, everything fermented has really done well," Lockwood said. "Things that have been big for decades, like energy drinks, juices and functional beverages, still very good." Growth for the snacks category has slowed to match the growth of the overall market, simply because it's now such a big market: 27.3 percent of all specialty foods are snacks. "A lot of specialty foods is driven by the very active buyer," Lockwood said. "People with a big basket of specialty foods, well, how much of that can be snacks? Not a whole lot more than 27 per- cent, right? That's one of the reasons that snacks has finally slowed to the growth of the overall market and will probably stay close to the overall market." GN "If you have center store specialty products, you have a big advantage because center store specialty goods are still growing pretty fast." —DAVID LOCKWOOD CONSULTING DIRECTOR, MINTEL

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