The Francis mango from Haiti has a special place in my heart. My very first job in the produce industry was unloading a truckload of watermelons by hand, and at the end of a long, hard day, my new employers gave me a case of organic Haitian Francis mangoes to take home and enjoy. Not only did I enjoy that case of mangoes (my first mango ever,) but also I fell in love – with mangoes, with organics and with my new job in the produce industry.

Now, 20 years later, I finally had the opportunity to visit Francis mangoes at the source in Haiti. In May of 2010 a team of partners from Whole Foods Market, Tropic Trade LLC, and TransFair USA traveled to Haiti to meet our growers, field agent and exporter face to face. The mango export season is coming late to Haiti this year, due to drought and other complications. We’re very excited that our first containers are beginning to arrive in stores! If you don’t already know the Francis mango, (AKA Francique or Fransik) it’s known for its light green skin and kidney shape, turning a deep yellow as it ripens. The Francis is known for its low fiber, richly flavored flesh.

Don’t miss this opportunity to support Haiti’s development of a sustainable industry – it’s as simple as enjoying a Francis mango from Whole Foods!

Due to the recent earthquake in Chile’s central regions, we’re anticipating a significant shortage of Chilean grapes within the next 10 days.

We expect the shortage to extend through early April and perhaps all the way to the first of May.

Here’s an update based on information we’ve been able to collect over the past couple of days:

Most important, our vendor partners in Chile report that they’re unharmed.

Unfortunately, their infrastructure didn’t fare as well and there will be an impact on fresh produce supplies, especially table grapes.

Packing houses have been especially hard hit, and we’ve received reports that many cold storage facilities and packing plants have been destroyed. Thousands of pallets of fruit that was packed and ready for shipment has been lost. Chile’s Sixth Region, where grape production is peaking, is reported to be a disaster, without electricity since the earthquake struck this past Saturday. The capacity to cool and hold new fruit is extremely limited. Read the rest of this entry »

Last year around this time I posted a short piece titled “It’s Summer in February” about peak of summer fruit from Chile. I wrote that some of our favorite deals on the produce team are those where we know the grower and have seen the fruit in production across multiple seasons.

Time flies, it’s a whole year later and it’s summer in February once again. It may be winter in the States, but we’ll soon be enjoying a taste of summer from a grower that we love. Read the rest of this entry »

As you may know, we’ve had a series of cold fronts passing through the state of Florida in recent days. We’ve received a lot of questions about how this weather affects supplies of products traditionally produced in Florida during the winter months. Here’s a quick recap:

Strawberry supplies will be tight throughout the industry for the next six to eight weeks. Florida is basically wiped out at the same time that Mexico is cool and rainy and California is cool with rain in the forecast. Not a great recipe for strawberries, but not that unusual for the season either! There will be limited strawberries in the marketplace – certainly less than we would wish for! Read the rest of this entry »

Every summer season there are a few special items I just can’t wait to see in our stores, and Joe Soghomonian’s certified organic champagne grapes are on the top of my list come the middle of July. I’ve been eating Joe’s grapes for years and his champagne grapes are among my all-time favorite produce items.

This year we’re featuring Joe’s fruit nationwide and putting the word out about why we are feeling the love. Here’s the story:

We love champagne grapes for their unusual appearance and sweetness – small, deep purple grapes on tight clusters. The fruit is super sweet and the stems are so tender that they can be eaten along with the grapes.

We love the Soghomonians for being an authentic family farm. Joe and Johnni Soghomonian’s 540-acre certified organic ranch is located near Fresno, CA, in California’s Central Valley. Joe has been a farmer all his life, working on his parents’ farm from early childhood, eventually taking over the farm and growing it to its current size. Joe and Johnni’s daughter, Natalie, now supervises the harvest and packing of grapes and is the 3rd generation farmer on their land. FAMOUS for their champagne grapes, the Soghomonian’s also grow several varieties of table grapes as well as wine grapes. (We’re looking forward to later in the summer when the Soghomonian organic wine grapes will be ready. Fresh wine grapes are fragile and delicate, but a wonderful treat eaten out of hand!)

We love to satisfy and delight our customers! Expect to find organic champagne grapes at Whole Foods Market stores nationwide from late July through August. Enjoy!

]When we’re in the dead of winter here in the U.S., Chile is at the height of their summer season and summer fruit is in full production. (California stone fruit makes its first appearance much later this spring.) If you’re looking for a taste of sunshine in February, read on!

On the produce team we’re always looking for the best fruit available in the market. Our favorite deals are those where we know the grower and have seen the fruit in production across multiple seasons. For the past two winters, Whole Foods Market buyers have trekked to Chile to learn more about the products and people of a country that provides so much summer fruit to our hemisphere when we’re out of season. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m very happy to announce that Whole Foods Market has signed an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) designed to help improve wages and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers.

I put together this blog entry to explain the steps we took that led us to make this agreement.

Just before Christmas of 2007 I became aware of a slavery indictment in Florida related to a contract harvesting operation and we received some questions about whether any of our Whole Foods Market suppliers were connected to the persons named in the suit. Our suppliers were not connected to the indicted parties in any way, but the story got my attention.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Whole Trade Guarantee Rose project began almost a year ago when three of us from Whole Foods Market made a trip to Ecuador to learn about Fair Trade certified roses. Right away we saw that Ecuadorian roses are gorgeous! BIG! STRONG! BOLD! After meeting with the rose workers and learning how Fair Trade benefits them, we were smitten. Before the trip was over we had the wheels in motion to bring a Whole Trade Guarantee rose to market on our stores. Read the rest of this entry »