02/15/08 Fruitlogistica!

Fruitlogistica! I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Every time I talk to the Pear Bureau's Kevin Moffitt it seems he's just getting back from some where. He has just returned from something called Fruitlogistica. MOFFITT: The largest produce trade show in the world called Fruitlogistica which is held in Germany in Berlin. There's 50-thousand visitors from 125 countries visited this year so it truly lives up to its name as the largest produce show in the world. Moffitt says it's a working show where deals are done right there. MOFFITT: You are pulling in buyers  new buyers or seeing a lot of your buyers you are already doing business with. Actually a lot of it is meet and greet but really a lot of business gets done at this particular show. There are shippers from our industry who attend and they can actually end up writing contracts right on the show floor. It's an opportunity to spread the news about good tasting U.S. pears to the world. MOFFITT: We always have new contacts from Russia, the central European states. We saw people from Israel and even Central America so even though it's help in the middle of Europe we see contacts from all over the world and it's a very productive, very busy three day show. He says it's also a great place to get information on how the export and import markets are shaping up especially as the U.S. export market season is coming to a close. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.