06/16/06 New packaging moves product

New Packaging to move Product. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Getting valuable and dwindling shelf space in grocery stores is the end result for many farm producers. It's not just about putting the product on the shelf. Mike Taylor with Stemilt Growers say those needs are changing. TAYLOR: Essentially what we are doing on the fresh whole side of the business is taking existing shelf space and modifying it so the distribution channel doesn't change, the customer relationship doesn't change. We might just reconfigure either a whole apple in a bag or a cherry in a bag as an example and fill the same shelf space. Retailers needs are changing. Both retailers and consumers are looking for convenience, something that they can "Grab and Go" with. Taylor says that just reconfiguring product packaging can help move more product. TAYLOR: Instead of selling a pound and a half as we did for years and years of cherries, we went to this catch weight bag we specifically engineered the cherry bag to be a one kilo or 2.2 pound bag so we got a little bit more fruit out the door every time we sold it. It's been a win win, it really cleans up displays and make for a positive consumer experience so there's a lot of factors involved. Number one, it's got to be good for the consumer, number 2 it's got to be something we can do in our operation and number three the retailers have to embrace it and we got to have a merchandising plan associated with it. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.