Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
January 4 – 11
Deb and our State Member for Pennsylvania Tom Mainzer walked the show floor to meet with 40+ suppliers who are current suppliers and prospects. Deb also had the opportunity to attend the PA Preferred Reception, a kickoff to the PA Farm Show that recognizes the companies whose products are produced and processed in PA. There she met with Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding who sits on the Food Export-Northeast Board.
Each year, one of the show highlights is the butter sculpture. Land O’ Lakes donates a thousand pounds of butter to create the sculpture, this year it was of three famous Pennsylvania sports mascots, Swoop from the Philadelphia Eagles, Stealy McBeam from the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Gritty from the Philadelphia Flyers!
A banner for the 2020 Pennsylvania Farm Show
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding and Food Export-Northeast Liaison Deborah Ingravallo
Food Export-Northeast Liaison Deborah Ingravallo and Pennsylvania State Member Tom Mainzer
Jethro
An alpaca on display at the PA Farm Show
Pennsylvania mascot butter sculpture
Harrington, Delaware
January 13 – 15
Delaware Ag Week took place the 3rd week of January this year at the Delaware State Fairgrounds in Harrington, Delaware. This event was put on by The University of Delaware, the Delaware Department of Agriculture, and Delaware State University. Delaware Ag Week is a yearly event for Delaware agriculture industry professionals to gather, learn, and network together.
Food Export-Northeast had 3 representatives attend the event, Executive Director, Tim Hamilton, International Marketing Program Coordinator, Maddie Smith, and Liaison, Ryan Carr. Ag week is a great opportunity for our staff to connect one-on-one with Delaware based suppliers about our programs and services and their export strategies. As part of their visit Tim Hamilton gave a presentation to help suppliers familiarize themselves with Food Export-Northeast and our programs and services.
Delaware Department of Agriculture Secretary Scuse
Food Export-Midwest and Food Export-Northeast Executive Director Tim Hamilton giving a presentation to Delaware food and ag suppliers
Food Export-Midwest and Food Export-Northeast Executive Director Tim Hamilton, Food Export – Northeast Liaison Ryan Carr, and Delaware State Member Stacey Hoffman in front of the Delaware Department of Ag table
San Francisco, California
January 17 – 20
The Winter Fancy Buyers Mission took place in San Francisco, California in conjunction with the Specialty Food Association’s Winter Fancy Food Show. 12 buyers from different markets met with approximately 27 US suppliers. In addition, our Food Export-Northeast Export Advisor Wayne Batwin and a representative from Alibaba eCommerce attended the mission and were available for meetings with suppliers.
This year there were over 80,000 specialty foods and beverages exhibitors and thousands of new product trends. Some of the newer trends found in the Incubator Village included all vegan cheese, cauliflower crust, and non-alcoholic beers. Our staff also noticed that there were plant-based products everywhere. The biggest category seemed to be plant-based snack products (chips, cookies, etc.). There was even a plant-based pavilion right next to the fine chocolate pavilion.
Our 2 new services, Lead Qualifications and Virtual Consultations, were debuted at the Buyers Mission and were met with a lot of interest and enthusiasm from our suppliers!
The entrance to the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco
Food Export staff and international buyers participating in a retail tour
Retail tour continued.
Retail tour continued.
Food Export Specialty Food Buyers Mission sign
Food Export Specialty Food Buyers Mission one-on-one meetings
Food Export-Northeast Liaison Apryl King, Michigan State Member Kathryn Kendall, and two international buyers at the one-on-one meetings
Almondina a Food Export-Midwest supplier exhibiting at the show
Split Nutrition exhibiting at the trade show
Atlanta, Georgia
January 27 – 30
Food Export – Midwest’s annual Value-Added Feed Ingredients Buyers Mission at AFIA’s IPPE took place the last week of January in Atlanta, Georgia.
International buyers from Brazil, Chile, China, Greece, Mexico, Panama, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea travelled to Atlanta to attend the show and meet with 15 U.S. feed ingredients suppliers.
Feed and Feed Ingredients is one of our most important market segments as many Midwestern states and are large producers of the ingredients typically incorporated in feed. To see all of the feed based events that we have in the U.S. and around the world be sure to check out our Food Show PLUS! and Buyers Missions website pages.
A sign for IPPE
Food Export staff and a group of international buyers attending the IPPE show
Market Briefing for international buyers
One-on-one meetings
IPPE show floor
Opening night reception for IPPE held at the Atlanta Aquarium
Guatemala City, Guatemala
January 29 – 30
Our first trade mission of 2020 took place in Guatemala where 8 U.S. suppliers travelled to the market to have one-on-one meetings with local importers. This was our first trade mission to Guatemala since 2017 and initial reports show that it was successful in connecting U.S. suppliers with Guatemalan importers.
The mission was even tweeted about by the US Embassy in Guatemala!
US Embassy Guatemala tweet about the Food Export Trade Mission
One-on-one meetings between U.S. suppliers and local importers
One-on-one meetings continued
One-on-one meetings continued
One-on-one meetings continued
Ambassador Luis Edmundo Arreaga-Rodas, the U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala sampling products at the Trade Mission
Ambassador Luis Edmundo Arreaga-Rodas at the Food Export Trade Mission
2020 Northeast Buyers Mission
Food Show PLUS! at SMTS Japan
Food Show PLUS! at Gulfood
Food Show PLUS! at CHFA West
Pet Food Buyers Mission at Global Pet Expo
NASDA Winter Policy Conference