Business insights of a changing market in horticulture
Horticulture is an extremely competitive sector. Businesses must scan the industry environment, analyze the competition and work hard to differentiate themselves to develop a unique value proposition. However, taking those risks can be challenging in an environment characterized by rising costs and tight margins.
That’s where market intelligence can provide a valuable advantage, whether a company is contemplating a new product launch, looking for funding to support a research project or seeking to expand its business or market. “The need has really changed when it comes to market intelligence and what the sector is being asked for,” said Amy Bowen, director of consumer, sensory and market insights at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) in Ontario, Canada.
“For example, there is an increasing demand to demonstrate sustainability. It is necessary to understand the bigger picture and what the impacts and opportunities are for a product or innovation, not just in primary production but across the value chain.”
Vineland is working to improve the economic viability, sustainability and competitiveness of horticulture in Canada through research and innovation.
For more than a decade, its consumer and sensory insights team has played a key role in guiding new product and varietal development projects at Vineland and ensuring delivery of what the market needs and wants.
This has gradually expanded to include project research into consumer insights, market opportunities, benchmarking, competitors and product trends, and analyzing that data to help with the development of everything from cost-benefit analysis and carbon footprint reduction to brand insights and business and technology roadmaps.
“The dynamicity associated with the environment and the speed at which change happens have really increased, and so it’s all about matching that speed to ensure relevancy,” said Mithun Shrivastava, consumer and market researcher at Vineland. “At the same time, it’s not just about gathering the data but also about using that data to generate insights and to help with decision-making.”
Roadmapping is one tool that is useful in identifying opportunities and challenges and providing focus for a path forward, whether for an individual business looking to enter a new market or an industry organization seeking labor solutions.
The Vineland team worked with Berry Growers of Ontario, an organization representing the province’s blueberry, raspberry and strawberry producers, to develop a technology roadmap for the sector and help address growing labor shortages.
The report identified that while automated transplanting and harvesting equipment solutions are emerging rapidly for berry production, they’re not yet a viable option for the small- to medium-scale farm operations making up most of the Ontario berry industry.
Alternatively, transitioning to tabletop strawberry production and growing long-cane raspberries were found to be two solutions that growers could adopt more rapidly and easily in not just addressing labor challenges but also improving berry quality and increasing market yield.
“It’s really key to not just understand what the problems are, but also to very thoroughly evaluate the technology solutions that are available to determine what stage they’re at and whether they’re commercially ready to be implemented,” explained Alexandra Grygorczyk, research scientist in sensory and consumer services at Vineland. “Figuring out whether their capabilities meet the industry’s needs becomes really critical.”
Next to labor, reducing food waste and finding new ways to convert produce waste streams to value-added products is another big challenge that food producers are increasingly grappling with.
Not only are there environmental and climate impacts to food waste, there are also economic costs that have the potential to make a significant difference to a company’s bottom line if they can be reduced.
However, sometimes what is a challenge can become an opportunity — and finding the best and most profitable opportunities for waste reduction and repurposing byproducts isn’t always easy in the horticultural sector with its large crop diversity.
That’s where opportunity mapping can come into play, using market intelligence to find gaps in the current market and determine how businesses can potentially fill those gaps.
Grygorczyk said this includes identifying the potential uses for different waste streams, looking at what type of technology exists or can be developed for their conversion and how the repurposed material performs in a real product from a consumer, sensory, biochemical or business standpoint.
Vineland has completed a research project to look at untapped waste streams with repurposing potential in the seven most-produced Canadian fruit and vegetable crops: potatoes, apples, field tomatoes, greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers, onions and carrots.
Because of a strong processing market industry, relatively few fresh carrots, potatoes, onions, field tomatoes and apples that can’t be sold on the fresh market end up being wasted.
By comparison, there are no further processing opportunities for greenhouse vegetables, so tomatoes and cucumbers that are edible but don’t meet fresh market or foodservice specifications end up in landfills. In Leamington, Ontario, the greenhouse capital of North America, approximately 15 million pounds of edible tomato and 12 million pounds of cucumber gradeouts are discarded annually.
The processing sector also generates large volumes of unavoidable waste in the form of peels, cores or pomace (what is left of fruit after juice production), much of which currently also goes into landfills or animal feed.
The report showed that apple pomace, for example, has the potential to be repurposed into higher value products, such as thickeners and gelling agents.
A natural enzyme found in apples can be used to induce gelling in sausage or to help in bread production. Apples also contain a lot of pectin that is already used in a range of product categories, such as fruit fillings and dairy products. Apple pomace powder has the potential to be used for its thickening properties without the need to extract the pectin.
“What needs to happen in order to use apple pomace powder for its apple pectin content and to be suitable for smooth products like yogurt? How low do you have to reduce the particle size and how does that influence sensory properties like taste?” added Grygorczyk. “For food processors, this could be an opportunity to incorporate more attractive ingredients and develop cleaner labels.”
Grygorczyk said the same type of research can also be undertaken at a company level to help individual businesses determine the best opportunities for their own waste reduction and byproduct repurposing strategies.
“Ultimately, the value in market insights is to help you minimize risk, develop new products and markets while increasing profitability across value chains,” said Bowen. “It’s all about using novel ideas, processes and knowledge to give you the confidence in making the right decision about how to best move forward with a new idea, product or variety.”
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