Last week, from April 23 – 25, the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA) organized their annual convention and trade show. For the first time since 2018, the event took place in Vancouver. More than 300 companies exhibited, and it was CPMA's largest Vancouver event to date. "It has been an excellent show for us," said Dan Davis with Washington Fruit Growers. "Traffic has been outstanding and on the first day in particular, we had a lot of interaction with the Canadian customer base," he added. "All in all, the city has treated us well." Many exhibitors shared that Canada takes up an important share of overall sales and it is important to meet with Canadian customers face to face.
The trade show was held during the afternoons of April 24 and April 25. The first afternoon was very busy as this is typically the day buyers walk the floor. While the second day was less busy, exhibitors were very content with the connections they made. "It's great to be here. There are so many companies in one spot. We always come home energized with new contacts and new ideas and new ways of looking at what we're doing," commented Jenn Pfenning with Pfenning's Organic Vegetables.
Click here to see the photo report from the show.
Many West Coast exhibitors
Only one in three CPMA trade shows is being held in Vancouver and since this was the first time in six years for the event to return to this part of Canada, the show saw a high share of West Coast exhibitors. Several British Columbia based exhibitors took the Vancouver event as an opportunity to organize field tours as well as company tours to show customers their operations. Canadawide, a long-time CPMA East Coast exhibitor, exhibited on the West Coast this year. "It was our first time exhibiting in Vancouver and we were happy we did so," said George Pitsikoulis, the company's President and CPMA Chairman of the Board. "We felt it would be a great meeting point with our national accounts and with our supplier partners. We weren't disappointed as the trade show was very well attended."
Out of a total of 300+ exhibitors, 168 were represented by Canada and 147 exhibitors were international. The large majority of international exhibitors came from the United States. In addition, Mexico had its Mexico Pavilion and a few other countries had one or two exhibitors at the show. Examples were Chile, Ecuador, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, and Turkey.
Trends
A total of 60 products were featured in the New Product Showcase. Sustainable packaging continues to be one of the main trends with paper packaging options increasingly making their way over from Europe. Mucci Farms won the Packaging Innovation Award with their new paper/bamboo mesh bag while Windset Farms won the award for Best Organic Product with their Eco Paper. Several new greenhouse products were introduced, including tomatoes on the vine, strawberries, and (seedless) sweet peppers. Convenient products like fresh-cut salad kits and snack packs also continue to gain ground. The Award for Best Snackable Product went to Taylor Farms for their Snack Packs and EarthFresh won the Best New Produce Award with their steamed vegetables. Both products target the customer that wants to eat healthy.
The four winning products from the New Product Showcase.
Click here to see the photo report from the show.
Next year will be a special year as CPMA will celebrate its 100th anniversary. The 2025 Convention and Trade Show will take place April 8 - 10, 2025 in Montreal, Quebec.