February 2009 Industry News

The Ellen DeGeneres Show, National – On February 5, mushrooms were featured on the “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Ellen mentioned mushrooms are a superfood, contain vitamin D, delicious, nutritious and inexpensive. Mushrooms received nearly four minutes of airtime which is an ad equivalency of $802,500. “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” is one of the highest-rated daytime talk shows with an estimated audience of 5 million Americans, which includes online viewers.

SHIPMENT SUMMARY

Mushroom Council First Handler Reports (millions of pounds; totals may not match due to rounding).
Current Charts

	Nov-08	Nov-07	% change	YTD 08	YTD 07	% change
Total Shipments	58.78	61.70	-4.74	674.73	682.36	-1.12
Domestic Shipments	52.41	54.76	-4.29	599.28	609.02	-1.60
PA	31.75	31.75	0.02	348.49	351.81	-0.94
CA	9.21	10.26	-10.23	111.78	108.52	3.00
Rest of US	11.45	12.76	-10.25	138.99	148.69	-6.52
Imports	6.37	6.94	-8.24	75.46	73.34	2.88

COUNCIL UPDATE

A new Handler Report has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget and is now in effect. The only change is a new column “Total Dollar Value of LBS Marketed”. The collection of this information will help the Council to better evaluate its efforts and will be reported much in the same way that we currently report the pounds (see shipment chart above). As with the pound information you have provided in the past, this information is to be held in strict confidence as per Sec. 1925 in the Act.

Please remember that non-exempt growers are required to pay assessments on all production pounds that are sold into the fresh market.

A letter regarding the delay of nominations was mailed to all eligible voters on January 30^th.

A Fresh Produce Marketing Strategies Workshop will be held March 24-26, 2009 on the University of California, Davis campus in the recently opened Robert Mondavi Institute.

The program developed by Dr. Roberta Cook and other leading produce marketing professionals is designed specifically to meet the needs of fresh produce industry managers and executives who are interested in improving their ability to develop and execute innovative fresh produce marketing strategies. The program will include case studies and practical examples presented by both UC Davis agricultural economists and fresh produce industry marketing leaders. This workshop will provide valuable marketplace insights to participants by using current and up-to-date produce marketplace data from participating instructor organizations for classroom discussions and break-out sessions. The program is designed for managers and executives from the fresh fruit and vegetable industry, such as grower-shippers, food retailers, wholesalers, distributors, fresh-cut processors and seed companies. The short course faculty is made up of a highly regarded group of produce marketing experts. Click here to view the workshop brochure.

Attendees may register for this and other upcoming educational outreach activities sponsored by the Postharvest Technology Research & Information Center via their website at http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu or by contacting Ms. Pam Devine, registration coordinator, at (530) 754-4326 or pwdevine@ucdavis.edu.

Nutrition Research Update:

Mushrooms & Health Global Initiative Bulletin – Feb 2009 Issue #5 – click here

Since the 2002 Nutrition Research Roundtable that set priorities for the Council’s nutrition research efforts, the following outcomes have been achieved: 24 Projects funded; 16 abstracts presented; 9 published manuscripts 7 presentations at major conferences.

Abstracts
Published Manuscripts
Presentations at Conferences

MARKETING SUMMARY

TOTAL IMPRESSIONS/PLACEMENTS TO DATE:
January impressions overview:

Program	January 2009 Impressions	Total Year Impressions to Date	% of Annual Goal	% of Last Year Same Time Period
Consumer/Nutrition	108,242,941	135,420,767	26%	231%
Foodservice	210,950	210,950	7%	61%
Retail	57,898	57,898	5%	34%

*Please note, total year impressions includes impression numbers from early February 2009

Mushroom Share of Voice:

Week Ending	Mushroom Council Generated Placements	% of Total Mushroom Coverage	Type of Outreach
January 10	31	79 percent	Proactive
January 17	11	58 percent	Proactive
January 24	11	46 percent	Proactive
January 31	17	71 percent	Proactive
Total	70	66 percent	Proactive

While conducting proactive media outreach, we generally expect Mushroom Council coverage to represent between 33-75 percent of mushroom placements, according to average consumer product and commodity industry standards. Note that there are always external factors or industry forces that could change that metric.

Mushrooms in the News:

The Q1 program kicked off on January 26, 2009, the U.S. “Most Depressing Day of the Year.” The Council distributed a press release focused on staying happy and healthy during the winter and winter mushroom recipes to more than 500 food and nutrition editors. The press release was also posted on the newswire. Coverage of the release resulted in nearly 25 million impressions and was picked up in outlets such as, USA Today, CNBC, Reuters and Yahoo! Finance.
As part of the first month of outreach, the Council secured four TV interviews and three radio interviews with various spokespeople, including:

Radio – Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD and author of “The Flat Belly Diet,” participated in three radio interviews. The main message delivered was mushrooms and their vitamin D content. The radio interviews have resulted in nearly 3.8 million impressions. Interviews include:

Woman’s World featured an article about mushrooms. The article was a result of Dr. Chen’s immunity research and includes information from Dr. Wu about white button mushrooms antioxidants and natural killer cells. To view the article click here.

Q1 mushroom recipes include the Baked Mushroom Parmesan and Mushroom and Smoked Salmon Frittata. To date, the recipes have resulted in more than 50 million impressions.

Mushrooms’ vitamin D properties were highlighted in 29 placements, including Woman’s Day, The American Legion Magazine and Seattle Post Intelligencer. To date, in 2009, vitamin D placements have resulted in more than 54 million impressions.

Mushrooms were featured as an affordable, inexpensive food in six placements garnering nearly 3.5 million impressions in outlets, such as the Miami Herald online and the local Boston FOX television station.

Mushroom Council-funded research on the weight management of swapping mushrooms for meat was also highlighted in 11 print and online placements in January, accounting for nearly 26 million impressions. Publications include Women’s Health, Prevention and Miami Herald online.

Mushrooms’ and their health benefits were highlighted in 13 placements, generating more than 12 million impressions in publications such as the Seattle Post Intelligencer, Shape, and Fresh Plaza online.

Mushroom Council placements represented an average of 66 percent of total mushroom news, which is within the norm of 33 to 75 percent during a period of proactive outreach. To view all January placements click here.

On the Foodservice Front:

In December, the Council began contacting chefs nationwide to secure recipes for a foodservice photography shoot February 10-12. The Council secured a total of 51 recipes, from which eight were selected to be photographed. Along with these eight recipes, six mushroom product shots will be taken at this year’s annual photo shoot. These images will help fulfill media commitments as well as support collateral pieces. Recipes are the number one marketing tool requested by operators and distributors. In addition, attractive food photography is essential for garnering media coverage in trade publications reaching foodservice and industrial audiences. Paris Pizza

The Mushroom Council is currently working with Harvard University Dining Services to support the “Savory Spotlight” on mushrooms at 13 campus dining halls on the evening of March 5. The “Savory Spotlight” events showcase a single ingredient in a variety of ways. For that evening’s dinner service, each dining hall will feature a separate station where cooking demonstrations as well as samples will be available. Educational marketing materials about the history of mushrooms, health benefits and different varieties of mushrooms will be distributed to the students.
For an update on the status of the Council’s foodservice promotional pursuits, click here; to see new mushroom menu items for January click here.

On the Retail Front:

The Retail Best Practice Report findings will be highlighted in the Q1 retail newsletter to be distributed in February. The 2008 year end mushroom data is in, with the key finding that mushrooms are one of a few produce categories seeing growth during the recession. Additionally, the team is working to finalize an opportunity to include mushrooms in the February 23 or March 2 issue of The Packer.

Below is the January report of retail pounds sold by region.

Today is Tuesday, February 24, 2009. This cube contains data through 2009/01/25.
[All Geographies][All Products][All Forms][All Organic][All Pkg Sizes][All UPC/Codes][All Pkg Types][Last 4-13-26-52 Wks]Pounds
Pounds as values	Last 4 Wks, Curr Yr	Last 4 Wks % Chg, Yr-to-Yr	Last 13 Wks, Curr Yr	Last 13 Wks % Chg, Yr-to-Yr	Last 26 Wks, Curr Yr	Last 26 Wks % Chg, Yr-to-Yr	Last 52 Wks, Curr Yr	Last 52 Wks % Chg, Yr-to-Yr
California	2,133,686	2.32%	6,625,184	0.46%	12,417,543	2.23%	24,321,551	2.12%
Great Lakes	2,460,908	4.03%	6,984,091	2.48%	13,170,798	1.18%	26,700,092	4.93%
Midsouth	1,713,794	19.47%	4,822,906	11.37%	8,714,688	5.98%	17,136,322	4.27%
Mountain	1,052,861	1.04%	3,263,711	-1.01%	6,191,114	-1.35%	12,573,333	-0.47%
Northeast	3,848,976	4.69%	12,645,324	0.19%	22,434,725	0.90%	43,660,278	2.60%
Pacific Northwest	727,036	-0.08%	2,394,755	3.87%	4,439,837	2.66%	8,882,767	2.56%
Plains	1,107,470	7.73%	3,210,329	4.27%	5,876,567	0.20%	11,294,499	-3.75%
South Central	1,030,600	0.13%	3,000,557	-3.84%	5,737,796	-5.69%	11,775,352	-4.07%
Southeast	2,294,241	1.04%	7,060,835	-2.70%	13,213,970	-1.17%	26,003,301	-1.23%
Total U.S.	16,369,573	4.53%	50,007,692	1.19%	92,197,038	0.72%	182,347,495	1.37%

For a more comprehensive retail report click here.