BURLINGTON, ON - Earth Fresh Farms is bringing a breezy springtime theme to Montreal next month. The spud specialists are taking to this year’s CPMA Conference and Trade Show with an Airstream trailer and a full family of organic offerings in tow.

“At the CPMA Conference and Trade Show, we’re going to focus on our core values,” said Marketing Director Stephanie Cutaia, “going back to the earth and celebrating clean eating—our core values of being healthy and organic. We’re in the growing world, so we wanted to do something with a really natural environment for our booth design. We’re replicating a park with green grass and picnic tables.”

Stephanie tells me that the company’s approach to its CPMA booth is less about displaying produce and more about creating a connection between the brand and its trade partners.

“Every year we try to really wrap who we are as a company into our booth so when our trade visitors come and visit us, they create a bond with us. They connect with us on a sensory and emotional level. We all know you have to make that emotional connection to your customer or your consumer, and we try to do that with our booth every year,” Stephanie said. “Our park is blue skies and fresh-cut fries themed. We’ll be serving organic fresh-cut fries and organic beer to help quench your thirst, and we’ll have a really cool vintage Airstream trailer.”

For Earth Fresh Farms, the CPMA Conference and Trade Show is about more than just networking. The company is actively involved, as a Gold Member sponsor, in supporting the association and helping ensure a bright future for fresh food in North America.

“The annual Convention and Trade Show is a great must-attend event. Every year they are selling out booths and increasing attendance from key buyers in the foodservice and retail sector,” Stephanie explained. “We’ve really grown our relationship with the CPMA in the last ten years. We’re gold member sponsors now, and we see the CPMA as almost our trade partner. We rely on them heavily for a lot of things including food safety. They keep us current on Canadian regulations to ensure effective food safety across the board and throughout the supply chain. We rely on them with regard to government relations and advocacy. CPMA is always there with its Half Your Plate program helping consumers and promoting the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.“

Like the CPMA, Earth Fresh Farms is actively encouraging healthy eating habits, and Stephanie told me that highlighting the health benefits of potatoes is one of Earth Fresh Farms’ top priorities.

Creating and capitalizing on the buzz around healthy organic potatoes and onions shouldn’t prove too hard for the company as it offers a comprehensive selection of bagged potatoes with USDA and CFIA bona fides.

“We offer organic potatoes in reds, yellows, whites, and Russets. We do them in a five pound, a three pound—and we also have a 1 and 1/2 pound baby potato mixed organic pack with purples, reds, and yellows,” added Stephanie. “We do baby organic reds and baby yellows. We also have organic onions in both red and yellow. So we’re able to provide a whole family of organic products—both potatoes and onions—to our customers, which is great because the organic market is growing.”

Additionally, Stephanie noted, Earth Fresh Farms is hard at work bringing new varieties sourced from around the globe to the North American market. The company’s president Tom Hughes has made it his mission to track down the best and brightest spuds, and his latest find, the Red Emily variety is in the works and soon to hit Canadian and U.S. shores.

“It’s interesting when the globe becomes smaller and more accessible,” Stephanie added. “It’s neat that we can do this—bring varieties from all over the world, and our Potatoes of the World program highlights these varieties. It allows consumers to connect with varieties that come from their homelands.”

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