The Food Industry: Trends And Challenges

Adriano Dia, Chief Marketing Officer, Fyffes

In an interview with Adriano Dia, Chief Marketing  Officer at Fyffes, he outlines the current trends and  difficulties of the food industry. He also talks about the  latest project that has been working on recently along  with the technological trends in the industry.

1. What are some of the major challenges and trends that have  been impacting the Food Industry lately? 

The fresh produce industry has had very difficult moments, short  term but also decades back. Bananas are the most consumed  fruit in the world, and a trusted nutrition provider to every  human. In fact, from the very childhood of being a baby to the  ageing population across the globe, and in every moment in  time, everyone enjoys the great taste of a banana, synonymous  with being a healthy snack. But the reality shows that in the past  +20 years, the industry has undergone a major value slump. It  is only in recent years that prices have raised due to the domino  effect of post COVID pandemic and the current situation in  Europe. Furthermore, consumers are opting more and more for  sustainable and organic solutions. And there is an answer to this  demand: fair trade and organic bananas and the opportunity to  further promote the great work behind this special grown exotic  fruit.

2. What keeps you up at night when it comes to some of the  major predicaments in the Food Industry? 

Every single day, consumers all over the world can eat the best  quality and nutritious bananas. However, I don’t see the whole  value celebration of Bananeros on this side of the Atlantic  nor in North America. Bananeros are highly skilled farmers,  who plant, grow, and harvest bananas. They can read a banana  stem, due to their long-standing experience with the fruit.  And it is a tradition that many Bananeros pass on the baton to  their family members, who succeed further. Thanks to their  wealth of knowledge applied every day, bananas have become  an irreplaceable fruit in more than 75% of all households. I  see opportunities to bring this wealth of knowledge closer  to consumers and make bananas a more present fruit in  consumers’ mind.

“I see opportunities to bring this wealth of knowledge closer to consumers and make bananas a more present fruit in consumers’ mind.”

3. Can you tell us about the latest project that you have been  working on? 

Deeply understanding our banana consumers is one of our top  priorities. We want to delight them and ensure we meet their  needs today and in generations to come. It is our agenda to  more closely link bananas and sustainability. Every time we  communicate, we draw out the relevance of sustainability. We  are currently looking at options on how to make our famous  blue Fyffes label ready for 2025. 

4. What are some of the technological trends which excite you  for the future of the Food Industry? 

Before I joined Fyffes, I heard a lot about precision agriculture,  though it was a very distant concept for me. My recent visit  to our banana and pineapple farms in Costa Rica completely  changed my perception and allowed me to understand, from  a practical point of view, what precision agriculture means  and how it will help Fyffes to achieve not only our 2025  sustainability goals, but also liaise with our partners to create next generation, modern farming. More  concretely precision agriculture helps us to become  more efficient and ecological in farming. The drone  technology allows us to map our plantations, and measure  the predicted output, through an algorithm, which is  cross validated by our agronomist team. It is also a way  to increase yield, because of the more effective usage  of fertilizer. But all these technologies are only possible  thanks to our strong technical and operational experts on  the farms and in the pack houses.