Plodovi at the America's Food & Beverage Conference in Miami

Dear friends!

We are a bit late with our update because over the last few weeks we have been at Jesenski sajam, a STEAM workshop, the anniversary of Udruga Plantaža, Dani suncokreta in Čepin, and Headonist—all to bring the products of small producers closer to buyers.

From 16 to 18.9, we had the opportunity to visit the America’s Food & Beverage Conference in Miami, USA. At the conference, we had the chance to meet various government organizations such as USDA Wisconsin, New York, and Colorado, as well as Spanish government agencies focused on farmers, alongside various producers from Central and South America. At the conference, we gained much greater insight into international markets, as well as a much deeper understanding of the American market, which is in many ways different from the European one.

It was also a great pleasure to meet other small and medium-sized enterprises from Europe on this joint internationalization mission to the USA:

Biohifas from Lithuania 

DeFoodExchange from Poland 

#SANSEVERA (https://sansevera.pl) from Poland

We also had the opportunity to meet one of the owners of Green Tomato Market, a platform similar to ours in Osijek where they also help small producers sell products online. From them, we learned that in the US, subscriptions to seasonal fruit and vegetable baskets are the top sellers, and that customers don't have the habit of ordering specific individual items as is customary in Europe. 

We had the chance to taste local tropical fruit from the “Robert is here” stand, which was incredible to say the least, at least for our Slavonian palates. We met the Moehling family, owners of the “Robert is here” stand, who introduced us to various previously unknown fruits such as jackfruit, monstera (fruit), pitaya, papaya, Thai bananas, and much more. We were thrilled to meet a small producer who has been engaged in agriculture since 1959 right in the middle of a metropolitan area like Miami.

We are still full of impressions and new knowledge, acquaintances, and hope :)

***Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union.***