As a journalist, it’s amazing how much more you can discover when you actually sit down and spend some time talking to someone face to face. It’s a very different experience to talking on the phone or exchanging emails – especially if you’ve never met – because if all goes to plan then the person you’re speaking to is going to relax, feel more at ease in your company and, with any luck, offer you a gem of a story which will add value to your publication. It doesn’t always happen that way, of course, but it certainly makes a difference when you can see the whites of their eyes.

Naturally, our excellent news team here at Eurofruit – the same people, by the way, who are responsible for www.fruitnet.com – is always up to speed with the latest annoucements from all the major fresh produce companies. Over the years, they have become adept at keeping on top of a regular stream of press releases and corporate announcements while also managing to follow up leads and generate their own exclusive content. However, they also realise it’s only when you manage to get what our American friends so aptly call ‘face-time’ with industry players that you start to feel like you’re getting to know what’s really going on.

It’s not that we’re looking to expose secrets or give competitors a glimpse of your commercial strategies, but it’s definitely our job to promote the sharing of ideas and give coverage to the companies that are turning those ideas into success, progress and, ultimately, cold, hard profit. In the long run, promoting what’s good about the trade itself ends up being of benefit to the entire fresh produce trade.

My interview with Dole Europe president Jean-Christophe Juilliard (Eurofruit Magazine, April Issue) provided a lot of insight into what’s driving the company’s development here in Europe. For the record, he also told me that his favourite fruit is the redcurrant, which may explain the group’s recent move into berries.?It’s amazing what people are prepared to tell you when you’re sat right opposite them.

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