Samples of Dan Galbraith's news and feature writing:
GLOBAL MARKETER WIDENS ITS COMMODITY LINE
By Dan Galbraith
Originally appeared in The Packer Sept. 17, 2007
Seald Sweet International, known as one of the top citrus-marketing companies, might have to change that label: The company isn’t all about just citrus anymore.
The acquisition of Katopé International, Rungis, France, in early September should allow the Univeg Group/Seald Sweet International to broaden its scope into the tropical fruit category and become an even more major produce player than it already is, new Seald Sweet chief executive officer Mayda Sotomayor said.
Univeg already does more than $2 billion in annual sales and operates in more than 20 countries. The Belgium-based Univeg, which owns 80% of Seald Sweet, is one of Europe’s largest supply chain management and growing operations. Univeg owns produce growing operations throughout Europe, South Africa, South America and the U.S., and has European fresh-cut produce operations, logistics services and distribution operations.
“We want to diversify the company and leverage our global presence,” Sotomayor said. “Citrus will always be important for us, but this new acquisition will give us a big presence in exotics, and we’re very excited about it.”
Seald Sweet hopes to become as well known for importing commodities such as pears, grapes and blueberries from places such as Argentina, Peru and Uruguay as it is now known for its efforts in citrus. The Katopé acquisition, in addition to plans to finalize a new distribution facility by year’s end, are part of the plan.
Seald Sweet plans to open the distribution center in Swedesboro, N.J., by Dec. 31, Sotomayor said, to replace the warehouse facility it currently leases.
In addition to facilitating Seald Sweet’s storage and repacking needs, the new distribution center should allow Seald Sweet to venture into the pre-prepared meal category for the first time, Sotomayor said, and add to the company’s capability in the areas of value-added products and fresh imported commodities.
Univeg will operate the 200,000 square-foot distribution center that will be three times as large as Seald Sweet’s existing warehouse, said David Mixon, Seald Sweet’s chief marketing officer. He said the operation, which is within two miles of the other facility, could employ up to 200 additional workers.
Katopé’s versatility with regard to its production base could provide Univeg/Seald Sweet a wide range of opportunities for expansion, especially since Katopé ships tropical, citrus, deciduous and stone fruit year-round, and also deals in flowers, vegetables and salads.
Katopé, which does an estimated $230 million in annual sales, credits itself with a combined volume of 24 million cartons annually, according to its Web site. The company’s offerings include avocadoes, pineapples, mangoes, grapefruit, oranges, lemons, apples, pears and grapes, in addition to the stone fruit.
Although Univeg’s proposed deal with Ready Pac Foods Inc., Irwindale, Calif., fell through earlier this year, as Ready Pac instead partnered with Bayside Capital, Miami, Univeg/Seald Sweet remains driven to globalize.
Mixon said the Katopé addition represents a strengthening of Seald Sweet’s business within its global sister company organizations. Adding the European distributor should provide Seald Sweet the ability to market its North American products in Europe, Mixon said.
“That will give Seald Sweet the opportunity to present to our customer base a much broader basket of produce in a vertically-integrated approach that we feel is not always presented to them in an effective manner,” he said. “With the continued growth in this direction, it will enable us not only to be the leader in the citrus category but also through other commodities. That can be anything in the produce department that our parent company is involved in.
“The whole produce department is available for Seald Sweet,” Mixon said. “It’s just a matter of us putting together the structure and processes that the customers desire.”
Sotomayor said she plans to meet Katopé company officials within weeks, noting that the company’s “very strong base in France” could be of particular advantage to Seald Sweet. Katopé also maintains a presence in such areas as Brazil, Costa Rica and South Africa, Sotomayor said.
Katopé, a century-old fresh-produce company, has 70 marketers spread across France, South Africa, Japan and the United Kingdom, according to the company’s Web site.
Part of the global expansion plan involved promoting Sotomayor from senior vice president to CEO and shifting the company’s other senior vice president, Mixon, into his new role.
Seald Sweet, which does more than $20 million in yearly citrus sales, ships up to 12 million cartons a year, Mixon said.
— Additional reporting by The Packer's Doug Ohlemeier
SOTOMAYOR NAMED SEALD SWEET'S FIRST FEMALE CEO
By Dan Galbraith
Originally appeared in The Packer Sept. 17, 2007
Personnel moves at Seald Sweet International, Vero Beach, Fla., have made Mayda Sotomayor the first woman chief executive officer in the company’s 98-year history.
Sotomayor, formerly one of two senior vice presidents at the company, a subsidiary of the Belgium-based Univeg Group, said she looks forward to taking a lead role in Seald Sweet’s plans to expand into more international markets and into more commodities while maintaining its strength in citrus.
“Seald Sweet and the Univeg Group have provided me with such opportunity. I am a true testament to the fact that if you work hard, you can get ahead in the industry,” Sotomayor said. “There’s a lot to do, and I’m not sleeping a lot at night these days, but we have a lot of potential.”
Sotomayor, formerly one of two senior vice presidents at the company, a subsidiary of the Belgium-based Univeg Group, said she looks forward to taking a lead role in Seald Sweet’s plans to expand into more international markets and into more commodities while maintaining its strength in citrus.
“Seald Sweet and the Univeg Group have provided me with such opportunity. I am a true testament to the fact that if you work hard, you can get ahead in the industry,” Sotomayor said. “There’s a lot to do, and I’m not sleeping a lot at night these days, but we have a lot of potential.”
While Sotomayor acclimates to her new role, Seald Sweet’s other senior vice president, David Mixon, is getting used to his new responsibilities as the company’s chief marketing officer leading new business ventures.
Sotomayor said all other management roles at the company remain the same, adding that the job changes for her and Mixon were effective Aug. 29 but that the company held off on announcing them because of a need to focus on other important day-to-day operations.
“I will have more responsibility with administration and overall performance,” Sotomayor said. “As far as responsibilities go, David will have more of a focus on marketing efforts in the U.S. and abroad.”
Mixon joined the company’s management staff in 2004 and has since focused on expansion in Florida, California and Texas.
Mixon, who has nearly 29 years of produce industry experience, said the move isn’t a new position but represents more of a title change for the duties he has been performing for Seald Sweet.
“These personnel changes should give us more focus and should allow our efforts to be more directed to our strengths,” Sotomayor said.
Sotomayor, who has led the charge to develop Seald Sweet’s import programs in recent years, recently was elected to the board of Mouton Citrus, a Seald Sweet partner and top South African citrus producer. She also serves on the Forbel SA board of directors. Forbel is a Seald Sweet-owned citrus company in Uruguay.
In addition, Vitor Figueiredo is the newly appointed chief financial officer of Univeg’s Portugal location.
— Additional reporting by Eastern Editor Doug Ohlemeier
For more of Dan Galbraith's work, or more news and editorial coverage of the fresh produce industry, please visit http://www.thepacker.com/.
SCHOOLS SUFFER HARSH EFFECTS
By Dan Galbraith
Originally appeared in The Atchison Daily Globe April 15, 2005
Kansas legislators may get an "E" for effort, but ask Atchison-area superintendents how they might grade the lawmakers' performance on school finance, and you're looking more at the letters surrounding "E" in the alphabet -- "D" and "F."
Local school administrators are quick to point out the shortcomings of the plan legislators recently adopted, but are perhaps even more fearful of what the Kansas Supreme Court might do next and how everything will impact area teachers, students and their taxpaying parents.
USD 409 Superintendent Steve Pummel is talking about possible teacher layoffs while others in the area are facing staff reduction as well as local option budget issues.
"This whole thing is historical. Decisions are going to be made soon that we'll be talking about for the next 20 years," Pummel said. "It all boils down to what the Kansas Supreme Court says in the next couple of days, and then the Legislature's reaction to it. We're looking here at two powerhouses that don't like to be wrong, and local teachers and students are the ones who are suffering. It hurts our kids and our community, but you can't spend what you don't have."
Pummel said he is like most other superintendents in the state with regard to how he looks at the $127 million increase in school funding recently adopted by the Legislature -- unhappy with the way the plan favors larger, richer districts and suspicious about the chances the plan will appease the high court.
"Fiscally, the Legislature has done a terrible, horrible job," Pummel said. "What they're doing is like making your house payment using a credit card -- you may be able to get by for a couple of years, but it's going to come back to haunt you in the end."
The Kansas Supreme Court says 'Don't make this a political issue,' then what do they do?" Pummel added. "They go and make it a political issue. You look at school finance and you see an inequity in funding."
The Legislature's plan is expected to become law on Saturday, with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius allowing it to pass without her signature.
Most school officials believe the Supreme Court in turn will reject the law and send it back to the lawmakers to fix.
That leaves a whole lot up in the air, USD 377 Superintendent Bob Overstreet said.
"The Supreme Court has a lot of options -- it can declare the legislation does not meet its demands and throw the whole thing out, it can agree not to fund schools or allow them to open, it can appoint a 'master' (to oversee revision of the plan), or it can accept the plan as is," he said. "It's difficult to do much planning until we get some of these answers."
Pummel said his knee-jerk reaction of possibly having to lay off nine teachers works on the assumption that there's a high probability the court will reject the Legislature's plan because it doesn't allow ample school funding, nor does it address the issue of making sure Kansas students are assured a quality education.
"The key question is, 'What is a suitable education?' and who is going to decide that?" Pummel said.
Until many such issues are resolved and more revenue earmarked for schools can be found, Pummel said USD 409 has to take a conservative stance on teacher contracts.
The situation is perhaps even more stressful in smaller districts such as USD 425 Doniphan West. Although that district combined the Highland and Midway-Denton schools in an attempt to help its financial status, decreasing enrollment and inadequate funding are causing increased financial turmoil.
Steve Adams, USD 425 superintendent, said that while this year's plan includes more new money than has been available to schools since 1992, it's not nearly enough and not nearly as fair as it should be.
"This Legislature plan adds some money, but it's grossly unsuitable," he said. "It's simply a reallocation of existing resources that looks a whole lot better on paper than it actually is."
The additional monies we would receive through this plan won't even offset the losses we're seeing in enrollment," Adams added. "My best guess is that the Kansas Supreme Court is going to tell the Kansas Legislature they're not done yet."
Without receiving a raise in school funding since 1999, tiny districts like Doniphan West have been losing students and teachers at an alarming rate, Adams said.
While it would be a last resort, Adams said he and the USD 425 board might even consider another consolidation in upcoming years.
"We've always approached our situation with an open mind," he said. "Already, we have reduced our teaching staff to the point where we're as low as we can go staff-wise and still provide an adequate education. We're at the point where we don't have that much more fat to trim."
USD 425, which employs about 40 teachers, lost about 10 percent of its teaching staff from last year to this year -- three through natural (means) and another through reduction of force.
Meanwhile, the proposed USD 409 teacher cuts would amount to about 4.5 percent of that district's teaching force.
Veryl Peter, director of school finance Department of Education, said there is little that school administrators can do to help their districts' situation until the Legislature and Supreme Court settle their differences and finalize money to be allotted to schools.
"Nobody knows what the Supreme Court is going to do," Peter said. "It would be nice to know (that schools could at least count on the $127 million of new money granted by the Legislature), but it's just kind of a waiting game.
"Some will make the assumption that the current formula will stand up, but what if the court doesn't buy that?" Peter added. "It is a tough decision. I'm sure the superintendents and school boards in this state don't want to cause any more turmoil for teachers than they have to, but you also have to protect your district financially."
One of the biggest contributing factors to the teachers' discomfort is time-oriented logistics that don't add up. Peter said districts have to notify teachers of their contract renewal status by May 1, and Pummel noted that superintendents across the state must zero out their operating budgets by June 30.
Pummel also said it's important to realize that if a district offers a contract to a teacher, it must be honored, regardless of whether or not the state funding situation changes after the contract is tendered.
All of this leaves people like Pummel playing things on the safe side. He said that while USD 409 may initially cut up to nine teaching positions, he hopes to hire some or all of them back after the money situation stabilizes.
"Best-case scenario -- we are able to hire everybody back and we're all fat and happy; if the money comes in, we will hire staff back," Mr. Pummel said. "But worst-case scenario -- everything stays the same and we have to reduce our funding accordingly."
While the Legislature's plan, if it stands, would give Atchison Public Schools about $420,000 in extra money, Pummel noted that most of that would be tied to specific programs.
Peter verified that USD 409 would have only about $208,000 of the money left to use for its general fund -- the rest of it would be earmarked for at-risk and special education programs. He noted that increased fuel and insurance costs could chew up much of districts' extra general fund monies.
The school finance situation won't come to an adequate resolution, Adams said, until the Legislature increases the base student aid and leaves intact low-enrollment weighting that benefits districts like his.
"The school finance formula is fine -- it's just that it's been the same formula since 1992, and they just need to fund it properly. The legislators' own study supported that, but they choose to ignore those results."
To cope in the short-term, Adams said local option budgets will be necessary.
"It's just a quick-fix -- we'd only ask enough to offset declining enrollment and inflation -- but schools like ours are not going to be properly funded without some new tax money from somewhere," he said. "Legislators, in effect, are pushing the responsibility of raising taxes from themselves to the local school districts. Legislators are just skirting their responsibilities and not biting the bullet to ask for the tax money themselves."
In USD 409, Pummel says he and others may need to look at alternative solutions to the annual issues with school finance.
"We may end up reassigning an administrator to a teaching position," he said.
Overstreet said increased enrollment in USD 377 may protect it from having to cut teaching positions, but he isn't expecting the Effingham-based district to get rich anytime soon.
"Under the existing plan, we would get an additional $207,000, but with fuel costs increasing and that sort of thing, we've already identified that many additional expenses for next year," Overstreet said. "Unless our school board decides to raise our LOB, we'll be lucky to break even. This district has already cut most of the teaching positions it can cut, unless we cut programs, and I don't see us at that point right now. But I see this district as being way behind on teachers salaries and benefits, and this prevents us from making any gains there."
With all of the complex issues clouding the school finance debate, the only obvious thing to school administrators is that local teachers, students and the state of education in general will suffer some deep-penetrating effects.
FARMERS BRING IN BUMPER (-TO-BUMPER) CROP
By Dan Galbraith
Originally appeared in The Atchison Daily Globe Oct. 4, 2004
It's a bumper crop in Atchison County. Or, maybe more fittingly, a "bumper-to-bumper" crop.
Farmers from all across northeast Kansas are sitting in their trucks, waiting in long lines at grain elevators for up to two hours, looking to cash in on their corn and soybean harvests that will almost certainly shatter all-time production records.
For farmers like Tim and Mark Boos of Lancaster, it's been a long time coming.
"I've been farming my whole life, and this is the best corn yield ever. Luckily, we haven't gotten hailed on yet," said Tim Boos, who has been working area row crops in his family farm operation for about three decades. "In a good year, we'll have 130-bushel corn -- that was the best I've ever seen until this year -- but our machines are showing 170- to 180-bushel corn yields. I haven't been in the beans yet, but they're doing well, too. It looks like we'll have 65-bushel beans."
While harsh weather -- especially drought -- caused most Atchison County farmers to suffer heavy losses in both 2002 and 2003, Mother Nature more than made up for things this summer, Boos said.
"We've had above average moisture, and the rains came at the right times," he said. "The only problem now is the prices."
With overflowing supplies of corn and soybeans, crops are not bringing the prices per bushel they normally would. Furthermore, many farmers find themselves spending a lot of time not only harvesting and trying to estimate their profit, but also waiting in line to unload their merchandise.
"The prices are a little depressing, but it's a lot better feeling than we've had here lately," said Ed Theis, who has worked the fields since 1952 and now helps his four sons run a family operation called April Valley Farms in Leavenworth. "We've had certain fields do this well before, but it's never been this widespread. The rains were very timely, and there were very few 90-degree days."
The severe drought years, coupled with the drooping U.S. economy brought on by the 9/11 attacks, made this year's vital to many farmers' ability to stay in business, said Mark Theis, who was waiting in line with his father here on Thursday afternoon.
"I don't think too many farmers could have taken much more like it has been. Another year like the last two we've had would have been catastrophic," he said. "Now, what's scary is that if the elevators get full, what's going to happen? They're going to get full and close the doors."
"Things are going slow right now for us because we're having to sit here so long to get rid of it (the grain)," Ed Theis said.
April Valley Farms has survived over the years better than many other farm operations, the Theises said, because the family didn't put all of its eggs in one basket. Instead, the Theises made up for some of the grain losses they suffered by earning profit on the livestock portion of their operation.
"The livestock has carried us," Ed Theis said. "That has paid the bills for us the last couple of years -- especially the cattle."
"Hogs just shot up from 52 to 58, and that's really rare," Mark noted. "Demand for pork has been really high. Maybe some of it is the low-carb diets, which pork is supposed to be good for. Or maybe people just got tired of eating chicken."
While grain farmers fully expect to make profit this year, it still may not totally make up for all the losses of 2002 and 2003, the Theises said.
"You'll make up some of the losses (but not all), unless you had your corn contracted at a rate of $3 or something," Mark Theis said.
Ray Ladd, of the Atchison County extension office, said there aren't strong enough words to describe the euphoria surrounding this year's crop yields.
"I don't know, adjective-wise, what you can say -- fantastic, unusually good, best-ever -- these are yields farmers previously thought were not possible," he said. "And it's happening on a countywide basis. This is a harvest they'll remember forever. As far as years of profit and years of loss, farming might be a 50-50 proposition over the last decade, and the last two years have been extremely short crop years for Atchison County. You need these good years to cover your expenses for the last two years. Farmers realize this is a once-in-a-lifetime deal."
