PMA Aims to ‘Grow A Healthier World’

The Produce Marketing Association (PMA) has a busy year ahead. Cathy Burns, PMA CEO, says, “In short, we’re going to grow a healthier world.”

Food safety will be a big focus for PMA in 2019 and beyond. “A real barrier to growing a healthier world is if people are getting sick eating our product,” she says.

During the PMA Fresh Summit in October, PMA announced it will be unveiling a training and certification program for food safety. “This will be specifically for the produce industry to educate, train and certify people … to keep our food safe and give our customers confidence that our food is safe,” Burns explains.

According to Burns, PMA will be more involved in the technology arena in 2019. The association recently added a vice president of technology to its staff. Vonnie Estes lives in the Silicon Valley, and Burns is excited to see her take ag technology to the next level.

Sustainability will be another focus for PMA in the new year. “Part of growing a healthier world is the sustainability of this planet,” Burns says.

As always, PMA will be involved in the marketing space. Burns would like to spend 2019 teaching marketing as a discipline across the produce industry. “All of this is for naught if we can’t create demand for our products,” she concludes.