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- PPI has been Promoting Pickles
for More than 100 Years
- By Karen Gentry
Associate Editor
- Pickle Packers International (PPI) promotes pecks of pickles that Peter Piper will buy. This tongue twister could be called the motto of PPI, an organization that promotes the generic use of pickles and helps growers produce better cucumbers through its funding of research.
“We work to convince consumers to buy more pickle products,” said Richard Hentschel, executive vice president of PPI. Hentschel spoke on pickle trends at the Great Lakes Vegetable Growers Convention and Farm Market Show in January in Grand Rapids, Mich. PPI is able to do generic public relations and encourage people to use pickles in a recipe. He told growers that pickles compete against product out of their category such as olives, salsa and radishes.
“Pickles have been around for over 4,000 years. They’re extremely well known and established. Two or three year olds know what a pickle is,” Hentschel said.
Hentschel’s organization bombards editors with pickle messages by supplying them with pickled products and recipes on how to use these products. Their educational Web site at www.ilovepickles.com also promotes pickle products. Pickles were recently given an unusual boost when it was reported that the Philadelphia Eagles football team drank 1 1/2 - 2 ounces of pickle juice per day, which reportedly eliminated leg and muscle cramps and increased their stamina.
“The first priority for us is to provide the best possible product,” said Hentschel, whose organization supports university and USDA research. PPI helps to fund processing research such as seed breeding, variety trials, insect resistant varieties and obtaining higher yields for more cucumbers per plant, at universities such as Michigan State University, University of Wisconsin and North Carolina State University. PPI’s Field Research and Pickle Seed Research Fund committees solicit research proposals and selects grant recipients.
“We’ve worked very hard at providing growers with good seed to start with,” said Hentschel.
Sandwich slicers, introduced in the last five - eight years, have helped energize the category, according to Hentschel. Growers who grow for this market have to plant varieties that can be sliced in long lengths for the sizes needed for the stacker, with optimal yields. Growers grow cucumbers with fruit that is more compatible to slice type pickle, he said. Hentschel said sometimes pickers are paid a premium to get certain sizes for this type of product.
He told growers that dollar sales of pickles are up while unit sales are about flat, with 65% of households buying pickles. Sandwich slicers are a bright spot increasing 15% with unit sales at 96 million to 111 million in 2000.
“The pickle industry is in constant flux,” said Hentschel. “Consolidation requires changes in grower/packer relationship,” he said. Changes in off-season imports and more computerized record keeping are some of these changes.
Pickles are grown in nearly 30 states with Michigan, North Carolina and Texas topping the list. Hentschel said pickles favor warm weather, good soil drainage and lots of water and southern states such as North Carolina can have a spring and a fall crop because of the shortness of the crop.
Growers who grow for pickle processors are generally pleased with their contracts that they sign before the growing season, guaranteeing them a certain price. Growers may contract for a specific amount of bushels. If they produce more than enough they might sell the remainder to a broker.
For growers thinking about growing cucumbers for the pickle market he offers some words of caution. “Absolutely have a market before putting seed in the ground,” Hentschel said.
PPI’s roots date back to 1893, and Chicago, Ill. PPI was originally named National Picker Packers Association in 1893. “Before roadways the best way to move pickles was by rail,” said Hentschel. Pickles came through Chicago and stopped there on way to various parts of the country.
With this access to pickles near Chicago, packers started setting up shop, Hentschel said. “Chicago was a pretty good hub,” he said. Three companies near Chicago today - Chicago Pickle Co., Schwartz Pickle and Claussen Pickle - trace their roots back to this time period. Today Heinz, Vlassic and Claussen are the only three national brands of pickles, Hentschel said.
The association has been in only three different spots including more than 35 years in St. Charles, Ill., said Hentschel, only the fourth executive vice president of the association.
The association now includes 63 worldwide packer members with 50 members in North America. PPI has over 135 members in all categories. Pickle Packers holds two educational meetings per year with the spring meeting taking place where some pickle seed or processing research is going on.
PPI also works to promote sauerkraut and pickled peppers. For more information about PPI call (630) 584-8950; e-mail staff@ppii.org or visit www.ilovepickles.org.
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