If you could develop your own produce budget, where would you begin? I asked this question to several produce directors and the majority of the answers were, “I’d start with a realistic gross profit.”

With every new year comes another budget filled with ambitious goals. This should not be surprising. Any experienced produce director knows that as each budget is achieved, there will always be demands for greater improvement. It makes sense in order for companies to build growth, however, are those budgets asking for pie-in-the-sky numbers?

The pressure to achieve the “bottom line” today is

The Produce for Better Health Foundation welcomes its 2022 Executive Committee, including 2022 Chairman of the Board, CarrieAnn Arias, vice president of marketing for Naturipe Farms, LLC. Approved during the recent PBH Board of Trustees Meeting, PBH’s incoming executive leadership will ensure PBH continues to advance the organization’s mission to improve fruit and vegetable consumption in America.

“CarrieAnn has served as a trusted advisor to me over the last few years given her tenure on the Executive Committee, and I am thrilled to work more closely with her as Chairman of the Board,” said

The last weekend of January is expected to see temperatures flirting with freezing in Florida’s strawberry production area near Plant City. Combined with rain during the Jan. 23-29 week, strawberry production is expected to be tight heading into the Valentine’s Day pull.

Robert Wilhelm of Bova Fresh LLC., Boca Raton, FL, told The Produce News that he expects to have a difficult time filling orders for Valentine’s Day sales, in which strawberries often play a leading role. Discussing the situation on Jan. 25, he said it was currently raining so he expected relatively few berries to be picked

For a myriad of reasons food prices are higher than in recent memory, and will likely remain so for quite a while.

Avocados, for example, are expensive right now. With prices ranging from $54 to $62 as Mark Campbell of ProduceIQ said, “the bigger Hass sizes are nearly worth their weight in gold.” He added that prices are about 40 percent higher than the previous high. Expect prices to go even higher as the Super Bowl approaches.

It’s not all doom and gloom as the opportunity to promote strawberries is on the rise. Favorable weather conditions in California, Florida and Mexico have put

Research conducted by FoodMix Marketing Communications, a leading food marketing agency, revealed the underdeveloped state of branding within the fresh produce industry. To help businesses understand and utilize their findings, FoodMix is hosting a webinar on branded produce and the current state of it.

Did you know that more than half of consumers find it important to shop specific brands in the fresh produce department of the retail store? What’s more, almost 70 percent will pay more for branded produce. These are just two of the key findings from the FoodMix research department.

To

Stop & Shop and Boston-based nonprofit About Fresh have partnered to expand access to fresh and healthy foods for people in need across New England. Through About Fresh’s Fresh Connect program, participants can use prepaid debit cards "prescribed" by healthcare providers to purchase healthy food. With this announcement, Stop & Shop becomes the first major retailer to make this produce as a prescription program available.

After a successful pilot at Stop & Shop’s Grove Hall store location, the program is now available at more than 100 store locations in eastern Massachusetts and will expand to