Grocery delivery took a momentous step forward in 2020, and as retailers explore new services and delivery methods — including drones and autonomous vehicles — they're also reevaluating their relationship with delivery heavyweight Instacart, according to the Wall Street Journal.

While Instacart has partnered with more than 500 national, regional and local retailers to deliver from nearly 40,000 stores across more than 5,500 cities in North America, many supermarkets are concerned about the amount of money they're able to make through the delivery service, pushing at least one chain to raise

Nature Fresh Farms continues to give back to its community this holiday season through various fundraisers and donations.

On Dec. 23, as part of its Holiday Giveaway initiative, Nature Fresh Farms distributed gift baskets to a total of 44 families in need — 34 in Windsor/Essex and 10 families in Fulton County, OH — providing each of them with $200 in groceries and a $500 gift card. This has been the fourth consecutive year Nature Fresh Farms has carried out its company Holiday Giveaway.

In addition to the giveaway, the cross-company food drive took place over a two-week period where South

Hy-Vee Inc. will start hosting quarterly “Best of Local Brands” summits in 2021 to expand and enhance the product offerings at its more than 275 retail stores in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Hy-Vee is currently accepting submissions for its “Best of Brands” summits online at www.rangeme.com/hyveelocalsummit in the following categories of retail ready products: produce, grocery, deli, general merchandise, frozen, dairy, and health and beauty care.

The summits will be organized by the eight states Hy-Vee operates in and will consist of 15-

Hazel Technologies Inc., a USDA-funded technology company delivering new solutions for the fresh produce industry to extend shelf-life, increase sales, and fight food waste, announced a new partnership with Reedley, CA-based Kliewer Farms, a leading grower of California kiwifruit, stone fruit, and table grapes.

The partnership focuses on the use of Hazel for kiwi to ensure post-harvest quality. The technology, whose development has been funded in-part by the USDA, is a small biodegradable sachet, placed in the box during packing, which reduces the sensitivity of kiwifruit to ethylene

As people across Florida face food insecurity at unprecedented levels, Publix announced a new six-week program to support six of the state’s largest food banks collectively serving 46 counties.

Food banks are in need with some reporting as much as a 300 to 400 percent increase in demand — more than 2.7 million people in Florida are struggling with hunger.

“When we heard from food banks that they were facing a critical food shortage, we knew that, as a food retailer, we had another opportunity to help,” said Publix CEO Todd Jones. “With 90 years of relationships and expertise, we are able to

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that Fernando McIntyre, doing business as Morning Star Produce, satisfied an $8,640 reparation order issued under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act involving unpaid produce transactions.

The McAllen, TX, company can continue operating in the produce industry upon applying for and being issued a PACA license. McIntyre was listed as the sole proprietor of the business and may now be employed by or affiliated with any PACA licensee.

Once a reparation order is fully satisfied and it is confirmed that there are not any outstanding unpaid