Produce Marketing Association President and CEO Cathy Burns opened the virtual Fresh Summit event this morning imploring the industry to forget about a “new normal” and instead bring about a “new extraordinary” as it envisions post-pandemic life.

In her annual State of the Industry address, Burns acknowledged the tremendous change that has occurred over the past six months due to COVID-19, but she asked the virtual audience, which was tuning in from all over the world, to resist the urge of remembering pre-pandemic times as the rosy past that was free of concern. She said there were many pre

Grimmway Farms is exhibiting new products and sustainable packaging initiatives this week at the first-ever virtual Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit Conference & Expo. Exhibiting for the 23rd consecutive year, Grimmway has transformed its impressive in-person booth, typically stocked with a market’s worth of fresh produce, to a virtual experience that allows visitors to tour its diverse growing regions and learn about its expanding carrot and organic farming operations.

While the company’s booth takes a different shape this year, Grimmway is more focused than ever on bringing

Although this year's PMA Fresh Summit may look a bit different, one thing remains the same — SUNSET/Mastronardi Produce will rock it! The Produce News recently caught up with Nancy Pickersgill, events manager for the fourth generation, family-owned greenhouse grower to discuss what the company has in store for the first-ever virtual Fresh Summit.

Check it out as Nancy talks about new products, special guest appearances, and of course, the company's annual SUNSET Rocks event.

Southeastern Grocers, Inc., parent company and home of BI-LO, Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie grocery stores, announces plans to introduce four new Winn-Dixie stores throughout Florida on Nov. 11 with the completed conversion of three former Earth Fare stores and one former Lucky’s Market.

Each store is being designed with a specialized approach to provide customers with a unique shopping experience featuring the freshest produce and highest-quality meats and seafood. SEG will introduce new signature categories throughout the four Winn-Dixie stores with a wide product

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture has mostly kept to business as usual during this pandemic. 

“While there was an adjustment period which everyone experienced when the pandemic struck, we are largely working remotely, and our operations continue in force,” said NJ Secretary of Agriculture Doug Fisher. “Produce Safety inspections never ceased, assuring that consumers are getting top quality, safe food that has always been essential and expected.”

Overall, the produce business has been very robust in 2020 throughout the state.

“Consumers have demanded local more than ever and having

Fast Facts: The Cast video series is back with Roger Pepperl, Stemilt’s marketing director, and Senior Marketing Manager Brianna Shales, who broke down the latest apple category data from Nielsen. The data set that reviews the last 12 weeks of retail data ending Sept. 26 shows apples continue to be a hot produce item, and Stemilt advises retailers to carry a versatile product mix to elevate the category during peak apple months.

“We saw that retailers sold 1.5 percent more pounds of apples over the past three months when compared to the same time the year prior while dollars were flat, up