Latest Fresh Produce News & Insights

Certified health coach Hunter Stoler explains how adding more fruits and vegetables can support heart health while remaining affordable and approachable for everyday shoppers... Read More

Amid a Midwest snowstorm, the 30 Different Plants Per Week Challenge, Retail Edition, begins with a lesson in resilience, highlighting how diverse merchandising and flavor-focused signage can turn a routine grocery run into a hunt for plant variety... Read More

Produce and retail companies like Avocados From Mexico and Instacart are utilizing celebrity endorsements for Super Bowl LX to prove that even grocery staples can be marketed with the same level of spectacle and technological innovation as the world’s biggest tech brands... Read More

General Produce and Divert, Inc. are transforming food waste from Sacramento-area distribution centers into renewable natural gas and nutrient-rich soil amendments through a strategic partnership focused on advanced anaerobic digestion and real-time sustainability data tracking... Read More

A new clinical study suggests eating the equivalent of one cup of blueberries a day could help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, highlighting the growing link between diet and mental health... Read More

The Packer’s retail editor Jill Dutton launches a new weekly column exploring the science and strategy of the 30-plants challenge, bridging the gap between personal nutrition and professional retail insights. This piece introduces the series and explains the “why” behind writing a column that turns a personal quest to eat more plants into actionable data for the produce industry... Read More

A soil scientist explores how regenerative soil health acts as the “secret ingredient” for sustainable food by shifting the farming focus toward microbial health and long-term soil structure, which directly enhances the flavor, nutrient density and retail story of specialty crops... Read More

Amazon is shuttering its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go physical locations to focus resources on a major expansion of Whole Foods Market and its rapidly growing same-day grocery delivery service... Read More

Driven by breakthrough varietal innovations from leaders like Wish Farms and Naturipe, and supported by record-breaking retail data from the California Strawberry Commission, the berry category is entering 2026 as a $500 million growth engine for the produce department... Read More

Lidl U.S. has appointed Marco Giudici, the company’s current chief customer officer and former head of Lidl Romania, as interim CEO, succeeding Joel Rampoldt. This appointment comes as the retailer continues to refine its domestic growth strategy and operational efficiency... Read More

Built on the legacy of the Johnston family’s 1920s homestead in Gilbert, Ariz., Agritopia has evolved from a traditional desert farm into a premier “agri-hood” where 11 acres of organic orchards and row crops serve as the social heart of a modern residential village... Read More

At just 15 years old, Malon E.D. James is blending his grandmother’s wisdom with high-tech innovation to fight food deserts from a lab in Atlanta... Read More

With government assistance spending moving rapidly online, Amazon’s new pilot programs and Prime Access discounts are creating a massive new gateway for fresh produce sales... Read More

As SNAP restrictions expand, independent grocers seek clarity on value-added produce to avoid “good faith” errors and potential program disqualification... Read More

Wegmans’ use of biometric surveillance in New York City has sparked a transparency storm, as legally mandated signs warning of “eye and voice” tracking directly contradict the company’s claim that it only uses facial recognition for security. Privacy expert Ben Winters argues the practice lacks meaningful consumer consent and rigorous oversight... Read More

The Florida-based family-owned grocer with six stores has redefined the modern farm market experience... Read More

Google Trends data shows a reliable spike every January for topics tied to healthier eating. This year, rather than limitations and restrictive eating, consumers are seeking ways to add to their health and wellness, which often includes eating more plants... Read More

From data-backed insights to in-store execution, retailers are refining how the category is marketed to maintain momentum in an increasingly competitive produce aisle... Read More

The author of What to Eat Now, says agricultural subsidies, rising relative prices and retail consolidation combine to make fresh fruits and vegetables harder to sell, even as they remain central to public health and sustainability... Read More

The retailer is partnering with Mill and Amazon to deploy on-site, AI-driven technology that converts produce department scraps into chicken feed, aiming to reduce operational costs and halve food waste by 2030... Read More

Divert’s retail-focused approach to managing unsold produce has helped grocers like Safeway boost food donations by 20% in three months, while giving produce teams clearer visibility and control over waste... Read More

Suppliers and state agricultural leaders report a promising season marked by high fruit quality, strategic field adjustments and renewed retail partnerships, even as growers continue to navigate labor, cost and weather challenges... Read More

The company is helping retailers recover value and reduce shrink by diverting 84,000 pounds of food waste per day through tech-enabled partnerships... Read More

The U.S. Food Waste Pact is uniting growers, retailers and supply-chain partners through data-driven collaboration to reduce on-farm losses and retail shrink — exemplified by the strawberry whole-chain pilot that turned unharvested, out-of-spec fruit into profitable new markets... Read More

Together, the three organizations say they are advancing a cutting-edge approach to breeding and growing high-quality strawberries indoors... Read More