Traditionally, Friday afternoons in mid-August are reserved for early starts to the weekend. This past Friday, those that vacated their desks missed an important message from Cathy Burns, CEO of the Produce Marketing Association, as she filled industry inboxes with a short video regarding the upcoming Fresh Summit.

Produce Marketing Association has officially opened registration for this year’s Fresh Summit which will be held in person in New Orleans.  The event is in its 72nd year and will be one of the first times the entire global produce and floral industries will come together following the pandemic.  Fresh Summit 2021 will run from Thursday, Oct. 28 through Saturday, Oct.

The Produce Marketing Association announced that Fresh Summit 2021 will take place in person Oct. 28-30 at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. PMA will welcome the industry back to the event with a variety of safety protocols and modifications developed with guidance from public health authorities.

The Produce Marketing Association announced the Best of Show awards last week, a Fresh Summit tradition of recognition that celebrates innovation and creativity in marketing and product promotion.  This year’s event featured virtual Marketplaces where exhibiting companies could customize and share their own digital space to promote and showcase their products and engage with buyers and event attendees.  The award winners were selected using a variety of inputs, including feedback from guests and platform engagement data.  

​Ark Foods — the modern-day farming company bringing unique vegetables and vegetable-based creations to the produce aisle — debuted its Clean Label Salad line at the Produce Marketing Association’s FreshSummit virtual trade show last week.

Doc Hendley claims to be the most underachieving member of his own family. Yet he has created Wine to Water, which has brought safe drinking water to people around the globe.

Keller Rinaudo is ensuring that blood packets reach their destinations in Africa in a timely manner. Rinaudo’s firm, Zipline International LLC, created a system using drones in Rwanda to deliver blood to remote hospitals and health centers to save the lives of people in an emergency situation. He noted that initial drone testing led to many crashes before achieving success.