As the trend has shown for the past 11 months, things are a little different this year, and Viva Fresh’s Aggies for Fresh is no exception. The popular partnership with DMA Solutions is back for the sixth year to virtually connect industry professionals to Texas A&M students.

Registration for CPMA 2021 Fresh Week is now open and free. Designed with the entire supply chain in mind, Fresh Week is Connections: Reimagined. The event will officially kick off on April 13 with a live keynote address from Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, a Kansas City Chiefs player born in Canada and a medical school graduate.

As the Southeast Produce Council continues with preparations for Southern Exposure to be held April 6–8 in Orlando, FL, the SEPC team is working diligently to ensure the health and safety of attendees, exhibitors, and staff; and they have partnered with some outstanding organizations who are experts in facilitating recommended safety protocol.

The new year is often a time for resolutions, many of which include eating healthier, getting more active and physically fit, and improving mental wellbeing. So, when the Viva Fresh Expo announced its second annual Clean Eating Challenge back in October, it was the perfect catapult to a healthier year for eager participants.

Officials for the 2021 Organic Produce Summit, which is currently scheduled for July in Monterey, CA, are expecting to finalize the dates and the venue in February.

Matt Sealey, the founder of OPS and the CEO of the Organic Produce Network which hosts the summit, said all options are being explored with an eye toward making a final decision by the end of February. “We don’t want to be tone deaf to what is going on around us and we want to be respectful of what people and the country are going through,” he said in late January.

Innovation has always been an important driver in the fresh fruits and vegetables world, and that influence continues at an ever-increasing pace. CPMA members are often at the forefront of these changes as industry looks for more efficient, cost effective and labour-saving opportunities for growth. The transformation to a digital world has introduced artificial intelligence, big data, block chain and a myriad of other data/software driven innovations.