Spring was a difficult time for R.C. Hatton Inc., as the company had to destroy a lot of crops like other farmers did, because the foodservice industry had shut down for the most part. But by summer, things seemed to be turning the corner.

As the calendar was about to turn to November, W. Calvert Cullen IV, president of Northampton Growers Produce, reflected on 2020 and was grateful that his company was able to rely on its team and operations to stay going during the pandemic.

“Luckily for us we were considered essential, so everyone has been working every day just like normal, and we’ve been continuing on just like before,” Cullen said.

While COVID-19 has had a tremendous effect on the produce business and the way people are living their lives, Chuck Weisinger said it’s also another factor that has led to numerous changes in how produce professionals are adjusting to life in the 2020s.

Mr Greens began operations in Florida back in 2011 with just a handful of employees, four vehicles and a 3,000-square-foot facility located in Allapattah. Four years later, it expanded into a 69,000-square-foot facility in Liberty City and this December, the company will be expanding again, this time to a 158,000-square-foot facility in Miami.

The Florida Agricultural Promotional Campaign program was established by the legislature in 1990, intended to serve as a marketing program to promote Florida agriculture, value-added products, and ag-related businesses.

Tropical Storm Eta arrived in Florida over the weekend and continues to unleash heavy rain and strong winds to much of the state’s southwest coast. As of Monday afternoon, weather forecasters still warned of the possibility that Eta could re-intensify into a mini-hurricane. States up the East Coast are preparing for heavy rains as well.