Matt Miles, a long-time organic salesman in the Washington apple industry, died Dec. 7. He was 49.

A 27-year veteran of the apple industry Mr. Miles made a name for himself in organic apple sales dating back to 1997 with a variety of companies like FirstFruits Marketing and L&M Northwest.

A trio of operators participating in the controlled environment agriculture space reported a bright future with potential for significant growth, especially in the organic category, at a seminar held during the recent Organic Growers Summit.

Campos Borquez and Deardorff Family Farms have come together to provide the marketplace a consistent supply of organic vegetables directly from farmers committed to social and environmental sustainability. The program will focus on organic celery and then add organic broccoli and organic cauliflower later in the season.

Mother Earth is primed for success in the new year.

“We launched some new items, which is a good thing,” said Mark Kreiner, outside sales coordinator for the Landenberg, PA-based company. “We continue to reinvent ourselves and we look to create items where consumers have needs and wants.”

A leader in the organic category, the company is especially excited about its various powdered Lion’s Mane SKUs, as well as its Mother’s Harvest brand, which offers a mix of exotic organic mushrooms.

A pair of recently announced educational sessions will explore the growing importance of biologicals as a tool of organic crop production and offer a look at the growth of organic fresh produce sales at grocery stores across the nation this year as the final parts of the 2022 Organic Grower Summit presented by Western Growers and OPN educational program.

Ongoing inflation resulted in higher retail prices of organic fresh produce during the third quarter of 2022, generating a 4.1 percent increase in total organic dollars but also contributing to a decline of 4.5 percent in organic volume compared to the same period last year, according to the Q3 2022 Organic Produce Performance Report released by Organic Produce Network and Category Partners.