Who knows what you’re going to find in the back of grandma’s refrigerator.

For the people who run Sunrise Fresh Dried Foods, it turned out to be the key to the success of the Stockton, CA-based family-owned farm and vertically integrated dried fruit manufacturer.

The story goes that in 1996 Jim Samuel and Ernie Podesta were operating their family’s farm and fresh cherry packer and maraschino cherries facility. Ernie wanted to find new uses for cherries deemed not high-enough grade for the fresh market.

In a landmark move for sustainable agriculture, BrightFarms is teaming up with Element Farms to set a new standard for indoor-grown produce in the Northeast. Both trailblazers in sustainable, controlled environment agriculture, this mutually beneficial partnership allows BrightFarms to distribute Element Farms' indoor-grown spinach throughout the Northeast under the BrightFarms brand, further satisfying the strong consumer demand for high-quality, locally grown spinach.

Thomas Jefferson tried to start a wine company, a banana empire owned the world's largest private navy and a 19th century food spy smuggled citrons from Italy into the U.S. These are not fictional stories but real historical events that you can expect to hear about when you tune into The History of Fresh Produce podcast series hosted by Patrick Kelly and John Paap.

Kylie Mount, manager of sales and business development at FloraCraft, was named to the 2023 Future Five class by the Chamber Alliance of Mason County.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has imposed sanctions on three produce businesses for failing to meet contractual obligations to the sellers of produce they purchased and failing to pay reparation awards issued under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. These sanctions include suspending the businesses’ PACA licenses and barring the principal operators of the businesses from engaging in PACA-licensed business or other activities without approval from USDA.

The following businesses and individuals are currently restricted from operating in the produce industry:

It’s peak season for Naturipe Farms’ proprietary raspberry varieties out of the central Mexico growing region. This fall, Naturipe Farms, one of the world’s largest producers of fresh berries, is projected to have the strongest season on record for promotional volumes of their raspberries.