If you are like me, walking through the supermarket, specifically the fresh sections, is one of life’s small pleasures. I understand the convenience of online shopping, but clicking on an image of a piece of fruit cannot compare to picking out your own white peaches, cherries or pineapple.

If you believe the latest annual survey by FMI – The U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends Food Industry Association, conducted by The Hartman Group, it seems I am not alone.

When things are going great, Tom Sheppard, the president of Eastern Fresh Growers and Sheppard Farms, is quick to let everyone know all about it. The same is true when things are a bit tougher at the Cedarville, NJ-based operation.

Frank Donio Inc., a longtime New Jersey grower-shipper with a heavy emphasis on blueberries, added a small trial of raspberries to the mix in 2023 and are greatly increasing that production for the 2024 season.

Avocados from Peru honored the men and women of the U.S. Navy with a super avocado breakfast on board the USS Bataan on May 24 during New York Fleet Week.

Flaim Farms, a longtime stalwart of the New Jersey Produce scene, is celebrating its 90th year in business in 2024.

“We are thrilled that we’ve been able to grow and sell New Jersey produce since 1934, and we’re looking forward to keeping it going for another 90 years,” said Ryan R. Flaim, a fourth-generation member of the family, which also operates R&R Flaim Next Generation Produce, the marketing arm for Flaim Farms. “I still work with my father, Robert Flaim Jr., and my uncle, Kevin Flaim, so it is a true family business.”

Hood River Cherry Co. was founded by orchardists Kathryn Klein and Brad Fowler in 1993. By the late 90s, going into the early 2000s, the first fruit started to ramp up, and the family-run operation has been thriving ever since.

“All of our cherries are out of the Hood River Valley, tucked in here by Mt. Hood, off the Columbia River, and we’re a high-elevation and a late-season cherry,” said Jared Gidley, CEO of the Hood River, OR-based company.