For over 40 years, Jersey Fresh has been the right product, in the right place, at the right time. Now is the time for the 2026 Jersey Fresh produce season. Whether you are a retailer right in the Garden State, across our borders in New York or Pennsylvania or anywhere up and down the East Coast and into Canada, your customers will appreciate all the produce offered by our Garden State growers. 

New Jersey is known as the Garden State for a good reason. Our farmers produce over 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables and typically rank in the Top 10 in production of eggplant, squash, peaches, peppers, blueberries, cranberries, sweet corn, asparagus… the list goes on. Our microclimates and great soils combined with the dedication of New Jersey’s farmers and the New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety team all combine to assure you of the freshest, most flavorful and safe produce you can offer your customers. 

For 42 years, the Jersey Fresh brand has represented this excellence. Begun in 1984, the Jersey Fresh logo embodies the qualities your customers seek. When the brand was originally launched, there was a radio campaign that extolled “Jersey Fresh…From the Garden State.” Over the decades that followed there have been several award-winning campaigns that have grown in size and scope and have invested millions of dollars in spreading the message about the flavor, quality and freshness of Jersey Fresh. Over time, those standards have not wavered. 

Products bearing our brand are subject to quality grading to assure they meet U.S. No. 1 or better standards. Customers recognize and appreciate the association of Jersey Fresh. By offering Jersey Fresh products to your customers, you provide them with assurances of quality and freshness. The season began over a month ago with greens, herbs and asparagus and we still have a long way to go into November. 

The NJDA has already begun social media campaigns promoting weekly availability reports of early crops and forecasting the coming harvest. If you would like to be added to the weekly availability report distribution list, please email [email protected] and each Monday, you’ll receive that report. We also have content on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and an increased presence on Pinterest this year.

The rest of our campaign relies on tried-and-true methods with new tactics added as they emerge. Our early season digital billboards along some of the country’s most heavily traveled roadways have already been making appearances. These digital boards allow us to quickly update messaging and promote products that are available each week throughout the harvest season. This wide net approach allows us to create awareness and generate over 100 million driver impressions. A new angle this year is getting onto billboards throughout the region but paying attention to boards near Philadelphia and MetLife Stadium which will be hosting some very important soccer (football) games this summer.

To back up the billboards, seasonal products will be featured in radio spots on terrestrial radio in English and in Spanish again this season. These messages will change weekly to highlight different crops as they come to market and to reinforce our messaging. The spots allow us to reach people in a more traditional way during traffic and weather reports when they are more inclined to pay attention to commercial breaks vs scanning the channels.

Summer also means millions of visitors to our Jersey Shore. While people are on our pristine beaches —  for a day, a week or a month — Jersey Fresh will be reaching consumers. We plan to have a Jersey Fresh airplane banner flown from Sandy Hook to the southernmost tip of Cape May every weekend this summer. This messaging will reach consumers from New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania as they visit our No. 1 tourist attraction. These banners will dovetail with a blueberry promotional event day along the boardwalks in Seaside Heights, Atlantic City and Wildwood. New this year, we will have a digital billboard mounted to a boat that runs along the shoreline and allows for message flexibility in both English and Spanish. Also new this year, we have partnered with the Jersey Shore BlueClaws in a special event. Annually, they are allowed to change their name for one game, this year, their name will change to the Jersey Tomatoes for a game in early August. That partnership includes eight months on their digital billboard outside the stadium, and in stadium board along the outfield wall, announcements at the game and Jersey Fresh promotional prizes and pints of grape tomatoes given away after the game. This will be memorable fun for everyone.

We will continue to reach out to buyers through our Eastern Produce Council event, and many trade shows including the New England Produce Council show in Boston, the International Fresh Produce Association show in Orlando and the New York Produce Show in December. Please find us at these events, we’d love to see you.

This mixed-media approach is designed to drive consumers to grocery retailers and other hubs for Jersey Fresh products throughout the growing season. Your consumers will be looking for local Jersey Fresh and the NJDA will continue to offer our point-of-purchase banners, aprons, hats, bin wraps and price cards so that you can identify your displays of the Jersey Fresh products they will be demanding. Please contact my office at 609-913-6520 if you would like to request POP materials.

New Jersey’s farmers grow all this goodness just minutes or hours away from tens of millions of consumers — your customers. Reach out to your favorite Garden State growers today to provide your customers with what they want. Our farmers face ever increasing challenges including input and labor costs and weather impacts, so we and they appreciate your support.

Jersey Fresh delivers and now is the time.

Joe Atchison III is assistant secretary director, marketing and development for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.