The fresh produce industry will be beaming up to Orlando, FL, the first weekend in March to attend Southern Exposure, the Southeast Produce Council’s annual conference and trade show.

With a Star Trek-inspired theme for Southern Exposure 2023, the council has been offering this video message on its website: “Produce, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Southeast Produce Council. Its mission: to boldly go where no produce association has gone before. Beam up today.”

The event will take place March 2-4 at the Swan & Dolphin Resort in Lake Buena Vista, FL, the same venue as last year, and where almost all activities will take place.

Before the official opening of Southern Exposure, “We’ll be kicking things off with our board of directors meeting on Wednesday, March 1,” said David Sherrod, the council’s president and CEO. Among the many areas of discussion, the board will be “working on our mission statement and our vision,” he said.

The VIP dinner will be held that evening “with all the people who have gotten us where we are today,” he said. “This is a chance for us to get everybody geared up for the show, have a relaxing night before all the festivities begin, and get ready for the busy days ahead.”

Thursday begins early for the 288 golfers signed up to participate in the Tom Page Golf Classic, which is named for one of the founders of the council. A shuttle will depart at 6:15 a.m. from the Dolphin Hotel to take the golfers to “two great courses about 5-10 minutes from the hotel,” said Sherrod. Prizes will be handed out at the awards luncheon, and everyone should be back at the hotel no later than 2:30 p.m.

Committee meetings will be going on most of the day (and Friday, too); LINKS meetings will also be taking place on Thursday and Friday.

Focusing on the future
One of the dinners that has been held at Southern Exposure for many years now has a new name to better reflect the importance of future leaders to the council.

The Southeast Top Agricultural Recruits Scholarship program and the Southeast Training Education Program for Upcoming Produce Professionals are two of the council’s longtime premier programs, and in previous years on Thursday evenings, the STARS & STEP-UPP Dinner took place. But this year, “We are adding our Next Generation Leadership Academy to the dinner,” Sherrod said, and the dinner is being renamed the Future Generations Celebration Dinner.

“We’re celebrating the future of our industry with those three programs, which are all geared to bring on the next generation of leaders,” he said. “We’re going to highlight each one of these programs. We’re putting the emphasis on the future of our industry. It’s really about fostering the younger leaders of the industry and celebrating their accomplishments.” This dinner will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Things move into high gear on Friday with the STARS breakfast (by invitation only), which will take place from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. Three industry leaders — Drew Callaghan, vice president of business development at RPE LLC; Katie Rees, market development director at the South Carolina Department of Agriculture; and Tiffany Stornetta, strategy manager for produce procurement at HelloFresh — will talk to the students about what it means to be in the produce industry, and then will field questions from the students.

There are two educational sessions scheduled for Friday morning.

The first is titled, “The Prime Directive: Food Waste & Nutrition Insecurity,” from 8:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Its mission: To learn how we can live long and prosper by working together to solve the food waste and nutrition insecurity facing our planet. Moderator Pete Pearson of the World Wildlife Fund will be joined by panelists Nathan Fenner, president and co-founder of Afresh; Abby Prior, chief commercial officer at BrightFarms; Luis Yepiz, chief procurement officer at The Farmlink Project; and Justin LaCroix, director of sustainable operations and brand lead health and sustainability at Ahold Delhaize USA.

Following a short break, the second education session, “The Power of Produce 2023,” will take place from 10:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. “SEPC is more excited than ever to join forces with FMI, the Food Industry Association, to launch the 2023 edition of The Power of Produce at Southern Exposure,” notes the SEPC website. “As a sponsor of this study, SEPC looks forward to year five of bringing these valuable insights to the produce industry.” Co-presenters Rick Stein, vice president of fresh foods at FMI, and Anne-Marie Roerink, president of 210 Analytics, will be joined by panelists Jeff Cady, vice president of produce and floral at Tops Markets; Mike Emery, director of produce category pricing and merchandising at Hannaford Supermarkets; and Rich Gonzales, vice president of global produce sourcing at Walmart.

The Southern Roots luncheon (for women in produce) will take place 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., where attendees will hear from Heather (Lucky) Penney, who is widely recognized for her service on Sept. 11, 2001. She is a renowned speaker on topics such as personal courage, citizenship, decision-making under stress, leadership, organizational transformation, inclusivity, high performance teams, national defense issues and aviation.

Stars Cocktails & Careers will take place from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

As in previous years, there will be two receptions to welcome attendees to this year’s event. The Healthy Family Project Reception (by invitation only) will take place 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and the Retail & Foodservice Reception (by invitation only) will take place from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The Opening Gala will run from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. “Hopefully we’ll transform the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of the Dolphin into a galaxy and we’ll have lots of Trekkies,” said Sherrod. “It’s going to be a fun time.” In words that Mr. Spock, science officer on the original Starship Enterprise, would be proud of, Sherrod added, “It will be highly illogical for anyone to miss this celebration.”

Keynote brunch and expo
Saturday will begin at 9:15 a.m. with the Keynote Brunch, an hour earlier than in the past, which will allow more time at the expo for retailers, exhibitors and attendees alike, noted Sherrod.

Tim Graas, executive director of produce field procurement at Associated Wholesale Grocers, and chairman of the SEPC board of directors, will give the State of the Council report, “focusing on some of the strategic plans we have,” said Sherrod.

Two Lifetime Membership Awards will be presented during the brunch, one to Mark Hilton and one to Teri Miller.

Hilton started his career with Harris Teeter in 1992 as manager of produce merchandising. He was promoted to director of produce and floral in 1995, and in 2001 he was named vice president of produce and floral. He was very involved in the formation of the Southeast Produce Council, serving as its first president (now called chairman).

Miller recently joined Freshhouse with a focus on business development. Over the past 15 years, she has held the title of category manager at The Fresh Market and Food Lion. She is also a certified public accountant and a certified information systems auditor. In 2106 she became the first woman to serve as president (now called chairman) of the SEPC board of directors.

Also at the Keynote Brunch, the Terry Vorhees Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to the family of Al Finch, who died on June 21, 2022. Very much involved with the Southeast Produce Council since its earliest days, he served on its board of directors from 2003 to 2008, chairing that board from 2006 to 2008. He also served on the council’s Board of Governors from 2014 until his passing.

There will be two keynote speakers this year. Kimberly Williams-Paisley, an actress, New York Times best-selling author, Alzheimer’s advocate and co-founder of non-profit The Store, an organization in Nashville which aims to address food insecurity, will be the celebrity keynoter.

Sonia Lo, an experienced AgTech industry executive who brings a wealth of experience scaling indoor agriculture operations, will be the industry keynoter.

At the conclusion of the Keynote Brunch, a ribbon-cutting ceremony will launch the expo, which will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This year’s expo will feature 283 exhibitors, as well as 29 Innovation Stations and a Bright Ideas Showcase. There will also be a food pavilion during show hours, as in the past.

“We’re expecting over 3,000 attendees this year, of which over 600 are retail, foodservice, wholesale buyers,” said Sherrod. “Almost every retail-foodservice chain in North America has some type of representation there. It’s just amazing all the people that are coming to the show. It’s a blessing.”

The Closing Reception, which will take place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Dolphin beach area, is always a wonderful setting to relax and unwind after the long day.

And on Sunday from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., the council invites attendees to the Al Finch Memorial Prayer Breakfast.