The International Fresh Produce Association has launched the Fresh Field Catalyst, an accelerator program, to attract start-up, scale up and international technology solution providers interested in entering the global produce market.

Whole Foods Market opened its store in Washington, DC’s, Glover Park neighborhood on Wednesday, Feb. 23. The 21,500-square-foot store offers a wide variety of local products, all hand-selected by Whole Foods Market Mid Atlantic’s Local Forager Kathleen Leverenz. This store is the first of two Whole Foods Market locations expected to open this year that feature Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology.

The Save Mart Cos. expanded its partnership with Starship Technologies, a leading provider of autonomous delivery services, for the launch of an on-demand grocery delivery service at its Lucky California flagship store in Pleasanton, CA.

ProducePay, an agriculture marketplace dedicated to providing trade protection, capital and market insights for members of the produce supply chain, launched Quick-Pay+, a new financing option that allows growers to improve their yield and cash flow, while connecting them with pre-vetted buyers. Through this solution, the company aims to boost the fresh produce market — since growers will be able to receive up to 96 percent of their shipment's value 24 hours after the buyer confirms its reception.

Procurant, a cloud-based software company transforming the global food supply chain, released Procurant Connect, a new module within the Procurant One platform. The new module consolidates critical third-party information for retail buyers and their trading partners and provides quick access to this information during the procurement process. Procurant Connect builds on Procurant One’s open network architecture, providing a hub for produce supply chain data that can be easily customized and personalized.

Procurant, a cloud-based software company transforming the global food supply chain, released Procurant Inspect, a mobile software solution available as an annual subscription that accelerates and modernizes the perishable goods inspection process at retail grocery distribution centers.