Organic Produce Summit shines on all fronts

Thought-provoking educational sessions, a sold-out show floor, informative retail field tours and record-breaking attendance defined this year’s edition of the Organic Produce Summit, held in Monterey, California, July 10-11.

Since its launch in 2016, every iteration of this produce industry must-attend event has delivered on all fronts with its enthusiastic attendees contributing over-the-top energy regardless of the venue or external circumstances. The remodeling of the convention center and the lingering pandemic impacted the flow for several years, but not the vibe. And that same spirit was present this year, with the show operating for the first time under the ownership of New Hope Network.

Senior Vice President and New Hope Market Leader Carlotta Mast noted the unbridled energy as she welcomed the crowd of more than 1,800 attendees to the three keynote sessions, held on the morning of Thursday, July 11. New Hope Network, a division of Informa, is the organization that hosts the popular Natural Products Expo West—held annually in Anaheim, California—as well as the new natural products industry event, Newtopia Now, which will take place this August 25-28 in Denver, Colorado. Mast reported that the addition of OPS and the Organic Produce Network to its lineup of events and brands continues the organization’s commitment to the organic sector.

Farm fresh

OPS kicked off on Wednesday, July 10, with retailer and buyer field tours of three of the top organic produce organizations in the Salinas Valley. Busloads of qualified buyers visited three separate operations: Earthbound Farm, Driscoll’s and Braga Fresh. They toured fields, processing operations and distribution centers with company personnel, and learned about the operations in detail, as well as the companies’ footprints in the organic sector.

Earthbound Farm, which was established in 1984 on a 2.5-acre backyard plot in Carmel Valley, grew into one of the pioneers in commercial organic vegetable production. In 2019, Earthbound Farm was acquired by Salinas-California-based Taylor Farms and today it essentially operates as Taylor Farm’s organic produce division.

Driscoll’s, headquartered in Watsonville, California, has long been a worldwide leader in the berry category with production facilities all over the world. It is one of the top producers of both organic and conventional berries, and operates a robust breeding program developing its own proprietary varieties.

Braga Fresh is another Salinas Valley producer with deep roots going back several generations. It produces both conventional and organic vegetables, with its organic products being sold under the Josie’s Organic label. The brand name honors the matriarch of the family, who helped establish the family farm in the 1920s with her husband Sebastian Braga.

While retailers enjoyed the field tours, other attendees stayed behind for some new activities, including yoga and Seed to Service, a service opportunity hosted by non-profit Brighter Bites.

Celebration and education

The first day’s activities concluded with a popular and overflowing opening reception, held in the Monterey Conference Center. While attendees feasted on fresh seafood and other nibbles, they also made plans to attend the different education sessions and keynote addresses scheduled for Thursday morning. These sessions, which will be reported on separately in OPN Connect in the coming weeks, covered a variety of topics including developments in sustainable packaging, labeling requirements, growing organic fruit sales, the role of e-commerce in produce, organic snacking opportunities and the challenges regional retailers encounter in sourcing organic produce.

The keynote session, featuring three different presentations, is always a highlight of OPS as it typically features out-of-the box thinkers. This year’s lineup did not disappoint.

An inspiring leader

The first keynote address was by Nicholas Bertram, CEO of the food waste technology company Flashfood. Bertram had a robust career in the retail sector before joining his current company in early 2023 and, in February of 2024, he was named CEO.

Bertram explained that he was attracted to the organization for its dual goals of reducing food waste and food insecurity in the United States. He noted that, in 2022, $473 billion of food was wasted in this country, which is the equivalent of 145 billion meals. This astonishing amount of waste is bad for both the environment and the economy. But it is the number of people that go hungry in the richest country of the world that truly drives Bertram’s participation in Flashfood. “Food insecurity is my passion,” he said, noting that there are 43 million food insecure people in the U.S., 13 million of whom are children.

He calls Flashfood just one of the many solutions needed to reduce waste and eliminate food insecurity. “We are on a mission to feed families not landfills,” he said.

Bertram explained that Flashfood works with retailers—currently 2,700 stores across 22 states—to create a digital platform for products that will soon find their way to the dumpster. This online platform then offers these products to consumers with discounts of 50% or more, meaning families living on a small budget can afford to buy nutritious food that is still good, but has a shortened shelf life. Bertram revealed that produce, including organic produce, is the number one item on the platform.

Trends and opportunities

Kevin Coupe of the retail-centered Morning News Beat moderated a two-member panel as the second segment of the keynote presentations. He led Target Vice President of Produce Robby Cruz and UNFI Vice President of Produce Patrick Haines through some of the trends and opportunities in the retail produce space. While Cruz works with one of the larger general merchandise retailers in the country, food wholesaler UNFI concentrates its efforts on smaller retailers across the U.S. and Canada.

Some interesting takeaways emerged from the conversation, including the fact that Target’s customer demographic skews younger—something that Cruz believes may account for some of the company’s growth in organic produce. According to Cruz, organic produce sales have registered 2% growth each of the last three years, while industry sales have not increased very much. He also reported that many of company’s stores have a small produce footprint, which leads to fewer SKUs and a concentration toward more voluminous items such as bananas and apples. Cruz added that about 20% of all apples and 33% of bananas sold by Target are organic.

For his part, Haines reported that UNFI’s biggest challenge is that more work needs to be done for surety of supply. He indicated that a lack of consistent supply is one of the major impediments to increased organic produce sales.

Both retailers commented that climate change has led to supply issues as some production areas are just not as dependable as they once were. But on the flip side, there are new production areas coming into play that are only viable because of the changing climate.

Who’s buying what?

Sherry Frey of NielsenIQ was the final keynote speaker with her presentation parsing the buying habit trends and spending power of the generational groups in the United States. She discussed the ever-increasing spend by Millennials with the emerging buying power of Generation Z. But she also noted that Baby Boomers still wield a pretty hefty wallet and actually are the largest buyer of organic produce. They also rival Millennials in online purchases.

While marketing firms need to direct robust attention to Millennials, who are moving into their high earning years and will be a marketplace power for decades, she said don’t ignore Boomers. She added that there are more multi-generational households than ever before with 1 in 5 meeting that description, hence marketers should consider cross-generational messaging while their delivering their pitch.

Following the keynote addresses, the packed crowd adjourned for a multitudinous lunch on Monterey’s Custom House Plaza before descending on the show floor for four-and-a-half hours of controlled bedlam. The aisles were full, from the opening of the doors to the closing minutes, with lines forming to talk to both buyers and suppliers.

Organic industry veteran Darrell Beyer, founder and owner of Bluebird Mountain Organics, set up shop in his booth in the 800 row. “It was a great show. I’ve been coming to this show since it started—what, seven or eight years ago?—and each year it gets a little better,” he said. “I saw a lot of old friends and made some new connections. And the number of buyers is totally crazy. The onslaught of chain store buyers—and it’s funny, it’s not just organic buyers. It never stopped from the beginning to the end.”