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Produce Grower magazine

Serving vegetable and fruit greenhouse operations of North America. Subscribe for free at producegrower.com. Published by GIE Media.

11/07/2025

AmericanHort President & CEO Ken Fisher has announced his plan to step aside at the end of May 2026, marking 10 years of leadership at the national trade association that represents the U.S. horticulture industry.

The AmericanHort Board of Directors will immediately begin the process of planning for the CEO transition and the selection of the next leader.

Read the full story here:

https://www.producegrower.com/news/american-hort-president-ceo-ken-fisher-steps-down/

11/06/2025

Managing fertilizers during containerized herb production is one part of producing a great crop, but what happens to these plants once they leave the greenhouse?

They're often placed in lower-light environments in retail — and in the home — and provided with minimal water and no fertilization, which is not a recipe for success.

Nicole Arment and Christopher Currey of Iowa State University Department of Horticulture and Jennifer Boldt of USDA USDA Agricultural Research Service designed an experiment to determine how fertilization in the greenhouse affected containerized basil when it was finished, as well as in the retail and consumer environments that followed finishing.

Find out what they learned:

https://www.producegrower.com/article/culinary-herb-production-fertilization-shelf-life-cea-herb-research-iowa-state/

11/04/2025

Why do consumers buy (or not buy) produce? 🛒

Provoke Insights conducted an online survey of 1,500 Americans on grocery trends and consumer buying behaviors. Here are some of the key findings from the fresh produce portion of the survey:

🍅 78% of consumers reported buying more produce for health benefit.*
💰 55% marked "higher prices" as their reason for purchasing less produce.*
🥬 Nearly half of consumers plan to purchase more produce in the future.

*Baby boomers led the generations in the top two reasons for buying habits. More millennials are influenced by family preferences, and Gen Z led the way when it comes to chemical concerns.

Read more here:

https://www.producegrower.com/article/grocery-trends-produce-research-consumer-corner/

10/30/2025

Growing up as a “farm kid,” Brandan Shur was pruning peach trees and picking Japanese beetles off his father’s crops — earning a nickel per bug — before he could even spell horticulture. Born on Long Island, where his dad ran an ornamental tree nursery, the family moved to Mount Airy, North Carolina, where his dad’s retirement hobby turned into a 2,000-tree orchard.

But by the time he reached high school, Shur decided that farm life was not for him.

“Maybe it was just me being a teenager, thinking I was too cool to farm,” Shur says. “But I didn’t want to go to college for agriculture.”

After taking a few English classes at a local community college, Shur was lured back into the fields as he enrolled in a winemaking trade school that offered classes in viticulture and enology. As the youngest student in the class at 17 — barely half the age of most of his classmates — Shur realized how much he loved the hands-on aspect of growing crops.

Read more about Shur's "stubborn horticulture journey" to advancing soilless food production and hydroponics innovation in CEA:

https://www.producegrower.com/article/brandan-shur-controlled-environment-agriculture-soilless-food-production-cea-research/

10/28/2025

Eden Green Technology, a hybrid vertical farm operation that served Walmart and other retailers throughout Texas and Oklahoma, will permanently close Dec. 13.

More than 100 employees will be laid off, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice filed Oct. 15.

The grower opened its first greenhouse in 2022 and grew leafy greens in its proprietary and patented vertical growing technology. The business opened a second 2-acre vertical greenhouse that same year and broke ground on phase 3 of its expansion a few months later.

"Very high capital cost vertical farm facilities with complex proprietary systems driven by high tech are not the way to go, and the capital markets are starting to realize this," Eric Stein, executive director at the Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture, told Produce Grower in an interview after the Eden Green closure announcement.

Learn more about the closure and what it might signify for the world of high-tech farm facilities:

https://www.producegrower.com/news/eden-green-technology-closing-vertical-farming/

10/24/2025

What a show! The and team enjoyed hearing what was new from exhibitors at Global Produce & Floral Show, learning from expert speakers and taking in all the sights! A few highlights.

10/23/2025

Hannah Kramer and Christopher Currey from the Iowa State University Department of Horticulture and Jennifer Boldt with the USDA Agricultural Research Service designed an experiment to determine how the pH of nutrient solutions affects plant growth and tissue nutrient concentrations for basil, dill, parsley and sage grown in hydroponic water culture systems.

By growing these herbs across a range of pH levels from 4.5 to 7.0, their goal was to identify the effects of pH on yield and foliage appearance to determine pH optima and acceptable ranges for herb production in multi-species culture.

Find out more about this new research that identifies optimal pH ranges for hydroponic basil, dill, parsley and sage to help you improve your quality and yields:

https://www.producegrower.com/article/hydroponic-herb-production-optimal-ph-controlled-environment-agriculture-cea/

10/21/2025

The AI & Advanced Robotics Working Group convened by the Resource Innovation Institute has reached a clear consensus: The controlled environment agriculture industry won’t face major workforce reductions in the coming decade.

It's more likely that some CEA operations will disappear due to labor shortages than that jobs will disappear due to AI or advanced robotics.

Learn more about how AI and advanced robotics are reshaping CEA and changing worker roles and duties while boosting productivity and efficiency 🤖

https://www.producegrower.com/article/ai-advanced-robotics-controlled-environment-agriculture-workforce-resource-innovation-institute/

10/16/2025

We had the opportunity to connect recently with Justin Bartlett, co-founder, co-CEO and director of sales and marketing at Legacy Labor, Inc., a farm labor contractor providing H-2A labor throughout the United States.

Bartlett gained a passion for horticulture while working on his wife’s family Christmas tree farm and founded Legacy Labor with his brother-in-law, David Judah, in 2020.

We asked him to share his story, the impact H-2A workers have on the industry and how he advocates for them.

Read more in our latest Executive Spotlight:

https://www.producegrower.com/article/justin-bartlett-legacy-labor-founder-executive-spotlight-sponsored/

10/14/2025

Our 2025 State of the CEA Produce Industry Report is here!

The growth of the CEA industry has been full of twists and turns. In its relatively short history, there has been a glut of tech investment startup money, followed by contraction and some unfortunate closures. There has been both wild hope and crushing doubt.

But our 2025 State of the CEA Produce Industry Report seems to suggest that for some in the industry, the winding road has become a straighter highway to the top.

Dig into the report to find out how growers are achieving growth, profitability and higher-quality produce while navigating the evolving CEA landscape:

https://www.producegrower.com/article/2025-state-controlled-environment-agriculture-cea-produce-industry-report/

10/09/2025

Wholesum, a third-generation family organic vegetable farming operation based in southern Arizona, announced the graduation of the first cohort of its new internal leadership development program, NextGen Academy.

The employee-led initiative is designed to nurture the potential of team members who seek to grow both professionally and personally within the company.

The graduates of the first cohort are:

-Brenda Nava, accountant at Wholesum Family Farms
-Eddie López, operations at Wholesum Family Farms
-Jaset Parada, quality assurance coordinator at Wholesum Farms Arizona
-Joaquín Alfredo Campos Noriega, greenhouse supervisor at Wholesum Farms Sonora

"It’s a great opportunity because it teaches you things you don’t learn in school," Nava said. "I stepped out of my bubble and now understand the impact my work has on other areas. I feel seen and valued by the company."

Learn more at the link below, and congratulations to the graduates!

https://www.producegrower.com/news/wholesum-family-farms-nextgen-academy-internal-leadership-development/

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