Executives in all segments of fresh produce continue to grapple with changes in the industry, including more frequent extreme weather events, high prices impacting suppliers and consumers, an evolving labor pool, and the integration of artificial intelligence, among other trends. Here’s what they’re thinking at the start of 2025 and a look at the months ahead.
Climate and Weather
When it comes to the weather, most everyone along the perishables pipeline has been affected in some way.
“Climate change will bring increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, impacting crop yields and quality, while heatwaves, droughts, and heavy rainfall may disrupt supply chains and increase spoilage rates,” comments Darby McGrath, vice president of research and development at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Vineland Station, ON.
Deena Ensworth, culinary innovations director at Salinas, CA-based Markon Cooperative, Inc., BB #:123315, has similar thoughts. “Extreme weather, especially back-to-back hurricanes on the East Coast and drought concerns on the West Coast of the USA and Mexico, and other uncontrollable factors such as insect pressure and soilborne diseases, will continue to be challenging.”
In South Texas, there was a freeze in 2024, just three years after the last one in 2021, compared to a 35-year gap between 2021 and the previous freeze, reports Zak Laffite, president of Wonderful Citrus BB #:115157 in Delano, CA.
“Drought is a significant issue for us,” he says, noting that politics also play a role. In South Texas, where a 1944 treaty gives Mexico the ability to release water into the Rio Grande, the government has not been doing so, partly due to drought and low reserves, but also due to political factors.
“This has more impact for us than the height of the drought in California did,” observes Laffite. “There, at least you know how much water you’ll have, but here you don’t.”
Naturally, weather can impact what’s on retail shelves and in displays. Timing and supply go hand in hand. “More of these extreme weather events make it harder to deliver on our service agreements,” Laffite says.
Such as when retailers want winter citrus on the shelf starting November 1, so they can promote it, but the crop isn’t ready. Or at the other end of the season, if retailers want to wrap up on June 15, but growers have already run out of supply before that date.
“Abnormal summers will continue to happen, so these discussions will continue,” Laffite points out.
Tammy Collum, in sales for Vanguard International Group BB #:338552 in Bakersfield, CA, agrees. “Our crop in Ica, Peru, will be harvested about two weeks later than normal,” she explains.
She says delays in green and red grapes from Peru, and not having the typical influx of January grapes from California, “will lead to possible gapping for grape promotions at retail in January.”
A further concern for producers of winter fruit like citrus is the lengthening of Southern Hemisphere seasons due to climate change, increased acreage, and new growing techniques.
“If the other fruits are good, that cuts into our strong point as a winter fruit and takes our shelf space, which is pegged to consumption,” Laffite says. “That’s a worry.”
