The Produce Industry Podcast w/ Patrick Kelly

In this milestone episode celebrating six years of the Produce Industry Podcast, host Patrick Kelly welcomes Rob Austin, CEO of Empower Fresh, for an in-studio conversation about the transformative power of AI and hands-on training in the produce supply chain.
Discover how Empower Fresh University is reshaping team training, driving consistency, and helping retailers reduce shrink with cutting-edge AI tools. Tune in to learn actionable insights on revolutionizing your produce department and why the human touch remains crucial in the era of smart technology.
https://empowerfresh.com/for-retailers#empower-fresh-university

This week, we’re talking Gravenstein apples, a Sonoma County classic that is fading fast.
Up in the Yuba City area, peach orchards - gone!
At the same time, a whole wave of new fruit and berry varieties is coming your way.
And in the bigger picture, restaurants are closing left and right. What is really going on out there?
Plus, seasonal specialties like fiddlehead ferns and baby artichokes.
And a juicy strawberry romance story from Dan’s younger days.
It is all right here on Fresh from the Field Fridays with Dan the Produce Man, from the Produce Industry Network, powered by AgLife Media.
Check out aglifemedia.com today.

his week on the Global Fresh Series, we dive into a major joint venture between two industry powerhouses that is set to redefine the fresh-cut fruit landscape in France. With a strategic location, integrated logistics, and a focus on convenience-driven consumption, this partnership highlights the rapid evolution of value-added produce across Europe. We explore what this means for suppliers, retailers, and the future of fresh fruit consumption in one of Europe’s most promising growth markets.
#freshcutfruit #Prepworld #Omer-Decugis&Cie #freshberries #produceindustrynetwork

How did the humble date palm become entangled in the great age of empire? Why did steamships, railways, and the opening of the Suez Canal transform an ancient oasis crop into a global commodity? And how did a handful of date palms - smuggled across deserts, nearly lost to a curious dog, and later replanted in California - come to shape the modern global date industry?
Join John and Patrick for the second part of their story on the history of dates, as imperial expansion, desert espionage, and ambitious American plant hunters carry this ancient fruit from the oases of North Africa and the Middle East to the highways of Southern California, and even back from seeds two thousand years old.
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In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
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In this episode, Patrick Kelly dives into the recent silence in USDA's National FOB Review reports, exploring what it means for fresh produce market transparency and how industry professionals can adapt.
From private data solutions to strategies for maintaining supply chain awareness, tune in to learn how buyers, sellers, and procurement managers can navigate this reporting gap with confidence.
Reference: https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/publication/national-fob-review