The Produce Industry Podcast w/ Patrick Kelly

Join Patrick Kelly and co-host Ross Nelson as they welcome Dean Fahselt of River Fresh Farms to delve into the dynamic world of wet vegetables. Discover how this nimble, minority-owned company is tackling extreme weather, supply chain challenges, and expanding into value-added products.
Tune in for insider insights on market trends, crop rotation, and the future of freshness in produce supply.
#freshprudce
https://www.riverfreshfarms.com

Why did the man who just conquered India weep over a melon — and what does that tell us about the fruit that travelers from Ibn Battuta to Victorian cavalry officers have been stopping their journeys to describe for seven centuries? How did the river valleys of what is now Uzbekistan become the origin point of every sweet melon on Earth, and the crossroads through which paper-making, Islam, and Buddhism all passed in different directions? And who was Babur, the tiger who lost Samarkand twice, won an empire he couldn't love, and asked to be buried in a garden in Afghanistan?
Join John and Patrick as they tell the story of Uzbekistan and the melon — the Silk Road, the Baburnama, and the concentrated sweetness of a fruit that still makes people stop and weep...
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In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh.
The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here!
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Join the History of Fresh Produce Club for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community.
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Why did a blacksmith hide six cocoa pods under his tools to smuggle them past Spanish customs — and how did those six pods become the foundation of an industry that today supplies sixty percent of the world's chocolate? Who was Tetteh Quarshie, the man who spent six years watching cocoa grow on a plantation island before bringing the knowledge home to Ghana, and why has the credit for what he did been contested ever since? And what does it mean that the average cocoa farmer in Ghana earns a dollar a day for producing the raw material of a chocolate bar that sells for the same price?
Join John and Patrick as they tell the story of Ghana and cocoa — the toolbox, the Cocoa Hold-Up of 1937, and the smallholder revolution that made a country from six pods...
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In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh.
The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here!
-----------
Join the History of Fresh Produce Club for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community.
Support us!
Share this episode with your friends
Give a 5-star rating
Write a review

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Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more.
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Email: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com

Why did 27 words buried in a Bavarian price regulation from 1516 become the most famous food law in history — and why did it take 402 years for anyone to give it the name that made it sound ancient and inevitable? What was in German beer before hops arrived, why did the Church control it, and how did switching ingredients become an act of theological protest during the Reformation? And how did Bavaria hold its entry into the German Empire hostage to the extension of its beer law — and win?
Join John and Patrick as they tell the story of Germany and the Reinheitsgebot — the gruit monopoly, the hop revolution, and the purity commandment that forgot to mention yeast...
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In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
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Join the History of Fresh Produce Club for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community.
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Email: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com

Why does the most extravagant opera house in the history of South America sit in the middle of the Amazon rainforest — and how did a wild tree, a Connecticut hardware merchant's accident, and a debt bondage system built on human misery pay for Italian marble, Murano chandeliers, and a ceiling painted in Paris to look like the underside of the Eiffel Tower? Who was Henry Wickham, the man who took 70,000 rubber tree seeds out of Brazil and ended the boom in a single generation? And what happened to the opera house when the carriages stopped coming?
Join John and Patrick as they tell the story of Brazil and rubber — the seringueiros, the Teatro Amazonas, and the most improbable building on Earth...
----------
In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
-----------
Join the History of Fresh Produce Club for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community.
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Share this episode with your friends
Give a 5-star rating
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Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more.
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@historyoffreshproduce
Email: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com