International Fresh Produce Association CEO Cathy Burns called on the global fresh produce and floral community to meet a period of extraordinary disruption with deeper collaboration, stronger advocacy and practical solutions during her annual State of the Industry keynote Oct. 14 at the association’s 2026 Global Produce & Floral Show in Orlando, Florida.
“Resilience is not simply the ability to withstand pressure. It is the ability to keep growing through it, to keep learning, to keep showing up for one another and to keep choosing progress,” Burns said. “The future of fresh will not be shaped by one company, one country or one idea. It will be shaped by all of us.”
The stakes were underscored by IFPA’s Consumer Tracker, which found nearly one-quarter of U.S. consumers buy fewer, or skip, fresh fruits and vegetables when prices exceed what they are willing to pay.
Key themes
- Rebuilding trust through food safety and traceability. Following a Cyclospora outbreak that shook consumer confidence and drove significant retail, foodservice and school foodservice losses, IFPA mobilized member resources, maintained contact with regulators and challenged misinformation. An IFPA and industry-developed warehouse management solution is estimated to save 8 million labor hours and $250 million annually in compliance costs.
- Protecting year-round supply. The association is helping members navigate tariffs, advocating for exemptions on key agricultural inputs and promoting access to a stable workforce, with work spanning U.S., European Union and multilateral trade policy and Farm Bill priorities.
- Sustainability as resilience. IFPA regained access to U.S. federal investment for regenerative agriculture and helped create regenerative benchmarks through the Consumer Goods Forum, with the message that increasing produce consumption is climate action.
- Workable packaging policy. The association is advocating for consistent approaches to Extended Producer Responsibility regulations, recognizing packaging’s role in food safety, traceability, shelf life and reducing food waste.
- Putting AI to work. Initiatives include an early-warning pathogen monitoring tool, a digital twin to forecast the economics of changing packaging regulations and expanded insights in the Global Intelligence Engine.
- Produce at the center of health strategy. IFPA and The Foundation for Fresh Produce are advancing produce in dietary guidance, school meals, SNAP, WIC and produce prescriptions, with consumer initiatives including the multilingual All Day, Every Day campaign and the Fruit & Veggie Hub in the WIC Shopper App.
“Fresh products move at the speed of trust,” Burns said. “When confidence is strong, borders open, markets function, buyers buy and consumers choose fresh.”
Burns closed by challenging the industry to match the scale of today’s pressures with collective action: “Together, we are not just responding to change, we are shaping what comes next. And together, we will relentlessly fight for fresh.”
IFPA represents member companies throughout the global fresh fruit, vegetable and floral supply chain, from growers and shippers to wholesalers, retailers and foodservice operators.