CHARLOTTE, NC — The Southeast Produce Council kicked off Southern Innovations 2025 with an elegant evening at the VIP dinner Tuesday, Sept. 9, at the Charlotte City Club. The semi-annual dinner celebrates the leaders, innovators and partners who have helped shape the council. Kristin Yerecic Scott of Yerecic Label, who chairs the SEPC board of directors, welcomed everyone to the dinner and thanked them for their work on behalf of the council. The VIP dinner was held one day prior to the official opening of Southern Innovations, taking place Sept. 10-12 at the Charlotte Convention Center, here.

Albertsons announced a major milestone in its digital transformation journey — the launch of the Albertsons AI shopping assistant, an industry-leading web browser experience designed to make grocery shopping faster, smarter and more personalized. As the industry leans into agentic commerce, the Albertsons AI shopping assistant moves beyond search to execute complex end‑to‑end grocery tasks helping customers complete shopping, from recipe to cart, in minutes. Building on the success of the company’s Ask AI tool introduced earlier this year, the agentic shopping assistant is a customer-friendly

Lipman Family Farms is deepening its generational commitment to fighting hunger. Its latest $2 million investment will help to build a new facility for the Harry Chapin Food Bank of southwest Florida in Fort Myers. The center — set to break ground this November and completion by the end of next year — will expand the food bank’s ability to sort, pack and distribute fresh, nutritious food to thousands of families facing hunger. For Lipman, the gift isn’t just a financial pledge. It’s the next step in a decades-long relationship rooted in shared purpose. Based in Immokalee and still family-owned

The Fresh Produce & Floral Council will close out the year with one of its most anticipated traditions: the FPFC Holiday Reception, set for Dec. 11 at the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort. Running from 4 to 7 p.m., the reception has long been considered a signature year-end gathering for the West Coast produce and floral industries, and this year’s event leaned even further into community, celebration and a focus on the industry’s future. Matthew Hayes, the council’s program and events director, said the event stood out because it “brought together the full breadth of the produce and

Sunny Valley International, a leading supplier of domestic and imported fruit on the East Coast, welcomed Kevin Lyons and Paul Pascal to its sales team on Dec. 1. Lyons brings more than 30 years of produce industry experience. Most recently, he was a produce sales manager with UNFI, leading a sales team and managing everything from sales and store merchandising to transportation and procurement. Prior to joining UNFI, he was at Baldor Specialty Foods, where he helped guide the expansion of their retail and fresh-cut business segments. He also brings extensive organic produce sales experience

We're not off to the smooth start we were hopeful for post-Thanksgiving. Load times in Yuma remain long as growers work through muddy fields and backed-up harvest schedules. Crews are doing everything they can to catch up, but customers should still expect delays at the cooler and a slower turn on trucks through early next week. The good news: product quality is improving every day, and weights are trending upward as the fields dry out and temperatures stabilize. On the lettuce front, desert Iceberg, Romaine and green leaf are all showing stronger quality than in recent weeks. There are still