Judy Spires, one of the most accomplished and respected executives in the U.S. grocery and retail food industry, has been appointed chair of retail strategy and industry relations for Consalo Family Farms. With more than four decades of distinguished leadership experience, Spires has held senior executive roles across several of the nation’s leading supermarket organizations. She served as president of Acme Markets, president of Albertsons’ Dallas–Fort Worth Division and president of Albertsons’ Rocky Mountain Division. She later became chairman and CEO of KB US Holdings, the parent company of

MR Farms is taking a bold step into the future by adopting artificial intelligence to enhance its warehouse operations. Beginning this fall, MR Farms added advanced optical sorting machines to perfectly sort and weigh potatoes and carrots with speed and precision. Equipped with a sophisticated mirror system and powerful lighting that eliminates shadows, the new machines perform a seamless 360-degree analysis of every vegetable. High-resolution imaging combined with AI-driven software enables precise grading, with up to 10 customized categories for potatoes and 16 for carrots. The system

Have you heard the phrase, Pull in your horns? Perhaps you used it when a personal financial crisis popped up. Maybe your boss used it in a sales meeting while profits were starting to slip. In business, pulling in your horns is being cautious and is very similar to playing not to lose. In football, for example, coaches have systems in which they call different plays to arrange offense and defense formations in order to manage late game activity. One of the strategies often used when leading in the score is the prevent defense. Some refer to playing the prevent defense as preventing a victory

Crunch Time Apple Growers is kicking off a national consumer sweepstakes to promote its signature SnapDragon variety, sending a winner to Canton, OH, to attend Pro Football Hall of Fame events in 2026. Crunch Time introduced the sweepstakes, Snap Your Way to Canton, at the International Fresh Produce Association’s Global Produce & Floral Show in mid-October in Anaheim, CA, with former Buffalo Bills wide receiver and Hall of Famer Andre Reed meeting with football fans on the expo floor. SnapDragon is the official apple of the Buffalo Bills, and Crunch Time hands out samples at all home games

Southeastern Grocers LLC will step into a new era as The Winn-Dixie Co. in early 2026, uniting under one iconic brand with a renewed focus on its home state of Florida. The change honors Winn-Dixie’s century-long legacy while positioning the grocer for growth through investments designed to modernize stores, enrich the customer experience and reimagine the neighborhood grocer for the next 100 years. Anthony Hucker, chairman and CEO of Southeastern Grocers, said, “For a century, Winn-Dixie has proudly called Florida home. Our story is built on the resilience and spirit of its people, and that

Volm Cos. announced a new dealership agreement with Flikweert Vision, an innovative solutions provider for the potato and onion industries. Matthew Alexander, Volm’s vice president of sales and marketing, and Wayne DeCou, equipment sales director, formally confirmed the deal with Flikweert CEO Martijn Flikweert during a recent trip to the Netherlands. The strategic partnership marks an important expansion of Volm’s equipment portfolio, providing new and modern optical sorting solutions to meet the changing needs of the fresh produce industry.