IFPA 2022 Year in Review

Our Association Our Members

IFPA, born from the strong legacies of United Fresh and PMA, strives for a vibrant future for all by growing prosperity for the world of fruits, vegetables, and floral. The global association is led by members, for members. More than 1,200 volunteer leaders serve on boards of directors, councils, committees, and ad hoc groups. Every company with a place in the produce or floral industries has a place in IFPA.

Our Members

Global

IFPA hosted events on five continents so attendees could learn and share information about market trends and global challenges and opportunities. In 2022, IFPA offered robust resources in those areas and collaborated with like-minded organizations to raise the profile of the produce and floral industries.

Retail

Buyers, suppliers, and solutions providers connected at The Retail Conference and The Global Produce & Floral Show. We discovered business-building information year-round through the IFPA retail newsletter, performance/sales statistics, insights on consumer trends, and business impacts (e.g., inflation, sustainability, packaging).

Foodservice

Foodservice operators, distributors, and K-12 school foodservice professionals met suppliers and solutions providers at The Foodservice Conference, The Global Produce & Floral Show, and more. Throughout 2022, we gathered insights from IFPA research and resources on consumer perspectives, menu innovations, and food waste challenges.

Floral

From The Floral Conferences (Anaheim and Miami) to The Global Produce & Floral Show, buyers, suppliers, and solutions providers gathered to do business. Using IFPA year-round resources, we tracked sales data, grappled with supply chain challenges, were inspired by color and lifestyle trends, and digested consumer sentiments.

Produce

We tracked consumer, retail, floral, and foodservice insights to support our businesses through greater insights. We addressed supply chain, sustainability, technology, food safety issues, and more. Most importantly we took advantage of the return of in-person events to connect with the full supply chain.

Solution Providers

We found a home in IFPA in 2022 – connecting with buyers and sellers that depend on your products and services. We learned about innovative solutions to some of the industries’ greatest challenges – food safety, sustainability, supply chain issues, production inputs, packaging, transportation, and more.

CONNECT

We connected with people, products, ideas, insights

Hosting events around the world, IFPA’s most visible activities are gatherings that connect members with each other and with new ideas to drive progress in high-performing organizations. That high performance is also recognized through the IFPA awards and scholarship programs. Less visible, but equally important, we also connect more than 1,000 volunteers from around the world to guide our programs, resources, and events.

Members around the world connected in 2022

After two years of pandemic-induced restrictions, IFPA members were able to once again make in-person connections at events, meetups and more.

View our 2023 Signature Events

Map of the world depicting locations where IFPA holds events and has members.

Michael Fernandes quote: "The Global Produce and Floral Show is the biggest and best show to attend, offering many opportunities to advance your business."

Clive Garrett quote: "For more than a decade, The Southern Africa Conference has offered us the ideal platform to develop business relations, exchange knowledge and showcase our brand."

Kristen Reid quote: The Women's Fresh Perspectives Conference truly is transformational. I learn something new from each of the people I meet including new ways to approach problems and invest in myself and others in the industry.

Volunteers at Work

1,200 members worldwide volunteered to guide IFPA in our service to members. From multi-year service on the Board of Directors, committees, and councils to only a few hours or days on micro-volunteer assignments, members touch every aspect of IFPA offerings. Only members can participate in these groups that guide the association and give back to the produce and floral industries through these groups:

View All Volunteer Opportunities

Awards and Scholarships

Recognizing excellence within our member companies, IFPA offered scholarships to bring deserving individuals to IFPA events and awarded individuals and companies for meritorious efforts in marketing, advocacy, leadership, science, and technology. This opportunity to highlight performance excellence in member companies puts our industry’s best and brightest in the spotlight. We appreciate the industry veterans that partner with IFPA to offer awards and scholarships to continue to grow the best of our industry.

View all

Leticia Velazquez Operations Manager, The FruitGuys quote: "I am incredibly grateful to visit Washington DC with the Family Business Scholarship. Meeting with members of the Congress in an effort to express how important it is to make fresh produce easily available to those that need it most, was very empowering."

Jeff Cady quote: The Retail Produce Manager Award Program is one of the highlights of my year. Having the opportunity to recognize and celebrate the deserving people on the front lines with the entire produce industry is paramount. The award is most likely the professional award a Produce Manager can receive."

ADVOCATE

At IFPA, advocacy encompasses our work in U.S. policy and government relations, providing the strongest possible voice on Capitol Hill. It also refers to our Joy of Fresh work through The Foundation for Fresh Produce to grow consumption for a healthier world.

Our policy work in 2022 centered on five priority policy areas: nutrition, food safety, organics, supply chain, and workforce/immigration.

View Priority Policies

Infographic of advocacy efforts

Fruit and Vegetable Moonshot

To single out just one highlight, IFPA put forward our Fruit and Vegetable Moonshot, an eight-point plan on U.S. nutrition strategy. The Biden administration’s plan, released at White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, incorporated a majority of IFPA’s policy recommendations. IFPA CEO Cathy Burns and nutrition policy lead Mollie Van Lieu attended the event.

Cathy Burns quote: Seeing our fruit and vegetable moonshot recommendations represented in the nutrition blueprint is a pwerful step forward for our industry. Now it's time for the industry to continue the work to make these policies a reality and produce healthcare outcomes for every American and across the globe. We are ready."

Advocacy Outcomes

Produce Prescriptions

As a result of advocacy, throughout 2022 USDA, the Veterans Service Administration, and Indian Health Services, respectively, invested an additional $65 million in produce prescription programs, providing key seed money to garner data and evidence to launch nationwide – a key goal of IFPA and the White House Conference on Nutrition.

Learn More

The White House Conference

Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA)

IFPA was instrumental in creating a letter co-signed by more than 3 dozen organizations representing the produce industry urging the quick passage of the OSRA. This new law is designed to ensure that food and perishable products can fairly compete for shipping capacity and schedules with ocean carriers.

Learn More

Supply Chain Disruptions

WIC

USDA announced the long-awaited proposed update of the WIC Food Package – up to quadrupling the amount of fresh fruits and vegetable available to low-income moms and young children. Approximately half of all babies born in the US today are eligible for WIC. A mom and young child would be eligible for up to $75 a month in fruits and vegetables.

Learn More

Mother and daughter shopping placing broccoli in a bag for purchase

On Capitol Hill

Collage of various images of IFPA in Washington D.C.

IFPA Staff in Washington D.C.

Collage of images of IFPA in Washington D.C.

The unified voice of IFPA members effectively advanced our policy efforts in 2022. Members gave of our time and influence to come face-to-face with policymakers and regulators to advocate for our priorities: a two-day Policy & Regulatory Forum for IFPA leadership groups in Washington, D.C., and The Washington Conference that attracted hundreds of us to the U.S. capital.

Logo of The Foundation (IFPA)

Through The Foundation for Fresh Produce, we promoted the Joy of Fresh and worked to drive greater consumption of fresh produce to grow a healthier world.

Merger Announcement

We announced the upcoming merger with Produce for Better Health Foundation. Our missions are in synch, and combining our efforts will permit more-robust efforts to help close the fruit and vegetable consumption gap in America and around the world.

Logo of PBH

Collage of images of IFPA Foundation Staff

SxSW

Brought the Joy of Fresh to SxSW in an activation that featured flower crowns and bouquets and fresh produce. IFPA uses events like these to bring our industry to consumers and cultural learnings to our members.

Joy of Fresh

Spotlighted the Joy of Fresh at The Washington Conference, with an activation on Capitol Hill featuring fresh produce and flowers for conference participants, key congressional staff, and consumer advocates.

Race for a Healthier World 5K

Hosted a fund-raising 5K race at the IFPA Global Produce & Floral Show helping the Foundation's vision to grow a healthier world by changing the trajectory of human health.

GUIDE

We used IFPA programs to guide our decisions and grow our people

Whether in person or online, IFPA guidance enlightened our deliberations, informed our decisions, grew our leaders, and trained our teams.

Research & Reports

To augment information our individual companies have, IFPA identified the most important research and reports. Many of these are member-exclusive, a direct benefit of being part of IFPA. We can highlight only a few here, but you can check out the full array of resources.

View all resources

Top Ten Global Consumer Trends for 2022

Top 2022 Reports

Cover of IFPA's U.S. Economic Impact Fresh Produce & Floral Industries.

U.S. Economic Impact: Produce & Floral Industries

IFPA commissioned Kleinhenz & Associates to provide a comprehensive overview of the economic and employment impact represented by the entire fresh produce and floral supply chains.

Highlight: Fresh produce and floral contributed $339.4 billion to the U.S. output in 2022.

Read now

Cover of IFPA Global Consumption of Fruits & Vegetables.

consumer research on the perception of supermarket flowers global dietary guideline knowledge: an Opportunity to increase sales

Cover of 2022 IFPA Compensation & Benefits Report

read the report

Cover of two IFPA reports

read floral report read produce report

Thought Leadership

IFPA offers multiple opportunities to gather and share
critical information and perspectives members can use to illuminate their decisions.

Your Go-To Food Safety Resource

Two men inspecting leafy greens with check list and iPad.

Our experts make IFPA the go-to place for produce food safety, which is the top issue for many companies throughout the supply chain. We are committed to offering the latest science and the best expertise to help members protect their products and their reputations. In 2022, we hosted trainings and programs as well as diligently worked to provide technical support to members in need.

Produce Inspection Training

Harmonized GAPs Training

Quality Training

Technical support (consultations and food safety crises)

IFPA staff and participants of Immersion Program.

Food Safety Produce Immersion Program

Meet the 10 selected participants of the 2022 program who are all rising members of the next generation of produce safety professionals! They've spent six months building their technical capacity, critical thinking skills, and leadership attributes.

Learn More

Recall Ready Workshop

Role playing through a simulated crisis to learn how to best navigate the situation and develop a customized communication plan.

Learn More

Watch our mock recall Virtual Town Hall!

Aquaponic farm, sustainable business and artificial lighting

Sci-Tech Commitment

IFPA gathers the brightest minds in science and technology to help members make sense of increasingly complex trends.

Think Tanks

The Think Tanks program included state of the supply chain, the carbon economy, gene editing, and integrated pest management.

Fresh Takes on Tech Podcast

Fresh Takes on Tech Podcast examines technology and innovation in the fresh produce and floral industries. Listen to our most popular episode of the year!

Infographic for IFPA Podcast showing: 60+ episodes, 700+ weekly listeners, Top 1% of all podcasts.

Fresh Field Catalyst

A tech accelerator program, Fresh Field Catalyst, brings technology innovations to our members, these Twelve companies received Fresh Field Catalyst Awards in 2022.

Logos of twelve companies who received the Fresh Field Catalyst Awards in 2022: Carbon Space, Clarifruit, Dimuto, Morphix, Netled, nexus, Provision, routeique, Sound, Ten Carbon, The Yield and Vitiport

Wooden engraved pieces representing a network of connected people with a large group of employees.

IFPA Meets Us Where We Are

To maximize our time, IFPA brought expertise to our desktops.

Newsletters

Newsletters digested information we need to succeed.

IFPA newsletter (with 57,000+ subscribers)

Audience-specific newsletters: floral, retail, Career Pathways, food safety, and government relations.

SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTERS

Virtual Town Halls

Virtual Town Halls offered weekly sessions (accessible 24-7) on topics that affect members every day.

Topics include: Advocacy, Consumer Trends, Floral, Food Safety, Foodservice, Marketing, Retail, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Talent, and Technology

LISTEN TO VIRTUAL TOWN HALLS

Business chart showing financial success

Training and Development

To develop our companies’ most valuable assets – our staffs and our leaders – IFPA provided a variety of learning experiences.

Online Learning Academy

Spanning more than 50 online courses spanning nine categories and moved 250 eager learners through the courses on marketing; business management; food safety and quality; diversity, equity, and inclusion; retail; floral; and women’s leadership.

Explore courses

"The Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) coursework was a great learning experience. I enjoyed the different topics presented and learned new DEI terms I did not know about before. It was engaging and an overall great experience taking the course!"

Vanessa Coria
Mission Produce, Inc. Project Engineer

Career Pathways

Career Pathways engaged more than 100 students – in person and online – to introduce them to potential careers in the produce and floral industries. This is just one of the IFPA initiatives that engaged 101 universities to bring the best and brightest to our industries.

Learn more

Sydney Schutkowski, Business Devlopment Representative, The Oppenheimer Group

"The Career Pathways Program has not only provided me the opportunity to start my career in the produce industry, but also has given me the resources to succeed. As a young professional, the impact this program has had on me and the trajectory of my career path is immeasurable."

Sydney Schutkowski
Business Development Representative, The Oppenheimer Group

IFPA Interns

IFPA launched the first year of a five-year internship program, funded by USDA, providing 12 interns with a unique work experience and an introduction to produce and floral.

Meet the IFPA
2022 Interns

IFPA Professional
Development Pathways

Leadership Training

Leadership training and professional development moved 200+ students through the Emerging Leaders Program, the year-long Leadership Program, and Women’s Leadership programs (online and in person). Additionally, 50 students graduated from the Produce Executive Development Program at Cornell University.

Meet Class 27

PEOPLE

We tapped volunteer leaders, staff experts, and technology to make it all happen

IFPA is a global association by members for members, so it bears mentioning again that more than 1,000 members volunteered their time and expertise to guide IFPA priorities and programs in 2022.
The IFPA staff comprises more than 80 individuals with subject-matter, technical, and/or association management expertise. They take the guidance and direction from the volunteers and build top-shelf, relevant programs, resources, and events that members count on.

Coalitions

Just as our members join IFPA to do more collectively than they could on their own, IFPA joins coalitions to strengthen our voice and expand our reach. These are some of the coalitions and collaborations IFPA was part of in 2022:

International Federation for Produce Standards
Food and Beverage Issues Alliance

Minor Crop Farmer Alliance
Crop Protection Coalition
The Alliance for New Immigration Consensus
Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops

Codex Committee on Food Hygiene as a member of the U.S. delegation
Produce Industry Coalition
Partnership for Food Safety Education
IAFP’s Produce Safety & Quality Professional Development Group
IFT’s Fruit and Vegetable Division
Center for Produce Safety
Produce Traceability Initiative

Collage of images of IFPA staff representing the Joy Of Fresh on Capitol Hill

IFPA staff visited member farms, facilities and stores

Staff and members also attended global gatherings, ensuring that IFPA members were represented – to promote their interests and to gather information we can disseminate back to members from those events. They included:

Produce-specific shows from organizations like Western Growers, Texas International Produce Association, Canadian Produce Marketing Association, Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association and many regional events.
Global events like Fruit Logistica and the Global Food Safety Initiative.
IFPA also engaged in worldwide events that feature floral, including American Hort’s Cultivate, the New England Produce Conference, Expo Flor Ecuador, Tropical Plant International Expo (TPIE), International Floriculture Trade Fair (The Netherlands), and Chrysanthemum Week (Colombia).

IFPA @ The Consumer Electronics Show

Relevant events such as CES from the Consumer Technology Association , the International Association for Food Protection, the Institute of Food Technologists, GFSI - The Global Food Safety Initiative Conference.

An Award-Winning Website

IFPA’s investments in technology continued through 2022, allowing members to connect virtually.

The IFPA website was recognized with a 2022 Optimizer Award in the ‘Most Customer-Centric Experience’ category by Optimizely, the leading digital experience platform (DXP) provider used by IFPA to power its website. We kept members at the forefront of website design at all times, including making every page meet today’s accessibility standards.

IFPA's Jim Rucinski accepts the Optimizely award for Most Customer Centric website with John Dymond of Perficient from Chad Wolf, EVP, Chief Customer Officer at Optimizely

Are you an IFPA Member?

If you joined us for our inaugural year, be sure to renew your membership now. And if you’re not yet an IFPA member, join today to benefit from the connections, advocacy, and insights that can drive your company forward.

Join or Renew

IFPA 2022 Year in Review

Our Association Our Members

Our Members

Global

Retail

Foodservice

Floral

Produce

Solution Providers

Members around the world connected in 2022

Volunteers at Work

Awards and Scholarships

Fruit and Vegetable Moonshot

Advocacy Outcomes

The White House Conference

On Capitol Hill

Merger Announcement

Research & Reports

Top 2022 Reports

Thought Leadership

Your Go-To Food Safety Resource

Sci-Tech Commitment

IFPA Meets Us Where We Are

Training and Development

Supply Chain Coalitions

Grower, Production, Sustainability Coalitions

Food Safety Coalitions

Are you an IFPA Member?