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Jill Dutton

Jill Dutton, associate editor of The Packer, specializes in retail produce news, market trends and urban farming initiatives. With expertise in the rapidly evolving e-grocery landscape, she provides analysis on how digital platforms are reshaping food distribution. Jill is a prominent voice on sustainability and consumer trends, offering actionable insights that help businesses navigate shifting market demands. Her work explores the full produce journey — from farm to retail — featuring grower profiles, supply chain insights and emerging production models that shape American food systems.

Latest Stories
Some key political moves at USDA and nationwide had big impacts on produce-providing programs like SNAP and WIC in 2025.
The Packer broke some big tech stories for the produce industry in 2025, and they were often some of the more uplifting, helpful and future-looking stories out there.
The author of What to Eat Now, says agricultural subsidies, rising relative prices and retail consolidation combine to make fresh fruits and vegetables harder to sell, even as they remain central to public health and sustainability.
BASF | Nunhems has launched the Percyst brand of carrots, a breakthrough variety offering the first intermediate resistance to Southern root-knot nematodes alongside market-leading flavor and texture, providing a critical seed-based solution for growers facing increasing regulatory pressure on chemical fumigants.
The retailer is partnering with Mill and Amazon to deploy on-site, AI-driven technology that converts produce department scraps into chicken feed, aiming to reduce operational costs and halve food waste by 2030.
In 2025, specialty crop growers accelerated the adoption of high-precision tools such as spray drones to protect sensitive, high-value crops while stretching limited labor and gaining the flexibility needed to respond to ongoing market and input cost uncertainty.
Divert’s retail-focused approach to managing unsold produce has helped grocers like Safeway boost food donations by 20% in three months, while giving produce teams clearer visibility and control over waste.
Suppliers and state agricultural leaders report a promising season marked by high fruit quality, strategic field adjustments and renewed retail partnerships, even as growers continue to navigate labor, cost and weather challenges.
The company is helping retailers recover value and reduce shrink by diverting 84,000 pounds of food waste per day through tech-enabled partnerships.
Atlas is developing a spray-applied coating made from sugar kelp, a brown seaweed, that can extend shelf life, reduce spoilage and provide a sustainable new raw material stream for the produce industry.