ORLANDO, Fla. — Elyse Lipman’s introduction to supply and demand came not from an economics teacher but instead from her grandfather. When Lipman was a young girl, her grandfather would offer her and her sisters a dollar for popping or destroying tomatoes in the aisles — anything, he joked, to help stimulate market demand.
“That was my introduction to the produce business,” Lipman says, adding, “Today I stand here as the CEO of the largest fresh tomato and produce supplier in North America but also as a daughter and a granddaughter of this industry.”
Lipman took center stage at the International Fresh Produce Association’s Global Produce and Floral Show as the CEO of Lipman Family Farms and the newly named 2027 chairwoman of the IFPA board of directors. Accepting the leadership position from 2026 Chair Patrick Vizzone, Lipman urged the thousands of agriculture executives in attendance to reclaim their narrative, restore consumer trust and advocate for fresh produce with a single, unified voice.
Bridging the Gap Between Farm and Consumer
During her address, Lipman underlined a growing disconnect between agricultural producers and the public. While 95% of Americans worked in agriculture 250 years ago, farmers account for just 2% of the U.S. population today — yet continue to fuel the world’s largest economy. Lipman notes that while the industry has excelled at creating convenience, it has unintentionally created cultural distance between farm fields and dinner tables.
“When we don’t tell our story, someone else will,” Lipman says, pointing to recent media coverage surrounding pesticide residues and a summer cyclospora outbreak. Despite USDA testing confirming that over 99% of conventional produce is safe, and less than 0.1% of the 100 billion pounds of produce supplied to the U.S. annually is ever linked to a recall, consumer confidence plummeted. The resulting market fallout drove a 6.3% decline in retail produce sales compared to 2025 — the sharpest single-year drop in more than a decade, she says.
“Trust is a supply chain issue, and we need to solve it like one,” Lipman says. “Fresh products only move at the speed of trust.”
Strategic Growth at Lipman Family Farms
Lipman’s call for reliability and accessibility reflects her strategy at Lipman Family Farms, where she has served as CEO since 2023. The Immokalee, Fla.-based supplier has undertaken several major acquisitions and operational expansions throughout 2026 to strengthen its supply chain:
- Inland Premium Packers — Acquired the Riverside, Calif., operation to significantly boost packing capacity in key Western markets.
- Farm Fresh — Acquired the Phoenix-based fresh-cut business to expand capacity in value-added produce categories.
- Thermal-processing expansion — Opened a dedicated facility introducing fire-roasted and kettle-cooking capabilities for retail and foodservice partners.
At the IFPA show, the company also unveiled new branding centered on its promise of delivering produce “grown, crafted and cared for from seed to shelf” under the banner Good from the Ground Up.
A $10 Billion Market Opportunity
Looking ahead to her tenure as IFPA chair in 2027, Lipman points out that only 10% of Americans currently meet recommended daily fruit and vegetable intake guidelines. Moving that figure to just 20% would represent a $10 billion commercial opportunity for the industry while significantly improving public health nationwide, she says.
To capture that growth, Lipman urges produce leaders to model their advocacy on recent successes in adjacent sectors, such as the U.S. cattle industry’s rapid mobilization of more than 20,000 letters, emails and phone calls to members of Congress and administration officials within 48 hours to address beef tariff quotas. She calls on the convention attendees to harness that same collective strength — leveraging IFPA’s global network across 90 countries to rally around unified policy goals.
“One voice can be ignored,” Lipman says. “20,000 are impossible to ignore.”
