GMO Technology

Technology to the Rescue in 2025

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 11:33:21 GMT

Not all the big headlines in 2025 were doom and gloom. The Packer’s technology coverage often highlighted the hopeful and helpful ways the produce industry is growing and adapting the changing conditions.

By it’s very nature, most ag tech is helping arm the growers of today for the realities of tomorrow.

For example, in mid-March, The Packer’s Jennifer Strailey talked with FarmWise CEO Tjarko Leifer about how the business’ restructuring was helping it prepare for the next chapter in ag robotics with its precision weeding technology. That new chapter involved being acquired by Taylor Farms , which had previously implemented FarmWise’s Vulcan technology and saw a reduction in its weeding costs of nearly $550,000 as a result.

“We believe in the FarmWise technology and think we have an important role to play with industry adoption in the specialty crop space,” said the president of Taylor Farms agricultural operations. “This acquisition is another step forward in our mission to drive the future of agriculture with thoughtful and impactful innovation.”

Reducing Food Waste With an Apps

In late August, The Packer’s Jill Dutton looked into how various apps are changing the way retailers deal with unsold food items approaching their sell-by dates, thereby preventing food waste. The three food waste-reducing apps in focus in the story are Too Good To Go and Flashfood, both geared towards connecting retailers with individual consumers in need of lower-cost options, and Careit, which connects retailers to nonprofits and community organizations in their areas for food donations.

Apps like these have a big potential to not only reduce food and especially produce waste, Dutton’s sources said, but also benefit retailers financially as well.

“The ability to sell more product, even at a discounted price, suggests greater food access could be achieved while recouping previously lost revenue,” one source said. “Additionally, applications that enable more accurate forecasting, facilitate coordination of logistics and optimize inventory management could prevent food from going to waste all along the supply chain.”

A Visceral Type of Technology

For a long time, consumers have shunned GMO foods. But in early September, Strailey sat down with Nathan Pumplin , CEO of Norfolk Healthy Produce, the company behind the Empress Purple Tomato, which is bioengineered to have more antioxidants. He said that consumers are hungry for change and starting to see through GMOs’ past bad publicity.

“When the first GMOs were launched, they were really marketed to farmers, and the innovative farmers said, ‘OK, there’s these new GMO crops, do I want to use them?’ And they very quickly saw, ‘Wow, this solves a lot of problems for me. Yes, I want to adopt them,’” said Pumplin.

“What was forgotten was that it was food being produced and sold to consumers, and consumers never had an opportunity to engage with GMOs in the food system,” he added.

But that has changed. Pumplin reported that 80% of consumers the company surveyed about the purple GMO tomato said they were interested to extremely interested in trying it.

Technology in Defense of Tech

In late October, The Packer’s Christina Herrick did a deep dive on a device to deter copper theft called Cop-R-Lock. The brainchild of a former law enforcement official and customizable farming automation company Farmblox, the Cop-R-Lock device aims to reduce or even eliminate the costly issue of copper thefts on farms.

“Every pump site, depending on its location, has upwards of a 40% chance of being hit every year by a thief,” said the Farmblox CEO. “Every time it happens, it’s between like $8,000 and $100,000 just for fixing the equipment, not minding the cost to the crop for the lack of irrigation for weeks on end, sometimes months.”

Working much like a home security system for your farm equipment, the system involves a wire wrapped around and inside the irrigation system’s conduit. When cut by a potential copper theif, an alarm goes off. The system will text the grower and also alert local law enforcement in the area, in an effort to help prevent and respond to copper thefts while they are happening.

These were some of the top tech stories The Packer covered in 2025, and there will be plenty more coverage in 2026, which you can find here .

Are Consumers Finally Ready to Embrace GMOs in the Produce Aisle?

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 06:16:56 GMT

Consumers know it’s important to eat a rainbow of fresh fruits and vegetables, however, they often fall short of meeting this important nutrition goal, especially when it comes to anthocyanins — the purple pigment that’s in blueberries, blackberries, red grape skins, eggplant and purple potatoes.

But what if the industry made it easier for consumers to get these crucial antioxidants in their diets by offering new and flavorful ways to consume them?

Enter Nathan Pumplin, CEO of Norfolk Healthy Produce, the company behind the Empress Purple Tomato, a bioengineered or genetically modified organism tomato “packed with antioxidants.”

“They’re really good for people’s health, and most of us don’t eat nearly enough anthocyanins,” Pumplin says.

The trained molecular biologist with a doctorate in plant biology has worked for nearly 20 years in research and development and the intersection of R&D and commercialization of new types of plants that solve problems.

What are the advantages of a problem-solving plant? Pumplin says they can offer a host of benefits from being grown using less fertilizer and less pesticides to being naturally resistant to diseases and other added sustainability benefits.

As CEO of the Davis, Calif.-based company, Pumplin is focused on developing better purple tomatoes and engaging with the supply chain — right down to the consumer — to introduce them to a tomato that he says not only has nutritional benefits and tastes great, but shelf-life advantages as well.

Origin of GMOs’ Image Problem

But bringing a GMO purple tomato to market has not been without challenges.

The Packer’s Sustainability Insights 2025 report, set to drop Sept. 22, asked some 500 consumers across the country if they actively avoided GMOs. Those who indicated they did were asked why. The leading response was “chemicals.” Another survey respondent replied: “Frankenfoods are not what God intended us to consume.”

What sparked these misconceptions and negative sentiment around GMOs?

“To me, it’s very, very clear. And here’s kind of my simple understanding: When there’s any new technology that comes out — say, the first smartphones — there’s a very small set of people who start to use those new products and those are the innovators — the early adopters.”

Then there’s the middle of the curve who wait and see, and those who will resist adoption altogether, he says.

“When the first GMOs were launched, they were really marketed to farmers, and the innovative farmers said, ‘OK, there’s these new GMO crops, do I want to use them?’ And they very quickly saw, ‘Wow, this solves a lot of problems for me. Yes, I want to adopt them.’ And then sort of the middle of the [curve] farmers also very quickly adopted,” says Pumplin.

The first customers of GMOs were farmers and, in several years, the majority of the country’s corn and soy acreage was GMO, he says.

“What was forgotten was that it was food being produced and sold to consumers, and consumers never had an opportunity to engage with GMOs in the food system,” says Pumplin.

GMOs became widespread in the food system for years, and while some were comfortable with it, others felt betrayed, he says.

“There were people who felt the food supply was playing God in the lab by adding DNA to create new varieties and no one had asked them if they wanted to opt in or opt out,” says Pumplin. “I think a lot of people felt like they were treated like guinea pigs. Their opinions and their values weren’t respected when those first crops launched. And that’s a huge problem.

“One of the things I’m trying to do with our company is engage in a dialog with consumers about why we think this is a better tomato,” he continues. “We made it with biotechnology, but it’s not better because it’s biotechnology.”

Breakthroughs on the Brink

As consumers are hungry for the new, the flavorful and the nutritious, the fresh produce industry has innovated with the help of GMOs in some exciting ways.

GMOs have allowed for some “breakthrough products,” says Pumplin, pointing to Norfolk’s Empress Purple Tomato that is in grocery stores now and “doing extremely well.” Other examples include Fresh Del Monte’s Pinkglow Pineapple and the Arctic Apple.

“We have a lot of crops that people don’t know are GMOs — like all the papayas that come from Hawaii and a lot of the sweet corn on the market. A lot of these have been improved with biotechnology, and I think we’re on the brink of widespread recognition within the industry that this is something that consumers are no longer afraid of,” he says. “They simply want a better product. They want something they can afford. They want something that their kids will eat. They want something that’s nutritious, that’s beautiful, that tastes good — all of that.”

Several years ago, Norfolk conducted a nationwide consumer study asking if presented with the purple tomato product concept, would they be interested in trying it?

“Eighty percent of them were interested to extremely interested in trying the product,” says Pumplin. “And there were only 10% of consumers who said, ‘Nope, I don’t want to at all. I’m not there yet with GMOs.’”

But retailers who have been at the forefront of the GMO conversation with consumers for years may have lingering doubts.

“They say, ‘Well, you know, I get 10 questions a year asking if a product is GMO and it makes me nervous.’ And yet, what they don’t hear is the millions of people who say, ‘We want something better and we’re not afraid of biotechnology,” says Pumplin. “There’s sort of this silent majority.

“There’s just simply so little fear among the broad consumer base right now, and also such a desire for new and better products,” he continues. “And a big part of my job is to try to make sure that folks in the produce industry — these key decision-makers — understand where their consumers are, because I think that’s actually the biggest gap right now. Consumers have moved on, and a lot of the decision-makers in the industry haven’t caught up to where the consumers are.”

Education is Key

While Pumplin sees consumers becoming increasingly open to trying and embracing the purple tomato, education is critical to continuing to move the needle.

“We know that most consumers don’t actually know what a GMO is,” Pumplin says. When consumers go to their local grocery store, they’re looking on the packaging for shortcuts to identify products that are aligned with their values and how they want to feed their families. He says labels like “non-GMO,” “pesticide free” and “organic” become cues for the consumer to determine what’s good, what’s bad and what they can trust.

“If you ask consumers what they think is good, they’re taking cues from the packaging and marketers, who are taking cues from other marketers, and so we have this interesting kind of reinforcement system of what’s good and what’s bad, but it’s not actually connected to the food science,” Pumplin says. “It’s not connected to the supply chain. It’s not connected to a lot of what’s good for us.”

When Pumplin has the opportunity to engage with consumers and answer their questions about the purple tomato, that can be an eye-opening moment for many shoppers.

“What’s really gratifying is that we find, generally, 80% to 90% of people in the U.S. want this product,” Pumplin says. “They know it’s a GMO, and they get a chance to ask questions like, ‘Well, don’t all GMOs have pesticides?’ And we can say, ‘No, there’s no pesticides on these. They say, ‘Well, GMOs are sprayed with Roundup, right?’ We say, ‘This has nothing to do with Roundup.’ And they have the opportunity to ask a lot of questions, and then the vast majority of people say, ‘OK, I really want this’”

The Empress Purple Tomato, which has been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration and USDA and fully has the green light to sell the product in the U.S., indicates bioengineered on the label, and there’s a QR code that goes to the Norfolk website that shares the science behind the tomato, says Pumplin, who adds that the Empress Purple Tomato will soon be available in Canada as well.

GMOs and the Future of Food

What role does Pumplin see GMOs playing in the future of fresh produce and the broader food system?

“I want to make sure it’s clear that GMO is not a silver bullet. It’s not going to solve all the problems out there,” he says.

But Pumplin does see GMOs as a complement to the traditional plant breeding that’s been conducted for thousands of years and continues to innovate, as in the case of easy peel mandarins, he says.

“What we need to do is continue excellent plant breeding for certain cases. And if we can sprinkle on biotechnology that can help us get more nutrients and disease resistance [against something like] the brown rugose virus, which is a major upheaval in tomatoes, and if we were allowed to use biotechnology, we could combat it much more efficiently, much quicker, much more sustainably and in a way that we know is safe,” he says. “These are the kind of use cases that if we can change public opinion and key decision-makers’ opinions about these technologies, that’s going to be to the benefit of everyone.”

Data and food tech key to optimizing sustainable supply chains

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 18:23:36 GMT

However you define sustainability, the process of measuring, reporting and iterating is foundational to optimizing production across the supply chain. The final installment of The Packer’s Sustainability Series looks at how food tech innovators are making more efficient, strategic decisions to improve overall sustainability in the life cycle of a fresh fruit or vegetable.

The Packer met with stakeholders across the fresh produce supply chain to learn what sustainability looked like on their farm, grocery story, organization and laboratory. Many are actively reducing their carbon footprint in the supply chain, focusing on priorities such as:

Improving soil health;
Emphasizing integrated pest management;
Conserving water;
Adopting packaging innovations;
Reducing food waste; and
Improving supply chain traceability.

Improving supply chains of all types

Across the fresh produce supply chain, suppliers, researchers and scientists are finding new ways to tighten their supply chain and reduce their carbon footprint. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and produce innovators and producers are building sustainable food systems brick by brick.

Defining what is sustainable to each producer or business is as unique as the individual products they offer. What’s a valuable sustainable cultivation practice to a tomato producer looks completely different to a mushroom grower, not to mention the packaging supplier that provides the clamshells to protect the creminis until they land on a butcher block for dinner.

Chelsea Shelander, retail, food safety and fresh-cut brand manager at BioSafe Systems scrutinizes manufacturing for opportunities to be more efficient. “Our most-current initiative is an expansion of an ongoing carbon footprint reduction program, in where we strategically locate manufacturing in key demand areas to minimize the distance that our products have to travel, in turn lowering the negative environmental impact of carbon emissions,” Shelander said. “With the recent purchase of land in Yuma, Ariz., BioSafe Systems will be able to provide products in demand to our customers throughout that region with a reduced carbon footprint.”

CMO and Co-founder Pat Flynn at Hazel Technologies believes data is the key to increasing sustainability, even in the fresh produce industry.

“Food is extremely competitive at every stage in the supply chain, but to manage the challenges we’re facing now and those that will continue to intensify, we have to come together in some ways,” Flynn said. “The tracking and sharing of certain waste-related data that reach across the supply chain, will allow tech companies to identify critical blind spots and problem areas, and allow them to develop more earth-friendly solutions that [are] reducing waste while increasing sales.”

Josh VanDeWalle has a different vantage point as Bayer’s North America lead of global food chain partnerships.

“We have a unique role at Bayer,” he said. “We work with food chain partners and other stakeholders on sustainability collaboration.”

While growers are very nimble, there’s always ways to optimize and improve. And despite the many challenges to growing fresh produce sustainability right now, VanDeWalle remains optimistic.

“[I’m] excited about the technology that’s on the horizon,” he said. “Gene editing could be a game changer ... Other technology that’s exciting is robot weeding, drones and other ways to make it easier from a labor perspective. We need to make it easier for people growing the crops and to have new crop protection solutions.”

And while there are many perspectives on what characterizes a sustainable or climate-smart growing practice across the supply chain, what producers, shippers, buyers and customers can agree on is that that leading the charge and finding more sustainable ways of growing delicious food is the secret sauce.

Americans hope to be enjoying delicious grapes, apples, onions, oranges, avocados and corn for years to come and the innovative producers across the fresh produce industry are discovering clever solutions that deliver fresh fruit and vegetables to grocery baskets as sustainably as possible.

More sustainability

Part one of our Sustainability Series spotlights what growers and chemists are doing to improve soil health and the second installment examines strategies growers are pioneering to reduce impact through conserving water and integrated pest management. Part three of The Packer’s Sustainability Series, outlines what growers, retailers and innovators they are doing to improve product packaging and reduce food waste.

Sound Agriculture launches on-demand-bred tomato

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 18:25:20 GMT

Sound Agriculture has launched the Summer Swell tomato, a new slicing tomato variety grown using on-demand breeding, a non-GMO process that uses epigenetics to develop plant traits 10 times faster than current methods, according to a news release.

The Emeryville, Calif.-based company says that means increased durability and improved flavor, leading to reduced food waste and a better eating experience that ultimately promotes produce consumption.

The Summer Swell tomato will be distributed through New York City-based produce wholesaler distributor S. Katzman Produce and available at grocery stores in the New York metropolitan area beginning April 2023, the release said.

“Our customers are looking for new, innovative products that offer a great tasting experience,” said Stefanie Katzman, executive vice president at S. Katzman Produce. “We were drawn to Summer Swell because of its proprietary platform, which is used to enhance flavor and shelf life — two key factors that contribute to improved consumer experience and increased produce consumption.”

Summer Swell went from an idea to a new tomato within two years, which Sound Agriculture says represents a new pace of innovation in plant breeding.

“With on-demand breeding, consumers have access to great-tasting plant-based options today without having to wait the five to 10 years required by the traditional breeding process,” said Adam Litle, CEO of Sound Agriculture. “By tuning natural trait expression, the Summer Swell tomato gives people access to delicious heirloom tomato flavor any time of year.”

The company describes Summer Swell as a new, more flavorful variety reminiscent of an heirloom tomato, with additional benefits including:

The ability to remain on the vine longer and develop more flavor and sweetness, while still being able to better withstand transportation logistics.
Extended shelf life: Once at a consumer’s home, the typical Summer Swells retains peak flavor and firmness for eight days compared to three days with most heirloom tomatoes.

Sound Agriculture says it is working with more than a dozen companies, including CPGs, ingredient and seed companies, to develop new varieties with improved nutritional content, reduced browning, increased pest resistance, improved texture, enhanced color and more. These improvements address important health and sustainability issues by improving nutrition, increasing access to healthy foods and reducing food waste and chemical use, the release said.

FDA on purple tomatoes: No further questions

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 18:03:07 GMT

The purple tomato is heading to market.

Norfolk Plant Sciences says it has successfully completed a consultation with the Food and Drug Administration regarding its high-antioxidant, genetically engineered purple tomato.

Following a comprehensive review, the FDA stated, “We have no further questions concerning human food derived from Del/Ros1-N tomato at this time,” according to a news release.

The first limited sales of the purple tomato have started to restaurants and at several farmers markets, Norfolk Healthy Produce CEO Nathan Pumplin said in an email. The company, which is the U.S.-based subsidiary of Norfolk Plant Sciences, is in the process of finalizing the market name for the purple tomato.

“The support and engagement we’ve received from the FDA, and from our industry, have been truly inspiring as we pave the way for the next generation of produce and food,” Pumplin said in the release. “With a tomato that captivates palates while promoting well-being, we look forward to sharing its exceptional qualities with enthusiastic consumers.”

This decision from the FDA aligns with the USDA’s positive decision in September 2022, marking a significant milestone for Norfolk, the release said. With this development, the company is ready to introduce a range of purple tomato products, including fresh tomatoes and seeds for home gardeners, according to the release.

Developed by professor Cathie Martin at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, United Kingdom, the purple tomato derives its exceptional antioxidant properties from two genes sourced from the edible snapdragon flower, the release said.

Related: More produce tech news

These genes naturally stimulate the tomato’s ability to produce purple pigments, resulting in the vibrant hues of purple-skinned tomatoes, blueberries, blackberries and eggplants. Throughout the consultation process, the FDA closely reviewed the purple tomato’s composition, safety and other relevant parameters, the release said.

Purple tomatoes have a similar nutrient composition as their conventional counterparts, except for their intended higher levels of anthocyanins, the release said, and the FDA concluded that bioengineered purple tomatoes do not present concerns for human food.

“This is excellent news,” Martin said in the release. “Fifteen years after our first peer-reviewed publication, I am thrilled to share the healthy fruits of my research with tomato lovers and gardeners.”

Professor Jonathan Jones, co-founder of Norfolk Plant Sciences with Martin, said in the release that the FDA’s verdict “feels like a watershed moment.”

“Since Cathie and I founded NPS over 15 years ago, a challenging regulatory process has hindered our vision of a consumer biotech company that could add attractive and health-promoting traits to fresh produce,” Jones said in the release. “The challenges have been successfully overcome, and we are eager to introduce these crop improvements to the public in a product that enables consumer choice.”

Jessica Louie, chief technology officer of Norfolk Healthy Produce, said the company expects to expand the availability of the purple tomato in 2024.

Grower of GM Arctic apples sold to biotech company

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 06:25:16 GMT

Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc. , Summerland, British Columbia, the grower and marketer of bioengineered Arctic non-browning apple varieties, has been purchased by TS Biotechnology Holdings LLC.

TS Biotechnology is an affiliate of Third Security LLC, a venture capital firm led by R.J. Kirk, executive chairman of Intrexon, Okanagan Specialty Fruit’s (OSF) previous owner. Intrexon is a biotech company.

Intrexon, Germantown, Md., the owner of OSF through Intrexon Produce Holdings Inc., announced Jan. 2 it planned to sell the apple grower and other non-healthcare assets. The transaction closed Jan. 31, according to a news release.

“R.J. Kirk is a powerful champion of our Arctic apples and we are thrilled to continue our partnership with him at Third Security,” Neal Carter, OSF founder, said in the release. “Collaboration with Third Security will facilitate our continued success as we further expand into retail and foodservice, enhancing our ability to deliver more apples in more places.”

OSF is focused on expanding the Arctic apple’s reach into new marketplaces.

“The success of OSF’s Arctic apple is ground-breaking for the produce industry and for bioengineering science,” Kirk, founder and CEO of Third Security, said in the release. “We are excited to add OSF’s innovation and passion to our portfolio.”

OSF sells sliced Arctic Granny and Arctic Golden apples. It also markets ApBitz, dried apple snacks. The company has received approval to market Arctic Fujis as well. While the company has marketed whole Arctic apples at retail in the past, a company spokeswoman said they are not available whole anymore.

Related stories:

Fresh Summit: an educational platform for Arctic apples

Arctic apple’s rising production allows for foodservice growth

Maker of Arctic apple acquired

CPMA speaker says shift from No GMO to Know GMO

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 05:26:01 GMT

VANCOUVER — Arguing for the need to shift the consumer conversation from “No GMO” to “Know GMO,” author and agriculture advocate Rob Saik said the ability for agriculture to feed the world may be at stake.

Speaking during the Canadian Produce Market Association’s conference and expo on April 25, Saik titled his presentation “Will agriculture be allowed to feed 9 billion people?” He grew up on a farm in Alberta and became active speaking out on the issue a few years ago.

Many consumers have a romanticized view of agriculture that doesn’t make room for advances in agriculture technology, he said.

“I believe the non-science movement is the greatest threat to global food security today,” he said. “We have to begin shouting in the darkness.”

The question is not whether agriculture can feed 9 billion people, but whether agriculture will be allowed to, he said.

For example, genetically engineered golden rice has high levels of Vitamin A that would help reduce childhood blindness in developing countries, he said. If widely used, he said golden rice could prevent hundreds of thousands of children from becoming blinded from vitamin deficiency every year. Greenpeace has opposed Golden Rice and fear-based public policy has prevented its spread, which Saik calls a moral tragedy.

“Fanaticism is causing global suffering,” he said.

The industry, he said, needs to fight back to retain control of the conversation. Arguing that all fruits and vegetables have been genetically modified by conventional breeding over the decades, Saik said people should avoid “GMO” and start using the term “genetically engineered” food.

“We will need all the tools in agriculture’s toolbox, including genetic engineering, to maintain global food security with a population of 9, 10 or 11 billion people,” he said.

Saik also was critical of marketers who use certified Non-GMO labels issued by the Non-GMO Project.

“This is a fear-based marketing campaign,” he said. “If the best your marketing people can do as a strategy is to say, ‘Hey, let’s slap a non-GMO project (label) on your produce when there is no genetic engineered alternative — if that’s the best they can do — fire them,” he said.

Saik directed the audience to his Know GMO website.

USDA proposes exemptions for how it classifies genetically modified plants

Wed, 27 Dec 2023 20:11:13 GMT

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has reopened a comment period on a proposal to add five exemptions to plant modifications that could be achieved through conventional breeding, according to a news release .

APHIS said these types of genetic modification would be exempt from regulations concerning the movement of organisms modified or produced through genetic engineering.

“This action would reduce the regulatory burden for developers of certain plants modified using genetic engineering that are not expected to pose plant pest risks greater than the plant pest risks posed by plants modified by conventional breeding methods,” APHIS said in a Federal Register notice .

The comment period closes Jan. 19 .

Related: What do we call ‘GMO’? A tale of two varieties