Latest News From New Jersey

Glassboro, N.J.-based Eastern Propak unveiled its new produce cold storage, packing and repacking facility at a ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand reopening event Sept. 13. 

SecondBloom Auctions, a management firm specializing in indoor growing facilities, is auctioning assets from AeroFarms’ vertical farm facility in Newark, N.J., through Sept. 28.

Jersey Fresh has been raising awareness of Garden State fruits and vegetables for decades, and the work continues in 2023.

Agricultural products agents from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture stay on top of the latest developments in the produce industry by attending numerous grower and industry events.

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture hosted the Eastern Produce Council's Annual BBQ May 23, at Demarest Farm in Hillsdale, N.J., celebrating a leader's retirement, a scholarship winner and sharing crop updates.

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture plans to help growers from the Garden State by promoting its Jersey Fresh program through a diverse media mix this season.

At first glance, it might look like New Jersey doesn’t have much of an organic produce industry — but looks can be deceiving, said Devin Cornia of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey.

The Garden State, which grows more than 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables on about 70,000 acres, had a mild winter and spring.

The USDA has imposed sanctions on two produce businesses for failing to meet contractual obligations to the sellers of produce they purchased and failing to pay reparation awards issued under PACA.

It’s Jersey time for fresh produce, and big regional retailers know it.

Frank Gargiulo & Son Inc., Hillside, N.J., has been awarded a $239.4 million contract to supply fresh fruits and vegetables to military facilities and schools in New York.

The USDA has announced that Miami Growers Inc. satisfied a $6,960 reparation order issued under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) involving unpaid produce transactions.

New Jersey peaches should be available in good volume from early July until mid-September, according to the New Jersey Peach Promotion Council. 

Murrieta, Calif.-based West Pak Avocado celebrated its new distribution center in Logan Township, N.J., on May 25 with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house. 

"Each year has its own challenges,” New Jersey Agriculture Secretary Douglas Fisher told attendees at the May 24th Eastern Produce Council barbecue at Demarest Farms, Hillsdale, N.J.

Get updates on New Jersey produce while eating it at the annual Eastern Produce Council barbecue networking event.

Move over, blueberry pie: Chelsea Consalo, executive vice president of Consalo Family Farms and Fresh Wave, Vineland, N.J., loves to bake this blueberry pie.

New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher announced the appointment of Frank Minch as Director of the New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s Division of Agricultural and Natural Resources.

New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher today announced the appointment of Joe Atchison III of Cherry Hill, N.J., as the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture.

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture and New York Jets honored Stillwater Township Elementary School at a New York Jets-Miami Dolphins football game at MetLife Stadium for its nutrition and wellness achievements.

F&S Produce Co. has changed its name to F&S Fresh Foods in a rebrand that best represents the company’s capabilities and forward focus on fresh foods, not just fresh produce.

Newark, N.J.-based AeroFarms and Nokia Bell Labs formed a multi-year partnership to identify and track plant interactions at advanced levels with artificial intelligence plant imaging systems.

It's National Peach Month! Celebrate with Jersey Fresh peaches.

New Jersey’s locally grown peaches are now available in supermarkets, community farmers' markets and on farms, and New Jersey peach producers are celebrating a near-perfect growing season.

Lafayette, N.J.-based Element Farms completed construction and onboarding at its first facility and has revealed expansion plans: a 2.5-acre greenhouse designed specifically for growing baby spinach year-round.

Fruit thinning is a labor-intensive practice for peach growers in New Jersey.

Thumbs, at your mark (on your phone): The 2021 social media challenge, #JerseyFreshisCOOLER, has kicked off.

This year could see relatively calm waters after the great stormy ocean of 2020, when some produce companies drowned and others kept treading water while the fortunate ones soared high on a wave of retail.

The flip side to crazy freight rates is that Northeast customers may look more to Jersey Fresh produce this summer and fall rather than pay for a truck to come from the West, said New Jersey produce professionals.

New Jersey agriculture officials kicked off the start of the state’s fresh produce season by checking out an asparagus farm in Chesterfield.

The National Association of Perishable Agricultural Receivers annual golf tournament honoring the memory of produce industry leader Pete Class is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. May 8.

Oishii, the producer of a much-hyped seedless, creamy, premium strawberry grown at a Kearny, N.J.-based commercial-scale indoor vertical farm, has closed in on $50 million in funding.

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s new produce safety website has launched to help professionals abide by the Food Safety Modernization Act, including the Produce Safety Rule.

Long-time Rutgers professor and extension agent Mel Henninger was recognized with a Distinguished Service to Agriculture Citation by the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture.

Over the next several years, up to $240 million in funding through the Food Desert Relief Act, part of the ERA signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy in January 2021, will be available to the designated communities.

Kennett Square, Pa.-based Manfredi Cold Storage & Distribution Inc. has started construction of a 100,000-square-foot cold storage, packing and cross-docking facility in New Jersey.

While many industry events are canceled, Eastern Produce Council has reveled in a couple annual outdoor events that enabled members to attend safely during a pandemic.

Many members and their families attended the 6th annual Joe DeLorenzo Family Apple Picking Event, hosted Oct. 3, by Eastern Produce Council at Melick's Cider Mill & Orchard, Oldwick, N.J.

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture is partnering with four food banks to help prevent food waste. 

New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher made several stops at farms and distributors to highlight the arrival of Jersey Fresh fruits and vegetables.

Egg Harbor City, N.J.-based Consalo Family Farms and its sales arm, Vineland, N.J.-based Freshwave Produce, hired Brad Cantwell and Pepe Martinez.

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture is giving consumers the chance to thank the state’s growers during the pandemic.

Bonnie Lunblad was elected chairwoman of the New Jersey Peach Promotion Council.

Like other organizations, the Eastern Produce Council, New Providence, N.J., has been forced to cancel several events since the COVID-19 pandemic prevented in-person gatherings starting in March.

AeroFarms, Newark, N.J., was named to Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas for the third year in a row.

Judging by early returns from on-farm markets, there is a high demand for Jersey Fresh produce this year — lagging foodservice business not withstanding.

With the way the crops in New Jersey are going, you would hardly know there’s a pandemic.

While it seems everything is changing in politics, the economy and agricultural commodity markets, at least one thing hasn't: Nardelli Bros. Inc.

Several characteristics of urban, vertical, indoor agriculture have been an advantage amid the recent romaine lettuce recalls and also during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Eastern Produce Council congratulated its 2020 EPC-Nolan Family Foundation scholarship winner through video because of the COVID-19 pandemic.