At the annual International Fresh Produce Association State of the Industry keynote during the association’s 2026 Global Produce & Floral Show, IFPA CEO Cathy Burns called on the global fresh produce and floral community to turn resilience into action and overcome industry challenges.
We are in a period of extraordinary disruption, and we need deeper collaboration, stronger advocacy, and practical solutions to overcome industry challenges.
Burns noted that these challenges, be they food safety, trade, labor, sustainability, technology, or nutrition, rise and fall together.
“Resilience is not simply the ability to withstand pressure. It is the ability to keep growing through it—to keep learning, to keep showing up for one another and to keep choosing progress,” Burns said during the first day of the event celebrated in Orlando, Florida. “The future of fresh will not be shaped by one company, one country or one idea. It will be shaped by all of us.”
Key themes from the IFPA State of the Industry included:
- Rebuilding trust through food safety and traceability. After a Cyclospora outbreak that shook consumer confidence and drove significant losses in retail, foodservice, and school foodservice, IFPA mobilized member resources, maintained contact with regulators, and challenged misinformation. The association is strengthening collaboration with public health agencies, advancing prevention-focused standards, and pushing to implement traceability requirements. An IFPA and industry-developed warehouse management solution is estimated to save 8 million labor hours and $250 million annually in compliance costs.
Related Article: IFPA Pushes CDC to Broaden Cyclospora Outbreak Probe
- Protecting year-round supply through trade, labor and smart policy. IFPA helps members navigate tariffs, advocates for exemptions on key agricultural inputs, and promotes access to a stable workforce. The association’s work spans U.S., European Union, and multilateral trade policy, Farm Bill priorities, research, mechanization, nutrition, risk management, and reforms that support agricultural employers.
- Building resilience through sustainability and practical innovation. Through its advocacy efforts, IFPA regained access to U.S. federal investment for regenerative agriculture, helped create regenerative agriculture benchmarks through the Consumer Goods Forum, and expanded engagement on plastics, climate, and global policy. Its message is clear: increasing produce consumption is climate action.
- Addressing packaging policy without compromising safety or access. IFPA advocates workable, consistent approaches to Extended Producer Responsibility regulations, recognizing packaging’s role in food safety, traceability, shelf-life extension, and reducing food loss and waste. Through its Packaging Innovation Program, IFPA is also elevating solutions that help companies prepare for emerging requirements.
- Putting AI to work for members. IFPA is applying artificial intelligence to real business challenges—not pursuing technology for its own sake. Initiatives include an early-warning pathogen monitoring tool, a digital twin to forecast the economics of changing packaging regulations, expanded food safety and consumer insights in the Global Intelligence Engine, and practical education on agentic AI.
- The IFPA and The Foundation for Fresh Produce are placing fruits and vegetables at the center of health strategy. Together, they drive produce integration into dietary guidance, school meals, SNAP, WIC, produce prescriptions, and global disease-prevention frameworks. Consumer initiatives—such as the multilingual All Day, Every Day campaign and the Fruit & Veggie Hub in the WIC Shopper App—help shoppers choose, understand, and enjoy fresh produce with ease.
Fresh produce’s workforce, safety and diet offerings
Burns underscored that the association’s policy priorities are inseparable. A safe, stable supply supports trade and access; resilient production requires a reliable workforce, affordable inputs and responsible packaging; and innovation matters most when it helps people choose more fruits, vegetables and flowers.
“Fresh products move at the speed of trust,” Burns said. “When confidence is strong, borders open, markets function, buyers buy, and consumers choose fresh. Safety, traceability, transparency and trade flow are all part of the same promise: getting fruits, vegetables and flowers to people safely, consistently and efficiently.”
That promise is being tested by persistent inflation and changing consumer behavior. IFPA’s Consumer Tracker found that nearly one-quarter of U.S. consumers buy fewer—or skip—fresh fruits and vegetables when prices exceed what they are willing to pay. At the same time, the keynote identified opportunities to connect fresh produce with growing consumer interest in fiber, wellness, personalized nutrition, and digital health tools.
“If we are serious about preventing diet-related disease, fruits and vegetables must be central to nutrition strategy and policy—not an afterthought, not an add-on, but a starting point,” Burns said. “We are not simply part of the solution. We are at the heart of it.”
Burns closed by challenging the global industry to match today’s pressures with collective action, urgency, and imagination.
“The world needs us,” Burns said. “Together, we are not just responding to change—we are shaping what comes next. Together, we are growing a healthier, more connected, more resilient world. And together, we will relentlessly fight for fresh.”