B2B COVER STORY - Fresh produce packaging has come a long way since the days when wooden crates met the industry’s needs. Options that worked when a retailer’s biggest concern was controlling heads of iceberg lettuce fall short in the face of modern consumer expectations and needs.

B2B COVER STORY- These favored fungi aren’t your standard white buttons. These are specialty mushrooms, also known as exotics, with shapes, colors, tastes and textures that spur culinary minds and palates to new heights.

B2B COVER STORY - From the street, the old strip mall in Arlington, Virginia, gives few clues that something fresh is going on inside. But around back and tucked underneath, the city’s only urban farm has hydroponic agriculture going full swing.

B2B COVER STORY - According to culinary legend, San Francisco-area chefs were using what are now called “microgreens” as far back as the 1980s. While no one is sure what they were called back then, one thing is certain: Their popularity grew.

Advances in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) have changed the way the world grows food. It’s only natural that CEA greenhouse technologies are changing the way some farmers grow hemp, too.

Many people within and outside of the produce industry have questioned whether “organic” could ever win consumer hearts. While the industry hasn’t hit organic domination, prevailing winds are blowing in that direction.

Edible flowers have moved from the plate edge into the midst of culinary creations, contributing flavors and scents as integral as those of herbs or vegetables — and growers are taking note.

B2B COVER STORY - When Wheatfield Gardens CEO Paal Elfstrum and an investor team purchased their Wheatfield, New York, property in March 2015, the 1.6-acre greenhouse that now houses hydroponic lettuce production looked very different than it does today.

Health-conscious Americans have helped spur worldwide interest in berries and other foods that yield health and medicinal benefits. Known as nutraceuticals for their marriage of nutrition with pharmaceutical-like benefits, these super-edibles pack a powerful commercial punch.