The International Fresh Produce Association announced that Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR) and FDA leaders Susan Mayne, director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, and Frank Yiannas, deputy commissioner for Food Policy and Response, will participate in The Washington Conference event held in Washington, DC, Sept. 26-28.

United Natural Foods Inc. has added new meal solutions to its offering to better allow retailers to meet the growing demand for quick, restaurant quality meals, while reducing in-store labor and the time required to create similar products on their own. The meal solutions are available nationwide to the more than 30,000 customer locations UNFI services.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the availability of approximately $400 million to provide essential local and regional food systems coordination, technical assistance and capacity building services through USDA’s new regional food business centers.

Instacart has acquired Rosie, an e-commerce platform for local and independent retailers and wholesalers. With this acquisition, Instacart said it is deepening its commitment to serving local and independent grocers and expanding its Instacart Platform e-commerce offerings.

Sonny Boy Produce experienced a great summer produce season, and was looking to see similar results for the upcoming New Jersey fall produce season.

“We had a very good season,” said Thomas Consalo, president of Sonny Boy Produce in Vineland, NJ. “The weather started on the cooler side and is certainly finishing on the warmer side. We had excellent quality throughout. We enjoyed a great summer deal.”

Western Growers is debuting five documentary short videos online today that give first-hand accounts of how the unrelenting historic drought is hurting Caifornia farmers.

Produced in association with the California Farm Water Coalition, the videos show the drought's impact on consumers via stories from Booth Ranches in Orange Cove, Del Bosque Farms in Firebaugh, HMC Farms in Kingsburg and Woolf Farming in Huron.