Fresh fruit and vegetable prices jumped 6.5% year over year in April 2026, according to the latest Consumer Price Index data — more than double the overall food inflation rate of 3.2%. That gap is significant and means produce is outpacing nearly every other grocery category in price growth right now.

For buyers and category managers, this is the number your retail partners are already hearing about. Consumers are noticing the difference at the register, and that's starting to show up in shopping behavior — trade-down to frozen, fewer impulse buys, and more price sensitivity on premium items.

Watch how this plays into promotional strategy heading into summer. If produce inflation stays elevated while overall grocery inflation moderates, the pressure on volume and velocity is going to intensify — especially for higher-ticket items like berries, stone fruit, and organics.

Alico, one of Florida's largest citrus operations, completed a $26.9 million sale of 2,950 acres of citrus land during its second quarter ending March 31, 2026. The company posted net income of $11.4 million and adjusted EBITDA of $16.9 million for the period. The land sale is a notable move for an industry already under significant pressure from disease, weather, and rising costs.

Florida's citrus industry has been contracting for years due to citrus greening disease, and land sales like this one are part of a broader pattern of growers and operators downsizing or exiting. Every acre that leaves citrus production is acreage that won't be coming back anytime soon — and that has long-term implications for domestic orange and grapefruit supply.

For buyers sourcing Florida citrus, keep an eye on how quickly the production base is shrinking. The industry has already seen significant consolidation, and more land exits could accelerate the shift toward imported citrus filling the gap in domestic supply.

The 2026 British Columbia cherry season is shaping up to start earlier than usual, but volume will be noticeably lighter. B.C. Cherry Association president Sukhpaul Bal says the crop is on the lighter side this year because last year's bumper harvest followed the 2024 freeze, and the trees are in a natural recovery cycle. Volume won't match what buyers saw in 2025.

B.C. cherries are a significant source of premium fresh cherries for North American retailers and foodservice buyers in July and August. A lighter crop means tighter supply windows and less room to negotiate on price — especially for large-volume promotional programs.

Buyers should get ahead of their sourcing plans now. With Washington cherries also expected to run lighter this year, the combined domestic supply picture for summer cherries is more constrained than last season. Lock in your volume early.

Amazon is aggressively scaling Amazon Now, its 30-minute delivery service for fresh groceries, household essentials, and electronics, with plans to reach tens of millions of people across dozens of U.S. cities in 2026. The service lets shoppers combine perishable foods with other product categories in a single rapid order — a model that no traditional grocer has been able to replicate at this scale.

This is a big deal for the produce industry. Fresh and perishable items are at the core of what Amazon Now is selling, and as the service expands, it becomes a legitimate alternative to the weekly grocery trip for a growing slice of consumers. That has direct implications for how produce is merchandised, promoted, and priced across retail channels.

Traditional grocers and independent operators should be paying close attention. Amazon's infrastructure advantage in last-mile delivery is massive, and if consumer habits shift toward on-demand perishable ordering, the competitive pressure on physical stores — and on produce departments in particular — is going to intensify fast.

Pear growers in Oregon's Hood River Valley are tallying up the damage from the 2025 season, with industry estimates landing between $40 million and $45 million in losses. The season opened with Bartlett pears entering an already oversupplied market, which crushed prices from the start. Growers never caught a break as the season wore on.

Oregon and Washington together produce the vast majority of domestic fresh pears, making Hood River Valley's struggles a supply chain issue for buyers across the country. When margins get this tight, growers start making hard decisions — fewer acres planted, less investment in quality inputs, or exiting the category altogether. Any of those outcomes tightens future supply.

For buyers sourcing domestic pears, this is a signal to stay close to your grower relationships and watch for shifts in available volume heading into 2026 and beyond. There's also a broader story here about the fragility of commodity pear economics when market timing goes wrong.

Total U.S. apple storage as of May 1, 2026 came in at 70 million bushels, down 4% from last May's 72 million bushels. Fresh apple holdings specifically are down 10% year over year at 47 million bushels, though the overall figure remains 9% above the five-year average for this time of year.

The fresh apple storage drawdown is the more important number for buyers. With 10% fewer fresh apples in storage compared to last May, the late-season supply cushion is thinner — meaning any disruption to the new crop timeline could accelerate price pressure. Washington's 2026 crop outlook will be critical context to watch.

Heading into summer, this sets up a narrowing window between old-crop availability and new-crop arrivals. Category managers should be thinking now about how to position promotions and manage inventory around that transition period.

Wild blueberry growers in Maine are reporting devastating back-to-back crop losses driven by drought, heat, and frost. At Crystal Spring Farm near Brunswick, grower Seth Kroeck said the 2025 harvest came in at roughly 7% of expected production after severe drought conditions tanked the crop. It's not an isolated case — growers across the region are dealing with the same compounding weather stresses season after season.

Maine is the dominant source of wild blueberries in North America, supplying the majority of the country's wild blueberry supply for both fresh and processed markets. Repeated losses at this scale have real implications for supply availability and pricing, particularly in the frozen and ingredient segments where wild blueberries are heavily used.

If these weather patterns hold, expect tighter supply and higher prices on wild blueberries going forward. It's also worth watching whether growers start exiting the category entirely — fewer farms means less resilience the next time drought hits.