Harvest kicked off last week in British Columbia, but growers are warning that overall volume is down meaningfully compared to 2025. Conditions vary sharply by region — some areas have very little fruit on the trees, while zones like Kelowna are reporting much better yields.

BC is a key summer cherry supplier to North American retail, and a smaller crop arriving on the heels of an already-compressed PNW cherry season tightens the supply picture further. Pricing support is a likely outcome when volumes are regionally inconsistent like this.

Buyers sourcing BC fruit should get clear commitments from shippers on sizing and volume early — the patchwork crop means supply reliability could be uneven week to week depending on growing area.

Blueberry exporters in Chile and Peru are navigating a convergence of challenges: climate variability affecting crop consistency, evolving international trade conditions, and rising logistics costs. Industry specialist Fernando Martino highlighted fruit condition, firmness, shelf life, and logistics as the key pressure points shaping competitiveness.

Chile and Peru are two of the most important blueberry origins for the North American market, particularly during the winter counter-season. Quality and timing issues out of either country have direct effects on U.S. retail availability and pricing during the months when domestic supply is absent.

With El Niño forecasts already raising flags for Peruvian production and Chilean exporters managing their own seasonal risks, buyers planning winter blueberry programs should be building contingency sourcing options and staying close to their supply partners on crop condition updates.

The Mexican government and APEAM have jointly announced four new measures shaping how avocados are produced and exported. The headline move is the introduction of a "Franja de Michoacán" geographical indication, presented by the Ministry of Economy, which would function similarly to a protected origin designation for the region's fruit.

Michoacán accounts for the vast majority of avocados shipped to the U.S., so any structural change to how that fruit is classified, marketed, or regulated carries direct implications for North American buyers. Geographical indications can affect labeling, marketing claims, and eventually trade negotiations.

The full scope of all four measures and their implementation timelines are worth monitoring — any changes to export protocols or certification requirements out of Michoacán could ripple through U.S. retail and foodservice supply chains quickly.

TruSource has officially launched as a fresh produce collective, bringing together Freshway Foods, Forestwood, and Nickey Gregory under a unified structure. The three companies are regional operating businesses that together serve a broad footprint across North American foodservice and retail channels.

Consolidation in the fresh produce distribution space has been accelerating, and moves like this reflect the pressure smaller and mid-size operators face to compete on scale, logistics, and technology investment. A unified collective can pool resources for purchasing, cold chain infrastructure, and customer relationships in ways individual companies can't match alone.

For buyers and category managers working with any of the three legacy companies, this is worth a follow-up conversation — service models, pricing structures, and account contacts may evolve as the collective finds its operational footing.

More than 254,000 H-2A positions were certified in the first half of fiscal year 2026, putting the program on pace to surpass last year's record total. Certifications have grown steadily from 317,619 in fiscal year 2021, reflecting the agriculture industry's deepening reliance on the visa program to fill seasonal labor gaps.

The H-2A program is the primary legal pathway for temporary agricultural workers in the U.S. and directly supports harvest and packing operations across produce's most important growing regions. Its continued growth underscores both how critical foreign labor is to the supply chain and how unresolved domestic farm labor policy continues to be.

With ongoing legislative proposals to reform H-2A and increased scrutiny of labor costs, the program's trajectory matters to anyone managing grower relationships or forecasting input costs for the coming seasons.

Santa Barbara County's agricultural sector generated $2.2 billion in gross value in 2025, up 11.5% from $2.0 billion the year before, according to the county's annual Crop and Livestock Report. Strawberries were the standout driver behind the increase.

Santa Barbara is one of California's most productive coastal growing regions and a major source of strawberries for North American retail and foodservice. The double-digit value jump reflects both strong demand and the pricing dynamics that have characterized the strawberry market over the past year.

The data reinforces strawberries' position as one of the most commercially significant commodities on the West Coast — and a category worth investing in from a promotional and sourcing standpoint heading into the back half of the year.