Fueling the Future at this Year’s Record-Breaking Organic Produce Summit

Last week Taylor Farms joined the organic movement in Monterey, CA at the third annual Organic Produce Summit (OPS)! As a founding sponsor of this Summit, we hosted retailer tours at our processing facility, participated in one of the breakout session educational panels, and joined 130 other produce companies showcasing their latest organic offerings.

Taylor Farms Team: Brian Modena, Kelley Lopez, Courteney Nelson, Rachel Molatore, Shannon Renz, Adri Crawford, and CJ Given

We were excited to participate and share the strength of our sustainability program and how our environmental initiatives are helping to fuel the future of the organic produce sector. From our implementation of renewable energy initiatives, including our unique energy ecosystem at our Gonzales plant, to our efforts in community support with our fresh food donation program, we are focused on paving a sustainable future.

“Since its start three years ago, OPS has been an exceptional show, and it is only getting better,” said CJ Given, SVP Sales, Taylor Farms. “This event provides a dynamic platform for key stakeholders to discuss the future of organics and sustainability in the fresh food industry. It’s a great opportunity to have such a collaborative event located in the heart of our largest growing region, near our production and corporate headquarters.”

On the first day of the Summit, we hosted plant tours for nearly 60 retailers at our salad production facility in Salinas, CA where we showed attendees how we produce our fresh, nutritious offerings, like our Taylor Farms Organic Chopped Salad Kits.

On day two, our V.P. of Product Management & Marketing, Bryan Jaynes, was on a panel with representatives from SunOpta, Tradin Organic, and Grimmway Farms discussing how organic ingredients create new opportunities in the produce department.

This year’s OPS smashed records with more than 1,400 people in attendance, which was a 40% increase over last year. Since its inaugural Summit in 2016, OPS has proven to be a great event focused on sourcing sustainable ingredients and continually innovating in the organic sector to meet consumer desires and needs. We look forward to attending again next year and seeing how OPS continues to evolve!