Seen and heard at GOPEX 2025 — Part 4

AVENTURA, Fla. — GOPEX 2025 buzzed with talk of organic potato sales rising, company mergers and insights from the Texas Department of Agriculture, with the event highlighting updates, trends and innovations shaping the future of produce.

When asked what he was featuring at GOPEX, Stephen Paul with Homegrown Organic Farms replied, “Today we're featuring ‘us.'"

“We're an all-inclusive organic sales company offering berries, citrus, stone fruit and specialty fruit," he said.

The company is unique in having an end-to-end stone fruit program certified by the Equitable Food Initiative and is Regenerative Organic Certified, Paul said, adding that a significant portion of its citrus and berries are EFI certified, with plans to expand ROC certification for berries.

He said the company is employee-owned, emphasizing high service levels for both growers and customers, aligning with its motto of "right product, right customer."

“Taking care of our growers and taking care of our customers is pinnacle, because without either, we are nothing," Paul said. "So, we have to make sure that we are holding ourselves at the highest level of service, not only to our growers, but also to our customers.”

Andrew George with Earth Fresh Organic said the company was featuring a new 2-pound organic potato pack, saying it bridges the gap between the 3-pound (typically A-size potato) and 1.5-pound bags (C-size) to offer a “really good value point” with a B-size potato.

“Organics potatoes are up 5% this year, and regular potatoes are up 2%, so it's an easy item to add and get some immediate growth in retail,” George said.

“From an organic perspective,” Tiffany Sabelli with Pure Flavor said, “we are featuring new recyclable trays with a new design top-seal and 100% compostable bell pepper bags. In the non-organic category, we're featuring the three award-winning specialty tomatoes: Cloud9, Tiki and OMG.”

In addition, Sabelli said she was featuring the new Rocco Reds tomatoes and seedless mini peppers. “These are both in-market and doing extremely well.”

Sidney Fadden with Creekside Organics was eager to announce the company's merger with Fruit World, saying it would bring significant changes to the company over the next month.

Of the expo, Fadden said, “The show has been really good, consistently busy. We've gotten to meet a lot of our customers, some I hadn't met face-to-face, so that's really nice.”

The Texas Department of Agriculture, represented by Casey Corley, was attending GOPEX to promote the state's organic producers.

“The Department of Agriculture has heard about GOPEX for quite a few years," he said. "We've always loved promoting our organic producers in the state, and this was just something that we wanted to do to try to bring some light into the organic options that Texas has to offer.

“There are a lot of producers all over the state," Corley continued. "They're great producers, but they just don't have the resources to come to events like this, or maybe they don't have the time because they're planting. So, we're here to represent those guys and bridge that introduction.”

Madison Froerer with Owyhee Produce showcased its offerings, which include fresh and peeled onions, asparagus, watermelons and sweet corn from Oregon and Idaho.

“Our goal today is to attract new customers and highlight our consumer packaged produce," she said.

Froerer added that the company is proud to be USDA organic certified across all of its growing and packing operations.

Your next read:

• Seen and heard at GOPEX 2025 — Part 1
• Seen and heard at GOPEX 2025 — Part 2
• Seen and heard at GOPEX 2025 — Part 3
• Consumers want value, health benefits when shopping
• How retailers are driving organic produce and sustainability