The Organic Produce Summit (OPS) marked its 10th anniversary this year with record industry engagement, cementing its position as the leading trade forum connecting organic produce growers, shippers, and grocery retailers across the U.S. supply chain.
The milestone edition drew broader participation from buyers, category managers, and produce merchandisers than any prior year, underscoring the continued prioritization of organic fresh among conventional grocery, natural/specialty, and club channel operators. While specific door counts and ACV figures from this year's summit were not disclosed in available materials, the trajectory reflects a category that has outpaced center-store growth for much of the past decade.
Category at the Shelf
Organic produce has evolved from a natural/specialty channel staple into a mainstream grocery fixture, now occupying dedicated planogram space and end-cap real estate in most major conventional banners. Syndicated data from Circana and Nielsen has tracked accelerating TDP expansion for certified-organic fresh items over the past several years, with velocity gains driven by both household penetration growth and increased basket attachment among health-focused shoppers. For category managers, the challenge has shifted from trial generation to velocity maintenance and shrink management — issues that events like OPS directly address through grower-retailer dialogue.
Private label organic produce programs have also grown in strategic importance, with own-brand organic SKUs capturing a larger share of the fresh perimeter set at retailers ranging from Kroger and Albertsons to regional independents. The 10th anniversary of OPS coincides with a period in which retailers are actively renegotiating supply agreements and rationalizing organic produce assortments to sharpen turn rates and reduce spoilage-driven margin pressure.
A Decade of Trade Infrastructure
Launched a decade ago to fill a gap between large-format produce industry events and the specific operational needs of the organic supply chain, OPS has grown into a critical annual touchpoint for buyers and growers to align on seasonal availability, food safety standards, and promotional planning. The summit model — focused on pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings rather than open trade show formats — has proven particularly effective at driving actionable retail commitments and sourcing decisions.
For grocery CPG observers, the durability of OPS across 10 years reflects the maturation of organic produce as a category requiring its own trade infrastructure, distinct from conventional commodity produce negotiations. That institutional depth supports longer planning horizons for retailers building out their fresh and perishables programs and for growers investing in certified acreage expansion.
As the organic produce category navigates ongoing input cost pressures, evolving USDA certification dynamics, and shifting consumer price sensitivity, the retailer-grower relationships cultivated at events like OPS become a key competitive differentiator. Retailers with stronger direct sourcing relationships are better positioned to maintain organic produce ACV without relying solely on broker-mediated supply — a structural advantage that compounds over time. For more context on how grocery operators are managing fresh category investment, see recent coverage of organic and natural grocery trends.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
