SALINAS, CA - Organic produce, while an increasing sector of the industry, has not always gotten the attention of its conventional counterparts. Now, with the inaugural Organic Produce Summit (OPS) commencing July 13-14 in Monterey, California, members from the growing category will be able to make connections and create solutions to the industry’s biggest issues in a trade show environment for the very first time.

I spoke with Melody Meyer, organic produce champion and Vice President of Policy and Industry Relations for United Natural Foods (UNFI), about why its important to catch such a conference, and what attendees can expect.

“Its important to attend because we’ve never really celebrated the organic produce industry before. I think there’s a lot to learn from each other,” Melody tells me. “The OPS will have an inspiring education program that will help us engage as produceprofessionals in learning where the innovations are and celebrating the growth that we’ve have. We need to understand who we are and how we can help each other achieve growth.”

So far, the lineup of educational speakers include Founder of Pacific Organic Produce and Purity Organics brand juices, Greg Holzman and Purple Carrot Co-Founder Mark Bittman, with even more yet-to-be-announced.

Since 1999, UNFI has had a separate business unit dedicated to the sale and distribution of  organics, known by the name of Alberts Organics. Melody tells me the growth of that sector has been an extremely important part of the UNFI sales structure.

“Alberts Organics is an integral part of our business model,” she continues. “We’re seeing growth in the perimeters of the store, the center of the store just isn't as active. The perimeter is really what UNFI is focusing on, and that includes produce.”

And that focus on organic alternatives in the perimeter has been a big focus of UNFI’s strategy in the previous years and beyond, Melody says. It’s important to realize just how important organic sales can be to a business model.

“Organic produce is really the gateway to the organic consumer,” Melody says. “When they walk through that door and see a nicely done fresh display of organic produce next to the conventional, that shopper is going to go into the store and likely purchase organic. When you look at sales data, a shopper who purchases organics will spends more money in your store overall.”

That's not the only enlightening data the Organic Trade Association offers either. According to the most recent data set available from 2014, the organic produce sector occupies total market sales of $39.1 billion, and market growth of 11.3% over the previous year. The largest category of all organic sales is produce, and this is up 12% from 2013 to 2014. 36% of all organic food sales are produce.

To give your voice to this rapidly expanding produce category, registration is now open for exhibitors, retailers and attendees and can be accessed through the event website www.organicproducesummit.com.

Organic Produce Summit UNFI