An executive at a Washington company known for sliced fruit and an Oregon organic leader have joined the USDA’s Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee.

Tony Freytag and Mike Dill’s two-year appointments were announced by the agency Jan. 13.

Freytag works at Crunch Pak, headquartered in Cashmere, Wash., where he’s executive vice president and advisor to the board of directors and CEO.

Dill is director of advocacy and sustainability at Organically Grown Company, an organic produce wholesaler based in Portland.

Both Freytag and Dill have served on a range of industry groups.

The USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee, advises the Secretary of Agriculture on issues impacting the fruit and vegetable industry.

The government body a strong West Coast presence. Seven of its 25 members are from California and two are from the Pacific Northwest.

Representing organic, the PNW

Dill primarily works in the organic industry, and fruits and vegetables are its largest sector. But he wants to represent all of Oregon and the Northwest, where things can be different.

“I’m not going to have blinders on to the rest of ag,” Dill said.

Plus, the line between conventional and organic businesses have blurred, with many pursuing both channels.

“So many growers, packers and shippers are now operating in organic and non-organic markets — the days where you needed to choose one camp or the other are thankfully behind us,” Dill said.

He expects the committee to continue to discuss labor, climate impacts, food safety and testing requirements, and boosting produce consumption.

“Issues that I’d like to talk about this year are pricing, profitability, cost of inputs, soil health and one of the biggest issues I see is the loss of farmers,” Dill said.

He added that there’s a lot of consolidation and growth by agricultural operations that can afford to buy up small farms that are struggling.

In 2023, 86% of all U.S. farms were small family farms operating on 41% of agricultural land.

That was down slightly from 2022, when they represented 87% of farms and accounted for 44% of acreage, according to the USDA.

Convenience, food as medicine

Freytag thinks another topic, food as medicine, will become more important for the produce industry.

“There’s more and more talk about how prescription food could be utilized so people could better afford fruits and vegetables,” Freytag said.

Consumers, with their busy lives, are moved by convenience.

“We have to make our products easy, fast, good, affordable, and of course, healthy. We’re seeing a tremendous increase of the healthy snack category,” he said.

Crunch Pak does a lot of work with licensed characters on sliced and processed products to get children to eat healthier, and that’s proven effective.

Innovation in packaging and marketing will continue and help drive sales of quality products, Freytag said.

When Crunch Pak formed more than 20 years ago and focused on sliced apples, “People thought we were crazy,” he said.

But liked bagged salads, the idea caught on.

Various produce industry segments, despite differences, have the same goal, Freytag said.

“That’s to get people to eat more of what we grow. That’s the challenge today,” he added.

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