A fresh perspective from the Festival of Fresh 2026

The fresh produce industry is never short of challenges, from labour and logistics to cost pressures, weather and government regulation. The Festival of Fresh brought all of those themes together in one place.

We were delighted to attend the annual event, held at Barway in Cambridgeshire, to connect with the wider industry and discuss these challenges.

Bringing together a wide cross-section of the UK fresh food and produce supply chain, including growers, packers, retailers, labour providers as well as agri-technology companies and charities, the Festival of Fresh is one of the most important days in the calendar for us.

Here’s what we explored…

Who attended?

Steve Swain, Parveen Mehta and Gurjeet Cheema spent the day learning more about where the industry is heading and how technology can help reduce some of the challenges facing the industry. It was a day jam-packed with tours, panels and supplier showcases (all while dodging the rain!). The changing weather was a reminder that our industry is shaped not only by human investment and innovation, but also Mother Nature herself.

One of the most valuable parts of the event was getting to see the technologies and services currently shaping the industry, which enabled Parveen Mehta, our Operations Director, and the team to see how we can continue to build on our sustainability goals and increase our staff resources.

Reducing food waste

Felix (formerly FareShare, the food waste charity) were also at the event to discuss ways to reduce food waste and ensure more surplus food gets to those who need it the most in the UK.

The team also heard from businesses such as Digi-Pallet, the durable plastic pallet firm, who we’ve worked with previously – as well as software and automation providers, logistics firms and crop chemical suppliers to learn how to optimise our operations for the challenges ahead both in 2026 and beyond.

Hearing from the founders of G’s Fresh

There was also a keynote speech from the founders of G’s Fresh, the company sponsoring the Festival of Fresh. They spoke about how multigenerational businesses such as ours can continue to attract talent into the industry while navigating red tape around issues such as labour restrictions, planning challenges and infrastructure. These are issues that affect us all regardless of a business’s size and how much progress we make in these areas, depending on the collaboration of the whole industry.

A key theme of the event was the focus on people, especially seasonal workers. This is a subject that is very important to us. The team undertook a tour of seasonal workers facilities and got to see the wider support infrastructure needed to attract, retain and look after the workforce behind UK fresh produce. In the industry, accessing skilled and reliable labour remains one of the biggest pressures. You can read more on the importance of seasonal workers and how we aim to protect our workforce here.

Our takeaways

For us, the real value of the event was not just learning more about G’s Fresh’s business but seeing how we can solve many of the issues affecting the industry with collaboration and cutting-edge technology. The day reinforced a simple point for us: fresh produce depends on far more than growing crops. It relies on people, infrastructure, investment, technology, logistics, relationships and constant problem-solving. While there were reminders of the pressures we all face, the team left with a renewed sense of optimism, having seen a glimpse into the ways we can adapt without losing our ambitions.