Keynote interviews with Defra farming minister Dame Angela Eagle and Sainsbury’s category director Hannah O’Reilly are among the highlights as event approaches
Defra farming minister Dame Angela Eagle, Sainsbury’s produce category director Hannah O’Reilly, and FPC chief executive Nigel Jenney are all on the bill as Festival of Fresh returns for its fifth year.
This time round, Fresh Produce Journal’s summer festival takes place on Wednesday 10 June and will be hosted by major salads producer G’s, one of Europe’s leading family-owned, fully integrated fresh produce companies.
The supplier will put on tours of the production, packing and seasonal worker operations at its main site in Barway, near Ely, Cambridgeshire.
G’s group product director for celery, Julius Joel, features on a panel about regenerative farming, which is allowing the business to cut fertiliser use, restore soils and increase profits.
Click here to buy a ticket, or email advertising@fpj.co.uk to sponsor or exhibit at the event.
Festival of Fresh has established itself as a leading event in the British fresh produce calendar and will once again be attended by a host of fresh produce CEOs, commercial directors, and major retailers, among many others.
The programme features a raft of major keynote interviews and panels, including a session with Defra minister Dame Angela Eagle, covering everything from food security to energy price rises, as well as interviews with Sainsbury’s category director for produce, Hannah O’Reilly, and M&S’s senior salads buyer, Matt Buckingham.
In another high-profile panel discussion, Martin Emmett (recently re-elected as chair of the NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board) is joined by Simon Conway (Horticulture Crop Protection) and Chris Rose (UK Fruit & Vegetable Association) to discuss the policies and strategies shaping the sector.
After that, FPC’s outgoing CEO Nigel Jenney (recently added to the programme) speaks alongside Port of Dover’s Alison Hall and SHP Group CEO David Bateman about the incoming SPS agreement and the challenges (and solutions) for fresh produce logistics at a time of major disruption for global trade.
Click here for the Festival of Fresh programme and timings.
Visitors to the event in Cambridgeshire can also expect a wide-ranging expo, featuring major players in production, tech, varietal development and wholesale.
This year’s exhibitors are: B-Hive, BASF Nunhems, Digipal, Felix (the new name for FareShare and The Felix Project), Fruit Logistica, G’s, Fruitnet, Hoogstraten, London Markets (NCGM, New Spitalfields Market, and Western International), the Modern Slavery Intelligence Network (MSIN), OAL, Redpack, Rijk Zwaan, and Worldwide Fruit.
Festival of Fresh 2026 is sponsored by: Digipal, Asia Fruit Logistica, Fruit Logistica, Red Tractor, Albert Bartlett, Hoogstraten, and Pink Lady.
