FRESNO, CA - Famous Software is heading to the 2026 IFPA Global Produce & Floral Show with a focus on giving fresh produce businesses greater visibility, mobility, and automation across their operations.

“We’re putting the intelligence already within Famous to work in new ways,” said President Heather Hammack. Famous Software’s approach draws on decades of technology developed specifically for fresh produce, connecting the data and workflows involved in moving product from field to customer.

Attendees will get a look at the company’s expanding mobile portfolio, including its relaunched Famous Sales App and new Delivery App. Famous will also preview new Famous Field Connect applications for Field Estimates, Field Receiving, and Field Payroll Data Collection, with production planned for late 2026 and early 2027. The company has also added functionality across its applications and invested in enterprise capabilities for its warehouse management system product line.

Famous will also demonstrate AI-driven shipping allocation, designed to use operational data already within Famous to help customers make better-informed product allocation decisions.

The company will also highlight the next evolution of Famous Business Intelligence, including its new Oracle Analytics Server (OAS) platform. The updated BI environment brings new analytics capabilities to the operational data already within Famous, giving customers more ways to explore information, identify trends, and support better decision-making.

Heather also shared that Famous Software’s development priorities reflect the pressures produce businesses face, including rising costs, labor constraints, transportation complexity, and changing customer requirements. Its goal is to reduce manual work, give employees faster access to information, and help teams make better decisions. Its existing functionality also supports customers working to meet FSMA 204 traceability requirements.

“Fresh produce isn’t one of many industries we serve—it’s the only industry we serve,” Heather shared. That focus shapes both its product roadmap and the expertise of the people supporting customers.

Famous’ full sales team will attend the show, along with Managing Partner Kirk Parrish, President Heather Hammack, Director of Sales Natalie Kaita, and Director of Support Carolyn Craft. The team invites attendees to bring an operational challenge, whether it involves warehouse efficiency, traceability, mobile access to information, or finding a practical use for AI.

To meet the Famous Software team and learn more about its latest tools, visit booth 3635.

Stay tuned toAndNowUKnow for more updates leading up to the IFPA Global Produce & Floral Show.

SAN JOSE, CA - MicroTally®, a leader in advanced food safety sampling technology, announced the commercial release of the MicroTally® MicroCap™ sampler, an automated, process-integrated sampling system ideally suited for cut and diced produce operations.

Designed to fit over the dispersion cone of multi-head weighing scales, the MicroCap™ sampler captures a representative sample of contaminating microorganisms as finished product passes through the weigh station. The device operates unattended for up to two hours across large production runs, eliminating manual grab sampling and reducing labor requirements.

"Traditional manual grab sampling relies on collecting bulk product tissue, which can dilute surface-level pathogens and create unnecessary food waste. Because contamination on cut produce predominantly resides on exterior surfaces, the MicroCap™ sampler targets the areas where pathogen clusters are most likely to occur. This approach can provide processing plants with more representative samples for detecting Salmonella, STEC, E. coli O157, and Listeria while preserving saleable product," said Dr. Eric Wilhelmsen, Chief Technical Officer at FREMONTA, in the recent release.

Key features and benefits of the MicroTally® MicroCap™ sampler include:

• Automated Lot-Wide Sampling: Runs continuously for up to two hours on active processing lines, replacing spot-check grabs with continuous batch coverage.
• Non-Destructive Surface Capture: Collects microbial samples upon contact without damaging product or generating waste.
• Reduced Dilution Risk: Focuses on surfaces where pathogen clusters are most likely to occur.
• Peer-Reviewed Performance: Peer-reviewed research has demonstrated pathogen recovery equal or superior to that of traditional manual grab methods.
• Operational Savings: Streamlines sampling labor, reduces shipping weight for testing samples, and lowers lab media and disposal costs.
• Seamless Line Integration: Constructed from sterile, non-woven fabric and available in 6-inch and 8-inch center hole diameters to fit a variety of scale dispersion cones.

The MicroTally® MicroCap™ sampler is compatible with a range of cut produce. Current validations include lettuce, cabbage, onions, carrots, tomatoes, and peppers. Processors interested in integrating continuous sampling into their facilities can request a demonstration, review validation data, or request assistance with a new validation by visiting MicroTally's website or calling 408-581-0118.

FRESNO & IRVINE, CA - The California Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA) expressed disappointment following Governor Gavin Newsom’s signing of AB 2646, which establishes a new state wage requirement affecting H-2A agricultural and corresponding employees.

“California agriculture is already facing significant economic pressure, and adding costs without considering the entire farm economy will have consequences beyond the farm,” said CFFA President Casey Creamer in the recent release. “Supporting farmworkers and maintaining economically sustainable farms are not competing goals. We need both.”

Beginning January 1, 2027, AB 2646 establishes a $19.75 hourly wage for H-2A employees and corresponding employees performing the same work for the same employer in the same county, with annual adjustments thereafter.

“California growers compete in a global marketplace against producers with significantly different costs and standards, and our growers generally cannot pass increased costs on to their customers,” Creamer said. “If we continue making it more difficult to produce food here, we risk shifting more of our food supply to foreign production. That does not help California farmworkers, our rural communities or our long-term food security.”

CFFA joined a broad coalition of agricultural organizations requesting a veto of AB 2646 and submitted its own veto request to Governor Newsom.

“A healthy agricultural economy supports everyone in the supply chain—growers, farmworkers, packinghouse employees, truck drivers, salespeople and the rural communities that depend on agriculture,” Creamer added. “CFFA will continue working with policymakers on practical solutions that strengthen California agriculture and allow the people who depend on it to succeed.”

Western Growers also issued the following statement in response to Gov. Gavin Newsom signing AB 2646 into law:

“California families are burdened by the nation's highest cost of living, and yet we now have another new economically stupid mandate imposed on the state's farmers in the form of AB 2646," said Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia. "None of our state's farmers can simply absorb this new higher wage mandate. Some larger family farm businesses may be able to pass along this new labor cost to their grocery chain customers, who will pass it on to consumers already struggling with affordability challenges. Most farmers, however, cannot absorb or pass along this dramatic wage increase. They have been beaten down by California's higher operating costs and watched their grocery chain customers choose farmers in other states and countries where the same fresh foods can be grown at a lower cost.

"Next time you hear people in Sacramento talk about their love of California's farms and the wonderful food we grow here, remember that we have lost nearly 30 percent of our family farms in the last 25 years. That is because of the economic injuries that have been caused by foolish public policies. Californians are proud of our state's farmers. They deserve better from Sacramento."

SCOTTSDALE, AR & SINGAPORE - The Giumarra Companies announced that it has signed a Marketeer Distributor Participation Agreement (the “Agreement”) with DiMuto, the Singapore-based agri-food technology company behind DiMutoClear and DiMutoPay. Under the Agreement, growers and suppliers within the Giumarra network will be able to digitize their trade documentation on the DiMuto platform and access working capital financing backed by that verified trade data.

The initiative reflects Giumarra's ongoing efforts to identify and evaluate tools and resources that can support the success of its grower partners, while helping streamline documentation and information sharing throughout the fresh produce supply chain.

Through the DiMuto platform, participating suppliers can digitize trade documents and access shipment-level quality, origin, and traceability data tied to their transactions. The Agreement also provides access to a financing resource designed specifically for produce suppliers. By combining verified shipment data with transaction records captured via the platform, eligible growers can secure funding against shipped product, helping improve cash flow and reduce the time between shipment and payment.

“Our business has been built over more than a century on relationships with the people who grow high-quality produce,” said Tim Riley, President and CEO of The Giumarra Companies, in the recent release. “We are always looking for ways to support the success of our suppliers. Working with DiMuto allows us to offer our grower network something genuinely useful: greater visibility into their own trade and faster access to funds, without changing how they do business with us.”

“Growers have never had a financing problem. They have had a proof problem,” said Gary Loh, Founder and CEO of DiMuto. “When a shipment is documented, inspected, and verified end to end, the risk stops being a guess. This agreement puts that verified record at the center of one of the most respected networks in the produce industry, and it means a grower's own track record, not their balance sheet, becomes the basis on which they get paid faster. That is what we mean by Verifiable Commerce.”

The program will roll out in phases, beginning with an initial group of suppliers in California and Mexico, with additional participants and origin countries added over time as onboarding progresses.