Why Taylor Farms Recalled Products in 2026: The Food Safety and Traceability Lessons for Fresh-Cut Producers

Jonathan Buettner, August 24 2026

In 2026, Taylor Fresh Foods initiated two significant voluntary recall actions involving different ingredients and different foodborne illness investigations. The August recall involved finished products containing jalapeños potentially linked to a multistate Salmonella outbreak. The July recall involved iceberg lettuce from central Mexico...

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Dehydration vs. Freeze-Drying: Which Makes Sense for Your Value-Added Line?

Jonathan Buettner, August 18 2026

Adding a drying step can help a farm, food manufacturer, or CPG company turn seasonal ingredients into products with a longer selling window, lower shipping weight, and greater value. But choosing between dehydration and freeze-drying is not simply a question of which process produces the “best”

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The Mini Barrel Washer That Changed Root Crop Cleaning for Small Farms

Jonathan Buettner, July 28 2026

For a 3-to-5-acre mixed vegetable farm or organic market garden, harvest day is a high-stakes balancing act. You have spent months cultivating the soil, managing weeds, and tending crops through unpredictable weather. Now, your root vegetables: carrots, beets, turnips, and potatoes: are out of the ground. But before they can go to a CSA box,...

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420,000 Peach Trees Are Coming Down: What California Growers Can Learn From Del Monte's Collapse

Jonathan Buettner, July 16 2026

The landscape of the Central Valley is changing, and for many California cling peach growers, the view is sobering. As of early 2026, the news has settled into a harsh reality: approximately 420,000 peach trees are being removed across 3,000 acres of prime orchard land. The catalyst? The permanent closure of Del Monte Foods’ iconic Modesto and...

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Choosing  Vegetable Slicing and Dicing Equipment

Jonathan Buettner, July 6 2026

In the world of food processing, the "perfect cut" isn't just about aesthetics: it’s about yield, shelf life, and operational efficiency. Whether you are an American family farm looking to scale into value-added products or a large-scale manufacturer optimizing a CPG line, choosing the right vegetable slicing and dicing equipment is one of the...

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The Tariff Loophole Your Accountant Will Love: Why Univerco is a Win Under Section 232

Jonathan Buettner, June 16 2026

If you’ve been tracking the news lately, you know that the "Section 232" buzz is back: and it’s not just for policy wonks in D.C. anymore. On June 1, 2026, a new presidential proclamation hit the books, effectively shifting the landscape for anyone buying agricultural processing

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The One-Person Carrot Harvest: How the Mini-Veg is Saving the Family Farm

Jonathan Buettner, June 16 2026

In the world of vegetable farming, there is a traditional "bottleneck" that keeps small family farms from ever truly breaking into the big leagues of wholesale. It isn’t the planting. It isn't even the sales. It’s the harvest. If you’ve ever spent a Tuesday afternoon on your hands and knees in a muddy field, pulling carrots one by one, you know...

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Stop Hoeing: Why the Eco Weeder is the Ultimate Labor-Saver for Your Farm

Jonathan Buettner, May 15 2026

If you’ve ever spent a July afternoon hunched over a row of vegetables with a hand hoe, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s back-breaking, it’s soul-crushing, and quite frankly, it’s a drain on your farm’s potential. In the world of the American family farm, labor isn't just an expense; it’s the biggest variable that can make or break...

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The Death of the Giant Footprint: How Linear Automation is Saving Space in the Packhouse

Jonathan Buettner, March 19 2026

For decades, the expansion of a food processing facility followed a predictable, albeit painful, pattern. If you wanted to double your output, you usually had to double your floor space. For the American family farm and mid-market processor, this "bigger is better" philosophy has often led to a "square footage ceiling." You have the product, you...

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Why Integrity Costs Us Business (and Why We're Okay With That): The Power of the NDA

Jonathan Buettner, February 17 2026

This month, we lost a supplier relationship that had been part of our network since our founding. The reason? They wanted us to breach a client's NDA. We refused. They pushed harder. We stood firm. And honestly? We'd do it again tomorrow. In the world of food processing and CPG consulting, information is currency. A new sauce formulation. A...

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