FutureBridge Food, Agriculture and Nutrition leader Richard Kottmeyer was featured in The Shelby Report’s coverage of Viva Fresh 2026, where he helped shape the industry conversation around future-proofing the North American produce sector.

Speaking during the Texas International Produce Association’s (TIPA) education program, Kottmeyer introduced the “Consumomics™” framework, exploring how healthcare, affordability, wellness trends, policy shifts, and evolving consumer behavior are reshaping fresh produce demand.

His keynote challenged producers, shippers, and retailers to move beyond transactional selling and reposition produce as a higher-value, health-linked, consumer-relevant category. The session highlighted emerging demand drivers including preventive health, GLP-1 adoption, sustainability, school nutrition programs, and affordability pressures, while emphasizing data-driven merchandising and long-term strategic thinking.

FutureBridge also partnered with TIPA on a strategic whitepaper and executive summary designed to help industry stakeholders translate these insights into actionable growth strategies.

Alongside Viva Fresh’s “Market Mayhem” session  which explored labor shortages, tariffs, geopolitical uncertainty, and changing consumer behavior the event reinforced a clear message: the future belongs to companies that can balance operational agility with strategic clarity.

The Shelby Report coverage further highlighted Viva Fresh’s growing role as a strategic platform for the produce industry and underscored FutureBridge’s leadership in shaping long-term food, agriculture, and nutrition conversations.