Join host Patrick Kelly as he welcomes special co-host Jonathan Buettner of Buettner Processing Solutions, LLC. for a lively discussion from the Southern Exposure 2026 event in Orlando, Florida.

This episode dives into the heart of the produce supply chain community, highlighting trade show insights, industry collaborations, and innovations shaping the future of fresh produce.

Tune in to hear about networking, new technology, and the spirit of support that keeps this industry growing strong.

What kind of fruit was designed to be swallowed whole by giant sloths? How did a sacred Mesoamerican tree become the green badge of millennial brunch culture? And how did a humble postman’s backyard seedling end up conquering global agriculture?

Join John and Patrick as they trace the astonishing history of the avocado - from the forests of ancient Mexico and the courts of the Maya and Aztec, to the chandeliers of the Alexandria Hotel, the rise of Calavo, and the accidental genius of Rudolph Hass. Along the way: plant explorers, freezes that nearly wiped out an industry, marketing masterstrokes, cartel violence in Michoacán, and the birth of the Super Bowl guacamole ritual.

This is not just the story of a fruit. It’s a tale of extinction and survival, empire and branding, crime and cultivation - a relic of the Pleistocene that somehow became the taste of modernity.

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In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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