What does a thorny Mediterranean thistle have to do with the American Mafia? How did a humble vegetable — adored by Romans, cultivated by Renaissance queens, and grown lovingly by Italian immigrants — become the centerpiece of one of the strangest criminal rackets in U.S. history? And why did a fiery New York mayor decide that the only way to defeat organized crime… was to ban artichokes altogether?

Join John and Patrick as they trace the extraordinary saga of the Artichoke King — Ciro Terranova — the East Harlem mobster who turned produce into power. From the early Italian farmers of California’s coast, to the violent “Artichoke Wars” of the 1930s, to Fiorello La Guardia’s theatrical crusade against racketeering, this is the bizarre and gripping story of how food, identity, and crime became entangled in the markets of New York.

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Visit EatShirts here to order your favorite fruit or veggies shirt!

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The Global Fresh Series is back with a triple-feature episode bursting with fresh trends and global milestones. We kick things off with the rising “sour grape” sensation taking over taste buds and social media. Then we dive into a historic turning point for British agriculture as the UK embraces precision breeding with a bold new regulatory framework. And finally, we head to Paris, where Natexpo 2025 returns after 17 years, spotlighting fruit, vegetables, and the booming organic sector. Join host Juanita Gaglio for a fast-paced journey through the stories reshaping the produce world.

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What if the most valuable substance on Earth wasn’t gold, or oil, or diamonds… but bird droppings?

In the mid-19th century, guano—yes, seabird excrement—fueled an agricultural and geopolitical revolution. From the sacred islands of the Inca Empire to the docks of Victorian London and the halls of the U.S. Congress, this strange, smelly fertilizer transformed farming, powered economies, and even sparked wars. Nations fought for it, empires expanded because of it, and fortunes were made (and lost) in the race for what Victorians called “white gold.”

Join John and Patrick as they dig into the astonishing history of guano: how it sustained the Inca Empire, drove the birth of American imperialism, and even set the stage for modern synthetic fertilizers. It’s a tale of science, empire, and excrement — one that changed the world, quite literally, from the ground up.

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Ever see a shirt that you could just eat it? Well, this New Jersey family-run business may just be it!

Visit EatShirts here to order your favorite fruit or veggies shirt!

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In this episode of The Produce Industry Podcast, host Patrick Kelly sits down with Evan Ehlers, founder of Sharing Excess, for a powerful conversation about the future of food rescue and the fight against food waste.

Patrick and Evan dive into how Sharing Excess is transforming surplus produce—often measured in millions of pounds—into nutritious meals for communities in need. Evan shares the origin story behind the organization, the innovative logistics that make large-scale food recovery possible, and the partnerships within the produce industry that help keep good food out of landfills.

In this episode of the Global Fresh Series, host Juanita Gaglio welcomes Patrick Kelly, founder and host of The Produce Industry Podcast, for an engaging conversation about the dynamic world of fresh produce. Together, they explore how international trade and global trade shows are shaping the future of the industry, and discuss the innovations, challenges, and opportunities driving growth around the world.

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What happens when humanity takes its most basic need - food -beyond Earth’s atmosphere? From John Glenn’s applesauce tubes to the first lettuce grown aboard the International Space Station, the story of fresh produce in space is one of science, innovation, and survival.

In this episode, John and Patrick are joined by Vickie Kloeris, former NASA Food Scientist and manager of the Space Food Systems Laboratory, to explore the fascinating evolution of eating in orbit. How did scientists first overcome the fear that astronauts might not even be able to swallow in zero gravity? Why did packaging become one of NASA’s biggest engineering challenges? And how did international cooperation - and culinary compromise - shape mealtimes aboard the ISS?

From the psychological power of comfort food to the groundbreaking Veggie experiment that saw astronauts harvest their own lettuce, this is the extraordinary story of how fresh produce became part of life among the stars. And as we look toward Mars, could farming on other worlds become the next great agricultural revolution?

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Order Vickie Kloeris' book: Space Bites: Reflections of a NASA Food Scientist

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In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh.

The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here!

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In this episode of The Produce Industry Podcast, host Patrick Kelly welcomes Juanita Gaglio from the Global Fresh Series for a deep dive into how technology and storytelling are shaping the future of fresh produce. Patrick and Juanita share their recent experiences from major industry trade shows, discussing the innovations, trends, and people driving change across the supply chain.

In this Part II of our deep dive into the ESM European Grocery Report 2025, we unpack the fresh facts shaping the continent’s supermarket retail landscape. From internal country politics, inflation, geopolitics and tariffs that impact consumer behavior and how they are making their purchasing decisions, host Juanita Gaglio brings you the highlights that define the state of the European grocery sector in 2025.

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