WASHINGTON, DC - With the industry facing hurdles due to not only the pandemic but workforce challenges as well, providing fresh produce companies with tools to address these issues is more important than ever, and that is exactly what United Fresh Produce Association is doing. The organization announced that it has published its sixth edition of its Produce Industry Compensation & Benefits Report, detailing expansive research that will help industry employers understand compensation benchmarks.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses of all sizes throughout the fresh produce industry to readdress how they manage and compensate their workforce,” said Finance & Business Management Council Chairman Mike McGee, Vice President, Finance, L&M Companies. “It has never been more critical to utilize data for informed decisions on effective hiring, compensation, and operations.”

The report is developed with input from the United Fresh Finance & Business Management Council and features compensation and benefits data from fresh produce companies for over 30 full-time positions. According to a press release, these include the areas of: Sales & Marketing, Production/Operations, Food Safety & Quality, Administrative, Finance & Accounting, and Executives. The survey informing the report was open to any U.S. or Canadian-based produce employer, including grower-shippers, brokers, wholesaler-distributors, importers, exporters, and fresh-cut processors.

As 2021 has stood out from previous years due to COVID-19, the report includes a section with pandemic-related data that covers topics such as changes in compensation, staffing, company policies, and more.

All companies who purchase the report will have access to a secure and searchable online portal, allowing users to dig deeper into the data in order to tailor criteria to match individual needs. The data is reported by ownership type, type of business, produce sales volume, number of full-time employees, and geography. Data from the report originated from a survey administered by expert research firm Industry Insights.

Companies that submitted data for the survey are eligible to receive a fully customized report and portal access for $195, while non-survey participants can order the report and portal access for $495 for United Fresh members and $695 for non-members via the association’s website.

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United Fresh Produce Association