Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the November/December 2025 print edition of Produce Grower under the headline “2025 in review.”
While 2024 was a year dominated by the United States’ presidential election, some of 2025’s biggest stories in CEA were connected to the election’s outcomes. Those included the exit of a high-profile government official and tariff struggles.
But many of the top news items, including those related to labor and food safety, have been in development for years but found some sense of resolution in the past 12 months.
In terms of business, 2025 was also a period of big moves in CEA. The year saw several high-profile mergers and several hiring announcements in both for-profit and industry-supporting nonprofit organizations, along with at least one major closure.
Here are some of the top stories we covered in 2025.
Labor in limbo
As Donald Trump’s presidential administration began in January, he prompted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to ramp up its investigative work as a key component of his administrative platform. That increased activity from the Department of Homeland Security’s main enforcement agency placed a spotlight on labor sourced from the H-2 visa program.
But the first major news connected to guest workers in 2025 had nothing to do with the incoming administration. Instead, it was connected to a rule governing the program that had been put in place under the Biden administration.
The Department of Labor announced June 20 it would end enforcement of the Biden administration’s Farmworker Protection Rule, effective immediately.
The rule, which went into effect Jan. 17, 2025, allows DHS to blacklist employers for “illegal” fees paid by H-2 workers — fees that employers may not be aware of or have control over in other countries. It strengthened protections for workers in the H-2A program and, according to the Biden administration, helped ensure the program didn’t have an adverse effect on the working conditions of similarly employed workers in the U.S.
The enforcement of the rule was suspended to provide clarity for American farmers navigating the H-2A program while also aligning with the administration’s strict enforcement of U.S. immigration laws, according to a DOL press release. The rule itself was not suspended — only the enforcement of the rule by the DOL.
FDA delays and departures
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had a rocky start this year with a high-level departure and scrutiny by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Jim Jones, the FDA’s first deputy commissioner for human foods, resigned after the Trump administration fired thousands of employees across the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including many within FDA’s foods program. In his resignation letter, Jones cited “indiscriminate” layoffs of 89 staff members, including key technical experts.
Meanwhile, the Food Traceability Rule, a key component of the FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint, which implements Section 204(d) of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), was initially given a January 2026 deadline. However, at the start of the year, the FDA delayed the rule by 30 months.
Tomato trade troubles
CEA and field growers both voiced concerns this year about the Trump administration’s ongoing trade strategy, which largely has focused on trade deal renegotiations under the pressure of increased U.S. tariffs. Thousands of products were caught in the trade crossfire, but chief among them for greenhouse food growers was tomatoes.
In July, the U.S. Department of Commerce withdrew from the U.S.-Mexico Tomato Suspension Agreement, which had been in place for nearly three decades. The department then issued an antidumping duty order of 17.1% on tomatoes from Mexico.
The CEA Alliance and the Texas International Produce Association, among other industry organizations, opposed ending the agreement, with predictions of higher tomato prices, job losses and disruptions across national food supply chains.
Mergers and more
The past 12 months have seen the creation of broad and influential government councils, board member shifts and some high-profile mergers in the CEA industry.
Peckham — a nonprofit vocational rehabilitation organization providing paid job training opportunities for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment — acquired Revolution Farms, a 3.5-acre hydroponic indoor lettuce farm in Caledonia, Michigan.
Revolution Farms provides nearly 1.5 million pounds of salad greens each year to grocery chains, restaurants and hospitality groups throughout the Midwest.
The acquisition grew Peckham and its existing Peckham Farms line of business, a sustainable 2.5-acre produce farm based in Lansing, Michigan.
80 Acres Farms and Soli Organic announced a merger to form an indoor farming network. The newly formed company, with projected first-year revenues approaching $200 million, intends to operate under the 80 Acres Farms name and be headquartered in Hamilton, Ohio.
The merger combined 80 Acres Farms’ GroLoop platform, an integrated system of hardware, software and environmental controls designed for precision, automation and scalability across the farm network, with Soli Organic’s retail footprint and agronomic expertise, developed over more than 35 years of commercial production.
Canadian agritech company Growcer acquired containerized farming technology company Freight Farms, which filed for bankruptcy in April 2025.
Since the bankruptcy announcement, Growcer, which acquired the company’s assets in July, ensured farmers relying on Freight Farms’ systems could continue growing food. Farmhand, Freight Farms’ software platform, remained active and uninterrupted, with subscriptions renewing as usual.
Meanwhile, Texas-based hybrid vertical farm operation Eden Green Technology announced in October that it will close in December.
More than 100 employees will be laid off from the leafy greens and herbs operation, which was founded in 2022 and served Walmart and other retailers throughout Texas and Oklahoma.
Explore the November/December 2025 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.
