NEW YORK CITY — This year’s Global Farm to Market conference, presented by BMO, showed how tenacious businesses are not only weathering today’s precarious economic environment but also finding areas to support long-term growth and sustainability.
The 21st annual edition of this premier industry event took place May 13-14 in New York City, bringing together myriad key stakeholders across the food and agriculture value chain, including retailers, brands, producers, and chemical firms.
Today’s environment is characterized by tumult: Ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the ongoing war in Ukraine, domestic policies such as tariffs, and a fiscally oppressed consumer all mean that businesses must re-evaluate their core business strategies with sustainable growth in mind.
“Most of my conversations with clients are about managing risks. You have to be managing risks in today’s market,” said Bradley Guse, director of the agribusiness group; food, consumer, and agribusiness banking at BMO.
Smart business practices, however, are rewarded with better multiples and more flexibility heading into the back half of 2026 and beyond.
The following forces are affecting agribusiness, CPG, and retail environments.
Food and Ag Markets Face a New Era of Volatility and Change
Speakers at the event described a food and agriculture industry navigating heightened volatility driven by commodity swings, regulatory pressure, inflation, shifting consumer behavior, and global uncertainty.
Guse said “the gulf is getting wider between the A’s and the C’s,” as stronger operators continue to outperform weaker producers who are facing increasing balance sheet strain.
Panelists noted that profitability remains uneven across agriculture, with crop producers dealing with oversupply and margin pressures, as dairy and protein sectors continue to benefit from stronger demand fundamentals. Lenders and operators alike emphasized that balance sheet quality and operational efficiency are becoming important differentiators in the current environment.
Justin Emmi, director of food, consumer, and agribusiness at BMO, highlighted the growing burden of regulation in California agriculture, warning that “the cost associated with regulatory adherence” is becoming increasingly difficult for smaller farms to absorb.
Speakers also pointed to rising labor costs, sustainability requirements, and water management challenges as long-term pressures that are accelerating consolidation across parts of the industry. Sustainability initiatives and environmental compliance were repeatedly described as necessary but expensive operating realities for producers and processors.
The growing impact of GLP-1 drugs and protein-focused diets was another major theme throughout the conference. Betsy Erdelyi, managing director of food, consumer, and agribusiness at BMO, said “GLP-1s are here to stay,” while noting that consumers are increasingly prioritizing protein-rich foods, fueling investment in dairy proteins and functional nutrition products.
Private-equity investors also emphasized that the food and consumer sectors remain attractive despite difficult market conditions.
Kelly Yu, private equity senior principal at Mubadala Capital, said “the last five years have been the most challenging period to manage,” as firms contend with inflation, tariffs, supply chain disruptions, and unpredictable consumer demand.
John Novak, managing director and head of business development at SK Capital, said a persistent “valuation disconnect between buyers and sellers” has continued to slow down deal activity and force transaction structures to get more creative.
Even so, investors expressed optimism around opportunities in food ingredients, health-focused products, and operationally strong consumer brands, stressing that specialization, operational expertise, and proactive sourcing will remain critical to investment success.
Private Label Production Continues to Impress
Private label emerged as a central growth driver and strategic advantage in many of the sessions, including Lassonde Industries’ portion.
In his last speaking role as CFO of the company, Eric Gemme said that private label plays a critical role in maximizing manufacturing efficiency and strengthening supplier relationships.
He also noted that “being in private label allows us to better use our assets,” particularly in an industry with a heavy manufacturing infrastructure. Gemme emphasized that, as retailers consolidate and consumers increasingly seek value, private label is “a category that will be growing.”
Retailers are betting on private label to support cash-strapped consumers, while also creating new areas for emerging need states. Rob Quast, VP of investor relations for Kroger, noted that affordable premium offerings have been a meaningful growth lever.
“Customers still want to splurge, but they want the value. A lot of our growth is from our premium brands,” he said. “Most of our private labels that are growing don’t have a national brand equivalent.”
The latter point highlights the nascent, unique market position for these products. Beyond these explicitly premium offerings, CFO David Kennerley explained that modern trends around clean labels, protein-enhanced products, and better-for-you items are finding their way into the private-label category and contributing to its overall success.
He explained that, in the past year, thousands of items have been reformulated, and data shows that immediate success followed each product’s reformulation, verifying that consumers are looking for simpler, smaller ingredient lists.
Beyond individual SKUs, Canadian grocer Loblaws maintained that consumers also need discount grocery options. “We believe the world is going discount,” said CFO Richard Dufresne.
In this vein, nearly all the planned store openings will come from discount banners. Moreover, Dufresne remains bullish about devoting more shelf space and square footage to discount options.
These trends likely cross North American borders and capture how modern, financially pressured consumers are responding to overall market dynamics like higher gas prices and food inflation.
In the U.S., Sprouts Farmers Market is also leveraging private label to support consumer needs. Their consumer base tends to capture a higher household income; however, they are also looking for basket cost support, explained CEO Jack Sinclair.
“We think about [private label] differently. We’re differentiating ourselves around attributes,” said Sinclair. These include third-party certifications and sought-after macronutrient support goals.
Rather than capturing customers with a private-label portfolio, Sprouts’ strategy offers baseline support without compromising its values, giving consumers more freedom in specialty or premium areas.
Convenience Stores Expand Foodservice as a Core Growth Driver
Foodservice is becoming a major growth engine for convenience stores as operators work to offset declining tobacco sales, moderating fuel demand, and rising operating costs.
During a panel on prepared foods in convenience retail, speakers noted that foodservice now represents roughly 29% of in-store sales, while contributing nearly 40% of store gross profit.
Mendy Meriwether, principal and VO of foodservice at NexChapter, said the key to success lies in “simplifying complexity and having discipline,” emphasizing the importance of clear strategies, operational simplicity, and labor training. She noted that convenience retailers can no longer succeed by offering overly broad menus that are difficult to execute consistently.
Bill Allshouse, COO of Core-Mark, said the strongest operators stand out through “operational discipline” and consistent execution rather than excessive innovation. He noted that top-performing convenience stores generate nearly “five times more profit” from food than weaker operators do, highlighting the growing importance of prepared meals and beverages to store profitability.
Both speakers emphasized that convenience stores possess a unique “multi-mission” advantage over traditional quick-service restaurants.
Meriwether explained that customers can fuel up, purchase beverages, grab prepared meals, and buy household essentials on one stop, creating larger baskets and stronger loyalty. Panelists also highlighted growing demand for fresh, protein-focused, and premium offerings as convenience stores compete directly with restaurants across breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner occasions.
Similar shifts extend to grocery channels.
Kroger hinted at early success with its “semi-prepared meals” push featuring prepared, raw ingredients. In select markets where this modality is being tested, consumers are viewing these options as convenient mealtime solutions, taking food dollars from foodservice.
Wine Gets Structural Reset, Better Beverages Boom
“We’re in a structural reset, not a cyclical reset of the wine industry,” warned Adam Beak, managing director and head of BMO’s wine, spirits, and beverage group.
The wine industry is at a crossroads because of a movement in which social drinking has pivoted from alcoholic beverages to non-alcoholic and THC-infused alternatives. Even online betting has become an avenue that’s replacing alcohol consumption. Additionally, last year’s Surgeon General’s advisory that identified alcohol as a carcinogen further harmed the industry.
These factors have prompted the industry to shift how it interacts with wine.
BMO’s seminal 2026 Wine Market Report characterized some of these shifts, revealing that the industry has continued to grow through disruption: Many smaller wineries are finding success with private label and flavored wines, and the latter of which grew 12% in 2025.
Ultimately, consumers are looking for wines that are approachable and novel, and price continues to be a barrier to entry.
“We’ve done a great job of premiumizing wine, but we’ve premiumized it out of the market,” mused Jon Moramarco, managing partner of BW166, a BMO partner that also worked on the wine report.
He noted how the average price of wine continues to outpace the growing household income of the consumer.
Panelists at the State of Wine session noted that the wine industry’s legacy image is harming its resonance with new and younger consumers and recommended learning from traditional CPGs’ strategies to market high-quality assortments that are currently in circulation, such as providing more educational opportunities, lowering prices, and marketing to new generations of drinkers.
Nevertheless, some iconoclasts are already broadening the wine appeal.
To innovate for better-for-you consumers who want the experience of drinking wine without the perceived negatives, select wineries are investing in R&D to dealcoholize wine and provide no- or low-alcohol alternatives. However, interest in high-alcohol wines is also growing, giving insight into a nuanced market.
On the conventional side, better-for-you beverages are also finding their stride with modern consumers. A revamp classifying these beverages as “modern sodas” has invigorated the industry. Zevia, a segment leader, noted the success that it’s had with consumers.
CEO Amy Taylor explained that the brand positions itself as a low-cost option in a premium category and has enjoyed the most success with multipack offerings as a result.
The brand’s next stage of growth will be in single-can dissemination, supported by a national marketing campaign in partnership with musician Cardi B. This will push the product into another area of the store, the coveted refrigerated section, with the goal of expanding into convenience and eventually foodservice channels.
Elizabeth Stephenson, CEO of SYSTM Foods, also remarked on the boom of the beverage category.
“People are trying to make healthier choices, and they’re trying to navigate making those healthier choices,” she said, adding that juice and water were breakout entrants but that consumer tastes will become more diverse as the segment matures.
She also noted that consumers are looking for functional beverages for every daypart and need state: i.e., a kombucha in the morning, pre-workout before the gym, and a calming elixir at bedtime.
However, Emily Backstrom, CFO of Milo’s Tea Company, contends that the market still has an appetite for indulgent products. Milo’s highest-growth product, for example, is its Extra Sweet Tea, despite its zero-sugar offerings.
The Food Institute Podcast
At SIAL Canada 2026 in Montreal, Food Institute VP of Content and Insights Chris Campbell sat down with Mathieu Brisson, Global Sales Lead at Prestige Maple, to discuss how the company is transforming maple products for a rapidly evolving global food and beverage market.
