For the modern grower-exporter, the traditional definition of strategic planning is undergoing a radical evolution. Historically, the long view focused on varietal selection, land acquisition, and cold-chain logistics. Today, a fourth pillar has emerged as the dominant driver of long-term return on investment: Systemic Market Access.
Across the global fresh produce landscape, a definitive transition is underway — moving from a transactional trade model to one defined by structural compliance. Import requirements regarding technical residue management, digital traceability, and auditable sustainability are no longer mere border hurdles; they are the blueprints upon which successful go-to-market strategies must be built.
In this environment, strategic planning is no longer an office exercise; it is embedded in the soil, the spray program, and the data architecture of the farm.
When Compliance Becomes Structural
The pressure on global suppliers is the result of government regulation and private-sector mandates working in tandem. The destination is identical: a requirement for granular, verifiable proof of how food is grown.
In the European Union, the Farm to Fork strategy has transitioned from policy rhetoric to technical reality. The EU has systematically lowered maximum residue levels (MRLs), which define how much chemical residue can legally be detected on a product, for key active ingredients.
As of August 2025, for example, the MRL for the insecticide acetamiprid in blueberries was cut by 70%. The new limit moves close to the Limit of Determination (LOD), meaning residues must be so low they are effectively undetectable using standard laboratory testing.
This trend toward the LOD effectively creates a zero-tolerance environment for several legacy chemistries. When a substance is restricted at these levels, the margin for error vanishes. This is not merely a food safety issue; it is a structural trade barrier.
Success requires “reverse-engineering” agronomic calendars from the port of entry back to the first day of pruning. If a spray program does not account for the destination port’s LOD at the start of the season, the commercial strategy is already at risk.
The U.S. landscape has been similarly reshaped by the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Rule 204. While the formal enforcement deadline for the Food Traceability Final Rule was extended to July 2028, the market has shifted much faster. Leading U.S. retailers are already demanding “systemic readiness” — the ability to provide a sortable, electronic spreadsheet of key data within 24 hours.
In this context, “one step forward, one step back” traceability is a relic. The requirement is now lot-level granular transparency. Strategic planning now involves investing in digital infrastructure capable of managing high data volumes without paralyzing packhouse throughput.
From Reporting to Due Diligence
A significant driver of this change is the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive in the EU. This directive shifts the legal burden onto the retailer, who is now legally liable for environmental or social violations within global supply chains.
Retailers are moving beyond asking for certifications as a “nice to have” and are embedding compliance directly into procurement contracts. In water-stressed regions such as coastal Peru, this has meant a shift away from basic irrigation logs toward third-party verified standards, including the GLOBALG.A.P. SPRING add-on, which provides buyers with documented assurance around water stewardship.
Land use has become an equally central requirement. Under the EU Deforestation Regulation, which began applying to large operators in late 2025, exporters are now required to provide geolocation coordinates for every plot, demonstrating that no forest degradation has occurred since December 2020.
From Cost of Compliance to Source of Advantage
The Peruvian blueberry sector serves as a vital case study. Having surpassed $2 billion in export value in the 2024/2025 campaign, the sector has moved from a niche disruptor into a systemic supplier.
With this scale comes intense scrutiny. In late 2025, an uptick in Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed notifications for unauthorized substances led to increased official controls at EU ports. The most resilient firms are responding by treating compliance as a strategic input.
They are investing in residue-optimized agronomy and shifting to varietals that require fewer interventions to meet the EU’s LOD thresholds. They are not just growing fruit; they are growing a compliant supply chain.
The perceived “cost of compliance” is often viewed as a drain on margins. However, an advisory-led perspective reveals that digital traceability and sustainability systems offer a compelling Return on Investment (ROI) beyond mere market access.
Operational Efficiency: Transitioning from paper logs to a digital Farm Management System — which replaces paper spray logs and harvest records — typically reduces administrative labor by 20–30%. Automated data capture eliminates the “double-handling” of information and reduces costly human error.
Pack-out Optimization: Advanced traceability allows managers to link field-level inputs and harvest timings to pack-out percentages. By identifying which data points correlate with high quality, growers can improve Class 1 yields by an estimated 3–5%.
Risk Mitigation: The cost of a single “Import Alert” or a failed MRL test can easily exceed $50,000 in lost product and logistical delays. A digital system acts as an insurance policy, flagging potential issues before fruit ever leaves the origin.
In practice, this shift is reshaping how market access is managed across the business. Technical agronomy is increasingly about designing spray programs and biological strategies that consistently meet tightening MRL thresholds, which can ensure entry into ‘zero tolerance’ EU channels.
Data infrastructure has become a prerequisite, with interoperable farm management systems and cloud-based records enabling growers to meet 24-hour traceability demands under FSMA 204.
Sustainability governance, particularly around water use and land compliance, is now directly tied to preferred-supplier status as retailers respond to due diligence obligations.
Even varietal strategy has taken on a compliance dimension, as resistance traits and post-harvest resilience reduce chemical dependency and logistical risk.
Access Starts in the Soil
The global trade of fresh produce has entered a phase of radical transparency. The rules are changing as markets, shaped by legal liability and resource constraints, demand a more rigorous definition of “quality.”
The message for the industry is straightforward: Quality is no longer just how the fruit looks and tastes. It is the integrity of the data that follows it. The shift in EU MRLs or U.S. FSMA 204 mandates are not just regulatory setbacks; they are market signals.
Ultimately, the shifting rulebook represents a transfer of market share from the “reactive” to the “strategic.” Market access is no longer the final step in the supply chain; it is the first step in strategic planning.
Those who strategically plan, and treat these requirements as a core technical discipline, will be in the best position to secure a resilient and competitive presence in the global marketplace.
- Delphy AgAdvisory delivers strategic consulting across the agriculture sector as a platform launched alongside Delphy BV and Peterson Solutions, sister companies, while leveraging their respective technical and sector expertise globally for informed decisions.
