Exclusive: Ivanka Trump business focuses on fresh produce

Ivanka Trump — along with her daughter, Arabella Kushner — greeted the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles on the South Lawn last month. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Ivanka Trump on Thursday in Bentonville, Arkansas, will announce her latest work on a topic she’s long championed — expanding access to fresh produce.

Why it matters: Trump, a West Wing official during her father’s first term, has mostly stayed out of the spotlight during Trump 2.0. Thursday’s appearance marks her return to the national conversation.

During a fireside chat at the Heartland Summit, President Trump’s oldest daughter will discuss how “private-sector solutions and whole-harvest sourcing are helping expand access to fresh food, support farmers, reduce waste and drive lasting impact across communities,” according to a preview provided to Axios.

She’ll be interviewed onstage by Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global. Huffington tells Axios that Ivanka Trump’s “decision to focus on democratizing access to healthy food comes at an unprecedented moment in our country’s healthcare journey, where we’re finally recognizing the scale of the crisis in chronic diseases.”

For the first time, Trump will publicly discuss her role as a co-founder of Planet Harvest, a “profit-for-purpose” company based in Chicago. She co-founded it in 2023 with her friend Melissa Melshenker Ackerman, a produce supply-chain expert who is the company’s co-founder and CEO.

Ivanka Trump tells Axios: “Beginning with the [USDA’s] Farmers to Families Food Box program during the COVID pandemic, I’ve developed a real passion for supporting American farmers and getting more food into communities in need.”
Since leaving government, she has continued to support emergency feeding efforts from Maui to Fort Myers, Fla., to Kentucky to LA.

Driving the news: Ivanka Trump is in Bentonville for Thursday’s Heartland Summit, an annual event that showcases Northwest Arkansas as a hub of growth and innovation. The summit was co-founded by Walmart heirs Olivia Walton, Tom Walton and Steuart Walton.

Philanthropist Alice Walton, daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, has made health care a signature issue, along with the arts.
The summit is hosted by Heartland Forward — a think tank, based in Bentonville, that focuses on the 20 states in the middle of the country.

The big picture: Make America Healthy Again, a movement led by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has become a signature issue of the Trump administration and the MAGA base.

Former first lady Michelle Obama, through her Let’s Move! initiative, promoted healthier foods for schools to help reduce childhood obesity, and access to healthy, affordable food for families.

Zoom in: “We launched Planet Harvest to reimagine how American produce moves— not just through the supply chain, but across communities,” Ivanka Trump said in a statement to Axios.

“By connecting fresh and surplus harvests with those who can benefit from them, we’re supporting farmers, reducing food waste, expanding access and using good nutrition to improve health.”

Planet Harvest says it uses “real-time data and smart logistics to match the right produce with the right buyer at the right time,” and “collaborates with food manufacturers to turn surplus crops into innovative products — such as dried, no-sugar-added cherries.”

Ackerman — the company’s co-founder, along with Ivanka Trump — said: “I’ve worked with farmers for nearly two decades and have seen too much good produce go to waste — not because it wasn’t fresh or nutritious, but because the system didn’t make room for it.”