IMMOKALEE, FL — Lipman Family Farms has made its 12th acquisition in the last 20 years with its purchase of Northeast Produce.

"We are thrilled to welcome Northeast Produce into our Lipman family,” said Elyse Lipman, CEO of Lipman Family Farms. “This acquisition represents our growth-focused strategy, allowing us to better serve our customers by providing high-quality fresh produce across an expanded geographical area. With the global population now over 8 billion, the demand for fresh produce will continue to grow. The best we can do as suppliers of fresh vegetables is to meet the moment, invest in services, infrastructure, and partnerships that can make produce available and safe for everyone across our network to our network. We need to make sure that we’re growing in a way that makes produce accessible, affordable, and attainable for generations to come.”

Lipman Family Farms said it is focusing extra effort into making the acquisition a smooth transition and into utilizing the strengths of both companies.

“We’re honored to be working with an organization such as Lipman Family Farms,” said Mike Melninkaitis, previous owner of Northeast Produce. “Our companies’ cultural alignment and shared vision has us excited for the future as one team.”

Melninkaitis will be taking on the role as business development manager for Lipman in the northeast, Lipman Family Farms said. Joe Ruffini, former owner of Northeast Produce, will continue to manage the sales out of the facility in Plainville, Conn.

“This new venture allows us to strengthen our relationships with our customers and bolsters Northeast Produce’s strong roots in quality and service,” Ruffini said.