James Peterson, Wish Farms, Inc.

Founded in 1922 by Harris Wishnatzki, today’s Wish Farms, Inc. BB #:111764 is headquartered in Plant City, FL. This year, as Gary Wishnatzki, grandson of Harris, transitioned to board chair, his son-in-law James Peterson took the reins of the fourth-generation grower and distributor of berries.

We talked to James about his new role, his vision for the future of Wish Farms, and how the berry industry is evolving.   

Q: Tell us about your background, education, and original career aspirations. 

I grew up in Lake Tahoe, CA and attended Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business. Early in my career, I was passionate about sports and envisioned a future in that industry.

After college, I spent eight years working for some incredible organizations, including the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Cowboys, and Legends Premium Sales at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Those experiences gave me a strong foundation in sales, marketing, leadership, and customer relationships. Along the way, I had the opportunity to lead high-performing sales teams, help develop premium seating strategies, and contribute to some landmark projects in the sports world.

At the time, I fully expected my career to stay in professional sports.

At the time, I fully expected my career to stay in professional sports.

Q: How did you find your way to Wish Farms?

The path to Wish Farms was really a combination of family and opportunity. In 2011, I married Elizabeth Wishnatzki, the daughter of Wish Farms owner Gary Wishnatzki. I was working for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and enjoying my career in sports.

Around the same time, Gary called and offered me a position in sales at Wish Farms. It was an unexpected opportunity, but one that opened the door to something special.

Elizabeth was especially excited about the prospect of a fourth generation becoming involved in the family business and helping continue the Wish Farms legacy.  

I joined the company in 2011, and what started as a sales role evolved into opportunities to serve as vice president of sales and marketing, chief operating officer, and ultimately chief executive officer.

Looking back, it was a career change I never anticipated, but one that has been incredibly rewarding both professionally and personally.

Q: Did you envision yourself as CEO? Or to maybe have an HQ room named after you?  

I always had the desire to make the company as successful as possible, and I knew the CEO position would have the greatest impact on that goal.

I’ve always enjoyed leading teams, and I feel strongly that we have great things ahead of us—so I’m genuinely excited about the opportunity to help see that vision through.

As for a room, that’s not exactly a priority of mine. For context, every conference room here is named after a past employee. Maybe one day I’ll settle for a floating green out on our campus lake instead—just have to watch out for the gators.

It was also very important to set the stage for how my leadership might differ, so expectations were clear.

Q: How different is your day or week since assuming the CEO mantle?  

Thankfully, not very different at all. We were very intentional with the transition, ensuring we built the right pathway to promotion so I came into the position already handling the responsibilities and teams I still manage today.

It was also very important to set the stage for how my leadership might differ, so expectations were clear. With that said, I’ve been able to invest more time into our longer-term strategic planning, which I love.

We’re certainly at an inflection point of growth, and it’s been very exciting to map out our plan for success and get buy-in from leaders across our organization.

Q: Do you follow any thought leaders or ascribe to a particular style of leadership? 

I’ve been very fortunate across my professional career to work for some amazing leaders. These are relationships I still carry with me today, and leadership advice I still seek.

Most notably, I worked for Chad Estis, who is the EVP of the Cowboys and CRO of Legends. Chad instilled in me the value of what a great sales culture can do to drive organizational success.

In terms of an overall leadership style, I live by the 33 Wish Farms Pixie Way Fundamentals.

Coming into the role, I redefined each of our company’s fundamentals in my own words to ensure the organization knew what each meant to me, my leadership style, and the expectations I have of my leadership every single day.

We’re really excited about our proprietary breeding company, Berry Sweet Research.

Q: Is the fifth generation interested in the family business?

Currently, the fifth generation is more interested in playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning, or becoming a princess, in my daughter Evelyn’s case, than working at Wish Farms, but we will see how things progress.

It’s important to my wife and I that our kids explore the right career path for their future. If it leads back to Pixie Way, we would love to see it carry on with another generation.

Q: Let’s talk about strategy and growth: what’s the biggest news coming from Wish Farms so far this year?

We’re really excited about our proprietary breeding company, Berry Sweet Research. The team is led by Carlos Fear, a 35-year industry veteran and former Driscoll’s breeder.

Strategically, it means we’re able to deliver our own proprietary raspberry and blackberry varieties, focused on balanced flavor, size, shelf-life, and yield.

We see investments such as Berry Sweet Research as a necessity and look forward to the growth it provides for the company and our grower partners. This kind of investment fits squarely into our broader strategic direction this year, which is built around our three pillars—Farm, People, and Profit.

Q: Tell us more about Wish Farms’ proprietary berry breeding programs.

Berry Sweet Research was founded in 2022 by Gary. He saw a need to provide our retail partners with better tasting, higher-performing raspberry and blackberry varieties.

The company was built to target flavor, yield, and postharvest quality that outperforms our competitors. Carlos Fear was brought in based on his extensive knowledge and proven track record for producing a better berry (associated with 35 patents).

We currently have trial sites in California and Mexico where we’re evaluating seedlings from 2024 and advancing elite selections with our nursery partners.

As the industry quickly caught on to its popularity, we turned that early trial into a program retailers wanted year-round.

Q: How did Pineberries come about? Are consumers confused about this unique berry? 

In 2022, Wish Farms launched our campaign around the introduction of Pink-A-Boo Pineberries. Our focus was the unique flavor and pink coloring that made them stand out on retailer shelves.

While leading the sales and marketing teams, our focus was to build relationships and strengthen partnerships through their original exclusivity. As the industry quickly caught on to its popularity, we turned that early trial into a program retailers wanted year-round.

New berries come with new challenges, and the pineberry was no exception. We’ve refocused our efforts to maintaining the Pink-A-Boo as a novelty item with a large presence during the Florida season.

We did see some consumer confusion initially, but with a driven, focused marketing strategy, curiosity quickly outpaced it.

Q: Tell us about G&D Farms: its location, total acreage, and crops.

G&D Farms is our flagship growing operation, founded in 1987 and named after company founders Gershon and Daniel Wishnatzki. Located just south of Plant City in Duette, FL, it has played a pivotal role in the evolution of Florida’s strawberry industry.

We were among the first strawberry growers to move production to this area, and over time much of the industry followed as strawberry acreage shifted in this direction. Today, many growing operations are now in the area.

The farm encompasses approximately 2,400 acres, with just over 750 acres actively farmed for the 2026-27 season. Of that, roughly 150 acres are dedicated to organic strawberry production.

G&D Farms is widely considered one of the largest contiguous strawberry farms in the world, with strawberry rows stretching for miles across the landscape.

G&D Farms is widely considered one of the largest contiguous strawberry farms in the world, with strawberry rows stretching for miles across the landscape.

The scale of the operation is truly remarkable and reflects decades of investment in production, innovation, and stewardship. It’s an important source of premium berries for our customers throughout the Florida strawberry season. 

Q: Are there plans to expand acreage for conventional and/or organic berries?  

Yes, we absolutely have plans to grow. We’ve always prided ourselves on a path of controlled, intentional growth—a model that ensures we’re growing in the right areas, with the right crops, in a way that’s sustainable for both our farms and our grower partners.

Part of this means staying in the right conversations with our growers and customers, making sure any expansion actually makes sense for them, not just for us.

In the end, the biggest driver of our growth will likely be the success of our proprietary caneberry program.

We’re excited to be in the later stages of commercial trials, and we feel very optimistic they’ll help our blackberry and raspberry programs scale significantly in the coming years.

Q: As a tech-forward business, including innovations like the Harvest CROO, what’s next?

Innovation runs deep here and began with the creation of Harvest CROO but has vastly expanded into other aspects of the company.

We’ve piloted multiple AI companies for crop prediction and disease monitoring, so we can better prepare for peaks in production and spot issues before they come to fruition.

On the quality side, we’ve partnered with automated inspection platforms that give us faster, more consistent, and unbiased grading.

The time-saving benefits allow for more inspections, ensuring we provide our retail partners with the best- tasting and best-looking berries.  

The time-saving benefits allow for more inspections, ensuring we provide our retail partners with the best-tasting and best-looking berries.

Q: Are there other, new or experimental tools or technology you’re excited about? 

On the field side, we’ve implemented GPS mapping and automated systems so irrigation and fertilization can be triggered by phone. This enables faster decisions driven by real data.

And on the genetics side, Berry Sweet Research is applying this same data-driven precision to develop proprietary raspberry and blackberry varieties built for flavor and yield.

Q: What about AI, what role does it play in your current growth plans?

AI’s become a focus of our strategic growth. We’re partnered with a California-based AI crop prediction company to give our Florida and California teams better visibility into strawberry volume curves, which are notoriously unpredictable.

Having the ability to forecast accurately leads to smarter calls on labor, logistics, and retail commitments well ahead of time. Beyond that, we’re layering in other AI tools to streamline internal processes from accounting to warehouse and operations. 

Q: What do you consider the top three challenges facing the berry industry? What can be done?

In the end, the biggest challenge facing any grower today is labor. It has become less available and significantly more expensive over the last several years and shows no signs of reversing.

When you combine that with rising input costs, including fertilizer, fuel, and packaging, the margin for error on the farm side has become incredibly small.

A single unexpected cost spike can have an outsized impact on the season’s outcome.

A single unexpected cost spike can have an outsized impact on the season’s outcome.

The third major challenge is regulatory uncertainty. In recent years, we’ve faced a shifting landscape of regulations that make it difficult to plan with confidence, whether it’s around labor or trade policy.

When growers don’t know the rules they’ll be operating under a year or two out, it becomes much harder to invest in the long term.

In terms of what can be done, we need real support from our elected officials to ensure our food can continue to be grown domestically and economically.

This means policies that address labor availability in a realistic way, don’t add unnecessary cost burdens on top of an already thin margin, and provide growers with the regulatory clarity needed to plan for the future.

Q: Anything else you’d like to share with our readers? 

Pixie Rock is our signature charity concert taking place November 7, 2026. It’s become a great event that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for important causes.

The concert gives us a chance to bring people together in a memorable way while also shining a light on the positive impact agriculture can have beyond the field.

This year, the very talented Grace Potter and the XAmbassadors are taking the stage, and we would love if you could join us! For ticket and sponsorship opportunities, visit: https://wishfarms.com/pixierock2026/.

This event is part of the Wish Farms Family Foundation, which reflects our belief that success should be shared, with a focus on supporting children and families in the communities where we live, work, and grow.

As Wish Farms continues to expand, we want our commitment to giving back to grow right alongside the business.