Earlier this month, thousands of people descended on a small orchard in California's Central Valley to receive free nectarines.

The crowds became so large that the California Highway Patrol temporarily shut the event down because of traffic and safety concerns.

At first glance, it looked like a feel-good story—a farmer sharing his harvest with the community. But that wasn't the whole story.

Third-generation farmer Cesar Mora says he gave away more than 100,000 pounds of nectarines because he couldn't sell them. The fruit wasn't spoiled. There wasn't a bumper crop that overwhelmed demand. The giveaway stemmed from a legal dispute over who controls the right to market and sell a specific variety of nectarine.

This story raises questions about intellectual property, exclusive supply agreements, and market access. It also demonstrates that sometimes the biggest supply chain constraint isn't producing something, it's having permission to sell it.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers:

- How proprietary fruit varieties became valuable intellectual property.

- Why one California farmer says he had no choice but to give away his crop.

- The legal dispute over contracts, exclusivity, and commercialization rights.

Links:

Kelly Barner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-barner-6884443/

Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/art-of-supply-6895142546301960193

Art of Supply on AOP: http://www.artofsupply.com

Subscribe to the Art of Procurement Newsletter: https://resources.artofprocurement.com/art-of-procurement-podcast-subscribe

Imagine seeing one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world almost empty, before realizing that it isn't empty at all. The ships are still there, but the data has disappeared.

Analysts monitoring the Strait of Hormuz have watched vessels vanish only to reappear someplace else hours later. Others appear to be sailing across inland airports or drifting through the Iranian desert.

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) has quietly become part of the information infrastructure that global trade depends on.

So what happens when one of the world's most trusted sources of maritime information can no longer be accepted at face value?

In this episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner breaks down why the tracking system the entire shipping industry runs on can no longer be trusted and who's actually exposed:

- Why self-reporting makes AIS, the backbone of global ship tracking, scalable and vulnerable to manipulation

- The difference between the information provided by AIS and other systems like radar and GPS

- Why insurers, commodity traders, and sanctions regulators are all pricing risk off data that may be fictional

Links:

Kelly Barner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-barner-6884443/

Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/art-of-supply-6895142546301960193

Art of Supply on AOP: http://www.artofsupply.com

Subscribe to the Art of Procurement Newsletter: https://resources.artofprocurement.com/art-of-procurement-podcast-subscribe

Cross-border payments have long been a game of advantages. Large enterprises get fast settlement, cheap foreign exchange rates, and sophisticated treasury tools, while mid-market companies are left to piece together workarounds through regional banks and costly third-party providers.

Stablecoin infrastructure is changing that equation, offering businesses of all sizes access to the same financial rails that were once reserved for the Fortune 500. The result is faster payments, lower costs, and smarter capital management across global supply chains.

Tanner Taddeo is the co-founder and CEO of Stable Sea, a fintech platform helping mid-market businesses move money across borders using stablecoin-based infrastructure. His background spans humanitarian finance, investment banking across Europe and South Asia, the Gates Foundation, and fintech roles at Plaid and Block, all with a consistent focus on expanding financial access for underserved businesses and communities.

In this episode of Art of Supply, Tanner and Kelly Barner discuss:

- What stablecoins are and why they behave nothing like the volatile cryptocurrencies most people are familiar with

- Why mid-market companies have been left behind by the traditional banking system when it comes to global payments and treasury management

- The supplier relationship advantage of faster, cheaper cross-border settlement

- The next frontier in stablecoin adoption, which will turn payment liabilities into yield-generating assets

Links:

Tanner Taddeo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanner-taddeo-9b64562a/

Kelly Barner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-barner-6884443/

Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/art-of-supply-6895142546301960193

Art of Supply on AOP: http://www.artofsupply.com

Subscribe to the Art of Procurement Newsletter: https://resources.artofprocurement.com/art-of-procurement-podcast-subscribe

On Wednesday, June 10th, Amazon announced that they will now offer full LTL services to anyone.

Before that, LTL was available "inbound only," meaning from Amazon sellers to Amazon facilities to Amazon customers. In their press outreach, the company has touted their 80,000 trailers and 24,000 intermodal containers, as well as improved load visibility and fleet security measures.

The response to this announcement was split. Traditional freight carriers like FedEx Freight, Old Dominion, and XPO lost market value, but some analysts have a different take. They are not so sure we should have the reaction we've been conditioned to have when Amazon moves into a new market. At least not yet.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers three big questions looming over this story:

- Is Amazon LTL truly functioning as an asset-backed carrier, or are they more of a broker behind a front of assets?

- What kinds of shippers will the Amazon LTL service appeal to?

- Do Amazon's integrated abilities position them to completely upend how freight works?

We can't promise you will get the answer to those questions in this episode, but listeners should walk away with a better understanding of why they matter.

Links:

Kelly Barner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-barner-6884443/

Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/art-of-supply-6895142546301960193

Art of Supply on AOP: http://www.artofsupply.com

Subscribe to the Art of Procurement Newsletter: https://resources.artofprocurement.com/art-of-procurement-podcast-subscribe

"Demand planning is the thing which everybody seems to focus on, because it's kind of theoretical. You come up with a forecast and it doesn't really influence anything. It's when you look at the supply side, that's when it becomes real."

Most supply chains are supported by investments in demand planning tools, sales and operations planning systems, and MRPs… so why is the supply plan being 'fixed' by a person with a spreadsheet and a hunch?

Mark Robinson is the CEO of Orchestr8, an enterprise supply chain planning platform. He has spent more than two decades helping global organizations including Shell, BT, 3M, and Boots improve their supply chain planning performance.

He has always maintained a particular interest in the gap between supply planning theory and the realities of execution - one that AI may just be ready to help bridge.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner and Mark discuss why:

-Bigger budgets don't buy better outcomes

-Supply planning can't be waved away as a background task

-A love of 'firefighting' may be half the problem with supply planning

Links:

Mark Robinson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-robinson-3a470211/

Kelly Barner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-barner-6884443/

Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/art-of-supply-6895142546301960193

Art of Supply on AOP: http://www.artofsupply.com

Subscribe to the Art of Procurement Newsletter: https://resources.artofprocurement.com/art-of-procurement-podcast-subscribe

Can a mega merger of peers increase competition in their market?

Case in point: the proposed rail merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern. Both are Class I railroads, among the largest by revenue in North America as defined by the Surface Transportation Board.

According to a 2001 Surface Transportation Board rule, their merger must enhance competition - but that's not usually how mergers are designed to work, especially among giants. And this is the first rail merger that has to meet that requirement.

After some back-and-forth, the Surface Transportation Board "conditionally" accepted the merger application on May 28th, but they are still looking for more information. No review activities will be conducted until that information is provided.

In other words: the Surface Transportation Board has accepted the Union Pacific - Norfolk Southern filing, but they have not accepted the information provided in that filing. We'll have to wait to find out if the application is approved based on its merits.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers the proposed merger from multiple angles:

- The expectations for increased rail competition and public benefit

- How the railways propose to give their non-transcontinental competitors a fighting chance

- Whether the Surface Transportation Board and a coalition of opponents think competition is likely

Links:

One Railroad to Rule Them All? Inside the Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern Merger: https://artofprocurement.com/blog/supply-one-railroad-to-rule-them-all-inside-the-union-pacific-norfolk-southern-merger

Kelly Barner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-barner-6884443/

Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/art-of-supply-6895142546301960193

Art of Supply on AOP: http://www.artofsupply.com

Subscribe to the Art of Procurement Newsletter: https://resources.artofprocurement.com/art-of-procurement-podcast-subscribe

On Monday, June 1st, FedEx Freight CEO John Smith rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the fact that the company is now operating (and trading) independently.

This story dates back to the summer of 2024, when the idea of separating out FedEx's LTL operating unit was just a very believable rumor. Now they are the largest LTL provider in North America, and what one outlet described as a $9 Billion startup, with 40,000 employees.

And yet, for all of the company-led fanfare, the media coverage was… uninspired? With one notable exception that is…

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers what we know about FedEx Freight's immediate plans for their corporate freedom:

- What they plan to focus on as a company, both from a growth standpoint and operationally

- Where the company stands on the question of emissions reduction, regulatory changes, and driverless fleets

- How soon we might have some idea of how successful they will be

Links:

Will FedEx Freight hit the open road? (AOS, December 2024): https://artofprocurement.com/blog/supply-will-fedex-freight-hit-the-open-road

Kelly Barner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-barner-6884443/

Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/art-of-supply-6895142546301960193

Art of Supply on AOP: http://www.artofsupply.com

Subscribe to the Art of Procurement Newsletter: https://resources.artofprocurement.com/art-of-procurement-podcast-subscribe

Endless Shrimp is BACK at Red Lobster… a headline few people in the business world would have predicted.

The promotion played an over-hyped role in the company's 2024 bankruptcy filing, mostly because it was easier to explain than a bad real estate leaseback deal led by investors at the time – the actual cause of Red Lobster's financial trouble.

Their new CEO, Damola Adamolekun, is best known for leading the turnaround at P.F. Chang's and was handpicked by Fortress Investment Group, the investors that bought Red Lobster out of bankruptcy.

In November 2024, Adamolekun told Today he had ended the Endless Shrimp promotion "Because I know how to do math." And yet… six weeks before the end of the company's fiscal year… it looks like their best hope.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner looks back at Red Lobster:

- How much progress the company has made since their bankruptcy

- The cost pressures, both internal and external, they are struggling to overcome

- And the impact a media-savvy CEO has been able to have on restaurant traffic

Links:

Ultimate Endless Real Estate Costs at Red Lobster https://artofprocurement.com/blog/supply-ultimate-endless-real-estate-costs-at-red-lobster

Kelly Barner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-barner-6884443/

Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/art-of-supply-6895142546301960193

Art of Supply on AOP: http://www.artofsupply.com

Subscribe to the Art of Procurement Newsletter: https://resources.artofprocurement.com/art-of-procurement-podcast-subscribe

China's new supply chain regulations may be one of the biggest global trade and sourcing stories that almost nobody is talking about.

Decree 834 and 835 quietly took effect - immediately - on April 7th and 13th. If China decides to enforce them, they could fundamentally change how multinational companies approach sourcing, reshoring, compliance, and supplier diversification.

In this episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner breaks down China's newly enacted Decrees 834 and 835 — regulations designed to protect Chinese industrial and supply chain security, while potentially penalizing companies that attempt to diversify away from China.

Listen to discover:

- What China's Decrees 834 and 835 mean for Western (and China-owned) businesses

- Why reshoring and China +1 strategies may now carry new risks

- How companies could become trapped between conflicting U.S., EU, and Chinese regulations

- Why ordinary supplier due diligence and compliance audits may now face additional scrutiny

- The growing concern over "extraterritorial" enforcement and China's expanding economic leverage

- Potential penalties ranging from market restrictions to sanctions on individuals

Links:

Kelly Barner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-barner-6884443/

Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/art-of-supply-6895142546301960193

Art of Supply on AOP: https://artofsupply.com

Subscribe to the Art of Procurement Newsletter: https://resources.artofprocurement.com/art-of-procurement-podcast-subscribe

During the pandemic, some buyers and suppliers made aggressive bets about the future.

Demand was surging, capacity was constrained, and everyone worried more about shortages than oversupply. For a while, it looked like the logic was sound, but now one of those agreements has turned into a $175.5 Million jury verdict.

Boston Beer Company (through its subsidiary American Craft Brewery) has been found liable in a dispute with their supplier Ardagh Metal Packaging over minimum can purchase requirements.

The contracts that offer safety during times of scarcity can quickly become liabilities when markets normalize. Companies increasingly have to navigate both realities at the same time.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers:

- The background of the Ardagh Metal Packaging and Boston Beer Company dispute

- Why pandemic-era supply assumptions created long-tail contractual risk

- The legal arguments around minimum purchase commitments and supplier quality claims

- What this case teaches us about flexibility, forecasting, and commercial risk allocation

Links:

Kelly Barner on LinkedIn

Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter

Art of Supply on AOP

Subscribe to the Art of Procurement Newsletter