SYSCO Corp. announced Jan. 24 that its FreshPoint produce subsidiary has agreed to acquire Piranha Produce Inc., and has also completed the acquisition of Nashville Tomato Inc. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

Piranha?s management team, staff and headquarters will remain intact and the company will function as an operating company of FreshPoint.

SPRING HOUSE, PA " Since 2002, many of the major U.S. apple shippers have applied the "SmartFresh? brand product to slow the ripening rate, thereby maintaining crunchiness and juiciness in fruit.

AgroFresh Inc., here, is now introducing SmartFresh to much wider segments of the fresh fruit and vegetable industry, with tomatoes, bananas and melons high on the firm?s priority list.

Gary Robert Curry, CEO of Curry & Co. in Brooks, OR, died Sunday, Jan. 23, in Salem, OR, surrounded by his family and friends. Mr. Curry, who succumbed to multiple myeloma, was 61.

A memorial service was held Thursday, Jan. 27 at St. Paul?s Episcopal Church in Salem, OR.

Born March 4, 1943 in San Diego to Beverly and John Curry, he is survived by his wife, Martha; his sons, Matt and Grant; his daughter, Megan; his daughter-in-law, Kari Ryan Curry; and two grandchildren. He is also survived by his mother and two brothers, Mike and Paul Curry.

SALINAS, CA " After a three- or four-year gestation period, it appears that D?Arrigo Bros. Co. of California finally may be able to move forward on plans to build a 219,000-square-foot facility near Spreckels, CA, near its current base of operations, here.

A Monterey County Superior Court judge has upheld a board of supervisors decision last March to permit D?Arrigo Bros. to build the facility. Advocacy group LandWatch Monterey County filed a lawsuit last spring, challenging the board?s decision by arguing that an environmental impact report was needed.

Apparently neither side was willing to go through the type of strike that crippled Southern California retailers last year, as the three major California supermarkets reached a labor agreement with their Northern California employees late Sunday, Jan. 23.

The year is 5021 and the scene is a unique weather station high on a hill in a very remote area of the country.

The people at this particular weather station do not predict the weather. Instead, they control it.

It hasn?t rained in two months, so growers send a special request to the station for some precipitation. The order is for two inches of rain.