Five years ago, Pinos Produce Inc. in San Diego, which grows tomatoes and cucumbers in Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, undertook a program to transition all of its production from the open field into shade houses. It was envisioned as a five-year program, with "more and more" shade houses being built each year "until we had 100 percent shade houses," and it is "right on schedule," said Daniel Uribe, sales manager.

As a result of softening marketing conditions, Irwindale, CA-based Ready Pac Produce Inc. will idle its salad-processing plant in Plymouth, IN, next month. Steve Dickstein, vice president of marketing for Ready Pac, said that the plant would be idled Nov. 9. Production at the facility will return when market conditions warrant it, he said.

Which unexpected produce problems will develop during the night while you are fast asleep? What do you plan to do if and when a major crisis hits the produce industry? What if it involves your product? Whatever lies ahead could be very serious, overwhelming and even devastating to your business.

In 1894 and 1895, there were back-to-back freezes in Florida that virtually wiped out entire citrus crops. Unfortunately, similar brutal weather conditions still plague the produce industry.

Salyer American Fresh Foods Inc., based in Salinas, CA, announced the hiring of Todd S. Pearson to its sales team. Mr. Pearson will be involved with developing new business and servicing Salyer American's midwestern and national accounts.

FRESNO, CA -- "We are in a growth pattern," said Tim Baloian, president of Baloian Farms, here. "We need more space. We increase volume steadily," and during certain months of the year, "the facility we are in is way too small. So we needed more physical space."

To meet those immediate needs and to accommodate anticipated future growth, the company began construction about a year ago on a 50,000- square-foot cold storage facility that is now nearing completion. Already, some of the new cold rooms were in use when The Produce News visited the facility in late September.

Two Homestead, FL-based tropical produce specialists have combined forces to provide greater resources and enhanced service to their growing customer base as Fresh King Inc. has acquired C-Brand Tropicals Inc.

"Our customers now have a wider selection and greater resources to choose from, more convenience and more volume availability," Peter Schnebly, co- owner of Fresh King, said in a press release. "The synergies created through the combination of the two companies have already yielded exciting results."