“The crop this year is much better than last year’s,” George Wooten, president of Wayne E. Bailey, headquartered in Chadbourn, NC, told The Produce News on Aug. 20. “Thankfully we started packing the second week of August, and although we aren’t yet in full swing, we’re doing our best to get customers what they want.”

He added that the company expected to be shipping stored sweet potatoes the week of Aug. 18, and anticipating shipping stored cured product by Sept. 15-20.

As nutrition professionals prepared to gather at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' annual Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo, slated for Oct. 18-21 in Atlanta, the Hass Avocado Board is readying to share the latest from its nutrition research and marketing program with the thousands of attendees.

IFCO Systems, a leading global provider of reusable packaging solutions, is donating salad bars to five Romulus Community Schools, which are located southwest of Detroit. IFCO's donations are being made in coordination with the United Fresh Foundation's Let's Move Salad Bars to MIDWEST Schools campaign, which works to increase children's access to and consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

With billions of oval blue Chiquita stickers annually and three generations of people singing the Chiquita jingle since 1944, one of the more iconic food brands in the world launched a national recipe contest.

The Chiquita Cooking Lab will celebrate the versatility of the banana by promoting new uses for the fruit, including health-focused recipes, creative snack ideas and kid-friendly combinations during a two-month contest that kicked off Sept. 29 and will run until Nov. 23.

The next generation of apple-packing technology has arrived at Stemilt, and with it one of the longest apple sizers in the world.

Braga Fresh Family Farms announced that beginning in November, its full line of "Josie's Organics" fresh vegetables will be cooled and shipped at Tanimura & Antle's cooling facility in Yuma, AZ.