Western Growers Association will hold its 89th annual meeting Nov. 2-5 at the Las Vegas Bellagio in Las Vegas, NV, where Gary Pasquinelli will be honored with this year's Award of Honor and attendees will be entertained by the one-and-only Jay Leno.

The recent change in ownership at General Produce has been “nothing but positive,” according to Randy Lineberger, executive vice president and general manager at General Produce LLC.

The Castellini Group of Cos. acquired General Produce, which is headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of Forest Park, GA, this past June.  

The acquisition has allowed Cincinnati-based Castellini to continue its expansion into the southeastern United States. 

Pomegranate arils are all dressed-up in new Ruby Fresh Grab-N-Go Aril Cups for the 2014 PMA Fresh Summit in Anaheim, CA, Oct. 17-19.

Ruby Fresh is showcasing its new line of Ruby Fresh Jewels Grab-N-Go Pomegranate Aril Cups at this year's PMA Fresh Summit Booth No. 602. The Jewels cups are one of 20 products that have been selected as a finalist for the 2014 PMA Impact Award: Excellence in Packaging.

Nixa, MO-based Market Fresh announced the promotion of Shanan Cox to senior director of brand strategy.

“This season’s harvest schedule is expected to run from August 20 through October 25,” said Stewart Precythe, president and chief operating officer for Southern Produce Distributors Inc., headquartered in Faison, NC. “We have experienced an exceptionally good growing season this year compared to that of last year. There were a few setbacks early on with cool nights holding back our sprouts, which also put planting behind. After planting, however, we encountered excellent growing conditions which included ample rain and cooler than normal nights.

Sambrailo Packaging will use the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit to introduce its new Go Greener! clamshells, the latest packaging innovation for organic growers.