Pacific Sun Distributing Inc. is primarily a mixed load consolidator that ships products by truck, ocean or air to customers throughout the United States and globally from its refrigerated warehouse in the Los Angeles suburb of Bell, CA.

“Our job is to make their job easier, matching the product that we buy to order for customers” to assure freshness and to assure it meets customer specifications, said President Ray Davis.

The product is cross-docked through the company’s HACCP-certified facility, he said.

Harold Weisfeld, who founded Fruit Distributing Corp. of California in 1958, has retired due to poor health and is now only coming into the office “about once a month,” according to his son Jeff Weisfeld, president of the company.

“We miss his presence and his persona here,” the younger Weisfeld said, but he was hopeful the retirement “will be good for him.”

The United Fresh Produce Association and the National Association of Convenience Stores announced a new partnership to significantly increase the sales of fresh produce in convenience stores. A new task force of members of both groups met during the United Fresh 2014 convention in Chicago last week.

The economy in southern California is looking better than it has for a few years, but even at its worst, “we never really had a tough time,” said Bill Vogel, president of Vision Produce Co. in Los Angeles in an interview with The Produce News June 10. “We just haven’t had a negative year. Our business has been growing every year.”

He noted that the company has been constantly hiring and expanding, and its sales have grown from year to year. Among other things, the company has also increased its presence in Central and South America on imports, Vogel added.

“The past cold winter has most growers in the East running at least a little late,” Richard Papen, sales manager of Papen Farms Inc. in Dover, DE, told The Produce News in late May.

“But the weather has been good this spring and if it warms up in the coming few weeks, we won’t be too late. And the crop quality is looking real decent,” he added.

Growers need good crops in order to keep their heads above water today. Papen pointed out that the cost of everything related to production, packaging and trucking has increased.

While organic products in the marketplace continue to experience double digit growth, they still only represent a small percentage of overall business, meaning there is much room for more growth.

That was the take away message delivered by a trio of speakers at a workshop sessions during the United Fresh Produce Association convention in Chicago, June 10-12.