Karen Acompora, president of the Louis J. Acompora Memorial, told The Produce News that the organization is currently working with the Minnesota High School Athletic Association and the Medtronic Philanthropy Foundation, whose goal is to expand access to chronic disease care for the underserved worldwide.

"We are headed into the middle of our summer season with great lime and mango programs from Mexico," said Ronnie Cohen, vice president of sales for Vision Import Group, headquartered in River Edge, NJ. "We expect good volumes and high quality on both items. We got through the earlier lime shortage and are now into new production areas. Prices are down significantly and leveling off to more normal seasonal pricing than we've seen in the past few months."

During the first year of Walmart’s Veterans Welcome Home Commitment, it hired more than 42,000 veterans. The commitment, launched last Memorial Day, guarantees a job offer to any honorably discharged veteran within his or her first 12 months off active duty. Walmart projects it will hire more than 100,000 veterans in five years.

The 30-year-old Jersey Fresh fruit and vegetable marketing program, coordinated by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, has teamed up with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and four of New Jersey’s Minor League Baseball teams to address the obesity epidemic in New Jersey by bringing smarter eating choices to America’s favorite pastime.

Last year, Horizon BCBSNJ opened Horizon Healthy Plate concession stands at the home ballparks of the Camden Riversharks, Lakewood BlueClaws, and Trenton Thunder.

New Jersey’s link between its agricultural producers and the state’s students — as current and future customers for agriculture — continues to be a focus of efforts by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture to expand produce market opportunities.

SWEDESBORO, NJ — Maugeri Farms was packing one of New Jersey’s signature spring vegetables, asparagus, when The Produce News visited this grower, wholesaler and distributor in early May.

The long, cold winter of 2013-14 was pushing back the starting dates of virtually all produce items grown in the Garden State and elsewhere in the eastern United States. Maugeri Farms was seeing that first hand.

“We started packing asparagus the last week in April,” Joe Maugeri told The Produce News May 5. That’s “at least a week later than normal.”