Food Lion has unveiled a new chain-wide strategy: "Easy, Fresh and Affordable...You Can Count on Food Lion Every Day!" The announcement launches a multi-year initiative to make shopping easier for Food Lion customers at the company's more than 1,100 stores, while keeping the low prices customers expect.

Princeton, FL-based New Limeco LLC announced the return of Doria Blonder to its sales team.

Blonder will once again take on the role of sales and marketing director, handling sales, marketing and advertising for the tropical fruit company.

With over 14 years of experience in the produce industry, specializing in tropical fruit and vegetable sales, Blonder said she is excited to return to New Limeco.

On Tuesday, Dec. 31, just prior to Bill De Blasio being sworn in as the new mayor of New York City, the New York City Economic Development Corp., then still under the leadership of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, announced that the city had renewed the Hunts Point Produce Market lease for an additional seven years.

Some feel that the extension is a short-term solution for a long-term problem, while others say that it’s at least a sign that the city government does want the terminal market to remain at Hunts Point.

“We certainly are happy to have winter behind us,” Bruce Klein, director of marketing for Maurice A. Auerbach in Secaucus, NJ, told The Produce News in late April.

“While we did not really miss any work days, it was just a pain to live through,” he continued. “There was ice on our driveways for a solid month and half. People’s pipes were bursting, water was leaking in homes. The temperatures were simply too low for anyone to go outside. It just made for a very messy and uncomfortable winter for everyone.”

Naturipe Farms launched “The Very Berry Month of May” promotion and sweepstakes earlier this month, and it will continue through May 31. Each week of May is dedicated to one specific berry: strawberries from May 5-11, raspberries from May 12-18, blackberries from May 19-25 and blueberries from May 26-31.

The North Carolina blueberry season is ramping up, and signs are pointing to a favorable season in 2014. “Last year’s harvest was cut short by the excessive amount of rain that we had,” said Rod Bangert, general manager of the Carolina Blueberry Association. “I am hopeful that our production will be 30 percent higher than last season.”

The association, founded in 1941, is located in Garland, NC. Bangert said the cooperative has 24 members.