Over 300 people gathered Saturday evening, April 5, for the Eastern Produce Council’s 46th annual dinner dance, held at the Westmount Country Club in Woodland Park, NJ, the site of so many of these enjoyable events.

Gourmet Trading Co. is preparing for an early start of its California blueberry season and began packing in mid-April.

Larger California blueberry volume will translate to increased promotions for Gourmet Trading Co. and its customer base. Marketing Manager Chloé Varennes said the company markets blues throughout North America as well as Europe, Asia and Australia.

Tim Meissner has been named senior vice president of sales and marketing for Amerifresh, a leading produce marketer to the retail grocery and foodservice industries, based in Scottsdale, AZ. He is responsible for Amerifresh's retail, foodservice and international sales and marketing efforts.

Most recently, Meissner served as supply chain officer and chief operating officer at Southern Specialties in Pompano Beach, FL.

Vision Produce Co. in Los Angeles has named Allan Acosta vice president of operations at its Phoenix branch. Acosta, who has more than 14 years of procurement and production experience in produce, will partner with John Caldwell, Vision Produce Co.'s vice president of sales and procurement.

Most recently, Acosta was senior crop manager-tropical fruits for Ready Pac Produce.   Prior to that, he held increasingly responsible positions with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Central American Produce Inc.

The California Cherry Board, which is administered by Ag Association Management Services Inc. in Sacramento, CA, has “a very focused effort” on specific areas of concern to the industry, according to Chris Zanobini, president and chief executive officer of AAMS.

“Our primary areas of activities are research, export developments and market trade policy, industry statistics, and any issues that might [affect] the industry,” Zanobini told The Produce News April 8. “We don’t do any domestic marketing and promotions.”

The 2014 Mexican grape crop being offered this spring by Divine Flavor, LLC, “looks very good on all varieties,” said Pedro Batiz, one of the firm’s owners.

Speaking by telephone from the firm’s San Diego office, Batiz said conventional grape shipping for Divine Flavor would begin in the first week of May. Organic grape harvest will come about 10 days later. The firm grows a wide variety of green, red and black grape varieties. This year the company will market 2.3 million boxes of its own grapes and will export another 200,000 boxes produced by independent growers.