Several successive nights of freezing temperatures in California's San Joaquin Valley and in coastal growing areas have kept growers busy implementing costly frost-protection measures in the hope of preventing or minimizing damage to citrus, avocados and strawberries.

Some vegetable crops in the southern coastal areas may also be affected by the cold, but are said to be of less concern.

BAKERSFIELD, CA — Bolthouse Farms, a leading fresh carrot grower-shipper, unveiled a new state-of-the-art facility that will promote new product development and enhance the company's portfolio of existing products, which includes a line of beverages and salad dressings.

The company's new Innovation Center was celebrated during a grand opening ceremony Jan. 16, here.

Tampa, FL-based Sweetbay Supermarket said Jan. 16 that it will close about one-third of its 105 stores by mid-February. All the outlets earmarked for closure are designated as "underperforming" by Sweetbay's Belgian parent company Delhaize Group, and many face in-house competition from newer, bigger Sweetbay stores in the same neighborhoods.

Of the 35 stores to be closed, 18 are in Sweetbay's home territory of Tampa Bay. Some have leases coming up for renewal while others have been made obsolete by openings of new Sweetbay markets.

FirstFruits Marketing, the Yakima, WA-based marketer of the widely acclaimed Opal apple, has launched its 2013 campaign with a new website, in-store point-of-sales efforts and the announcement of a new charity initiative.

Through the cooperative efforts of the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee (USA Onions) and Boise, ID-based St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, women in the Treasure Valley were given access to screening services at a mobile mammogram unit that visited various packing sheds in the onion-growing region.

The services were provided during December and were available to shed employees and members of the community. According to IEOOC Marketing Director Sherise Jones, the mobile unit spent a half day at participating sheds.

Demand for organic mushrooms is growing, according to Kevin Donovan, national sales manager for Phillips Mushroom Farms in Kennett Square, PA.

Mr. Donovan noted that new customers for organic mushrooms are emerging, and most of them are in the retail sector. He said that mainstream organic retailers as well as mainstream conventional retail customers have started to push more organic products in their stores.