Following a light but good overall cherry season, United Marketing Exchange in Delta, CO, was looking ahead to early peaches and, if weather holds, good pears and apples as well.

United Sales Manager Mike Gibson said on June 26 the cherries would be finished by June 29.

“We started shipping on June 12, two weeks early,” Mr. Gibson said.

General Manager Harold Broughton added that the crop “was fantastic until the freeze hit on Easter Sunday.” As a result, the crop was thinned, but Mr. Gibson said size and pricing were good.

Wayne E. Baily Produce Co. will highlight consistency in sweet potato sizes at the Produce Marketing Association’s Foodservice Conference & Exposition in Monterey, CA, July 20-22.

LOS ANGELES — Samra Produce & Farms Inc., here, a grower-shipper as well as an importer and distributor specializing in Asian and Indian fruits and vegetables, has increased its producing acreage this year in the Coachella Valley of California.

The Garlic Co., headquartered in Bakersfield, CA, has a new product called Triple Washed Diced Garlic that it will be featuring at its booth, number 61, at the Produce Marketing Association’s Foodservice Conference & Exposition in Monterey, CA, July 20-22.

Favorable spring weather and a close proximity to its customer base has put Fresh from the Start LLC in a strong position for the start of its 2012 Maine broccoli deal.

“We’re right on target to start shipping in about a week or a week-and-a-half,” Lauren Keenan, who is in sales at the Riverhead, NY-based company, told The Produce News July 5. “And with the high freight rates out of California this summer, we offer a huge advantage for our customer base on the East Coast.”

On July 13, the U.S. Apple Association, headquartered in Vienna, VA, issued a press release stating that it does not support the regulatory proposal pending before the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fully deregulate genetically engineered "Arctic" branded apples.