Riding on their positioning with retailers as quality potato producers, Colorado growers have expanded their focus with a new program dubbed Potato Excellence Training, or PET.

This educational initiative integrates every aspect of the San Luis Valley's potato-growing operations, from grower to shipper to the chain headquarters and local stores.

Maxco Supply, a provider of fresh produce packaging and packaging machinery based in Parlier, CA, has received export certification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for one of its newest sustainable corrugated containers.

Maxco's Long Term Storage system for table grapes has been approved by the USDA for export to the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, according to a company press release.

Monterey, CA-based Pro*Act, a leading fresh produce supplier to the foodservice industry, has appointed Robert Kiehnle as chief financial officer.

This fall, The Oppenheimer Group will once again present its signature Asian pear -- the Tottori 20th Century variety from Japan -- to customers throughout the United States.

"The new crop is a beauty -- it's larger in volume but smaller in fruit size," David Nelley, pipfruit category director for the Vancouver, BC-based marketer, said in a statement. "Remarkably, each fruit is pollinated by hand. The growing season has been excellent, and from what I've tasted, Asian pear aficionados across the U.S. are in for a real treat."

Armed with recent research associating the consumption of pears with heart health, a marketing team representing the California Pear Advisory Board hit the road to pay a series of "house calls" on some 50 media outlets in New York, San Francisco and Sacramento, CA.

MONTEREY, CA -- Longtime industry-leading dried fruit processor Mariani Packing Co. has gotten a taste of the fresh fruit market -- and it likes it.

The effort took root when U.S. Fruit & Veg Inc., based here, presented a proposal to Vacaville, CA-based Mariani Packing to grow and market fresh strawberries bearing the "Mariani" label. Mariani Packing agreed, and Albion- variety strawberries carrying the "Mariani" label began shipping across the United States and in Canada and Mexico in early June.