Mastronardi Produce/Sunset Ltd., located in Kingsville, ON, introduced its "Sunset Kidz" program at the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit last October in Orlando, FL. The project is scheduled for launch in fall 2009, just in time for the beginning of the new school year.

The New York Apple Association this fall will once again be offering a full- service promotion support program for retailers promoting new-crop apples, tying in with the huge buy-local produce trend.

"We're going all out to push fresh, local fruit," Jim Allen, president of the Fishers-based New York Apple Association, which represents the state's 695 growers, said in a press release. "Our apples this fall will be coming straight from the orchard - not fruit from storage."

An agreement recently reached between Japan and Washington state eliminates delays associated with fumigating fresh cherries and should boost exports of the fruit to that Pacific Rim nation.

The Grower-Shipper Association of Central California in Salinas, CA, held its 71st annual golf tournament, fashion show and dinner-dance June 25-27.

This event raises funds for the Grower-Shipper Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps support local educational, training, scholarship and leadership programs, community outreach, and philanthropic endeavors.

Golf tournament events were held Thursday, June 25, at Corral de Tierra Golf & Country Club and continued over three days ending Saturday, June 27, with a post-tournament brunch and awards ceremony.

Sweet Clover Produce began moving a good size mix of white onions out of the Pacific Northwest July 20, and Sales Manager Bill Brownfield said that reds would start shipping July 27. "The whites are grown by Grotz Bros. of Hermiston (OR)," Mr. Brownfield said July 10. "They are our summer growers and produce whites, reds, sweet yellows and yellows," he added. "The whites this year have a wide range of sizing, with pre-packs in mediums, jumbos and colossal.

Dominion Citrus Ltd. has sold two of its four stalls at the Ontario Food Terminal in Toronto.