CIUDAD OBREGON, SONORA, MEXICO - The Sonora agricultural community convened for an unprecedented summit April 19-21, here, at the Hotel Grande Valle Obregon to explore ways to better work together to promote Sonoran agriculture products on both a national and international level.

PHILADELPHIA - John Vena Inc. announced April 25 the formation of a new venture: John Vena Specialties LLC. John J. Hickey will be the managing and operational partner of this company, located in the John Vena Inc. warehouse here.

John Vena Specialties will initially work with specialty produce growers in California, Mexico, Florida and Chile.

YONKERS, NY - Merex Corp. is expanding its growing operations in the Dominican Republic to 52 hothouses from 28, and extending its product mix beyond colored bell peppers to include specialty tomatoes and cucumbers.

During the 2004-05 growing season, Merex Corp., together with America Agricola, produced 150,000 exportable cases of Dutch-variety colored bell peppers. The expansion will double the yield for the coming growing season.

Harllee Packing Inc. in Palmetto, FL, one of the older commercial tomato packers in Florida, is celebrating 70 years of packing under the "Harllee" brand.

For the 70th anniversary of the brand, Harllee Packing is going retro with this year's label. The special anniversary label resembles the old-style lithograph label that the Harllee family used in 1935. The new Harllee label celebrates 70 years of outstanding product backed by a family who stands for timeless trust, integrity and knowledge, according to a company press release.

A ban imposed Dec. 21, 2004, on apple exports to Taiwan was lifted April 26, with exports from the United States approved to resume April 27.

According to a letter from Francis K. H. Liang of the Washington, DC-based Economic Division of the Taipei Economic & Cultural Representative Office in the United States, the Taiwan Bureau of Animal & Plant Health Inspection & Quarantine "agreed [April 26] to resume U.S. apple imports into Taiwan April 27, 2005, and the phytosanitary certificate of apples should be issued on or after that date."

Gahl Crane is a walking advertisement for Prime Produce International in Lake Forest, CA.

The 23-year-old sales representative is a vegetarian who tends his own garden and eats three or four avocados - the company's exclusive product - a day. "It's absolutely my favorite food in the world," Mr. Crane said. "Being a vegetarian, I need its protein and vitamins to meet my dietary needs."