NASHVILLE -- Produce Alliance has added Sheppard Produce Co. to its membership. Headquartered here, Produce Alliance specializes in helping member businesses grow with a unique set of tools, services and plans for growth in the produce industry.

According to Stan Sheppard, president of Sheppard Produce in Twin Falls, ID, consistent premium quality of products, along with the strength of its purchasing programs, was a major factor in its decision. He said that the people of Produce Alliance are very professional and conduct themselves with integrity and respect.

Calavo Growers Inc., a global leader in avocado marketing and an expanding provider of other fresh perishable products, announced Feb. 10 the formation of majority owned Calavo Salsa Lisa LLC and that business's acquisition of Lisa’s Salsa Co., based in St. Paul, MN.

Terms were not further disclosed.

Under the terms of the transaction, Calavo’s expansion into the growing fresh refrigerated salsa category comes through a 65 percent ownership interest in Calavo Salsa Lisa, which acquired the assets of closely held Lisa’s Salsa Co.

"Harvest curtailed by market conditions" is how the U.S. Federal-State Market News Service characterized the state of demand for many fresh vegetables in its Feb. 8 report.

The daily report noted that prices for many of the leaf items, including Iceberg lettuce, were mostly in the well-below-cost $5-$7 range because there was no demand. Bunched broccoli was barely over $5 per carton, while the crown cut was getting a dollar or two more -- but still trading well below the break-even point.

FreshSense, a company formed in early 2007 by several California stone fruit shippers, including the original partners of the Ripe 'N Ready marketing group, to take over management of the "Ripe 'N Ready" brand of tree fruit, is now owned by just two grower-shippers.

But those two will have "a significant amount of volume," possibly as much as "15 percent of the peaches and nectarines in the industry" this year, according to Doug Sankey, vice president of marketing for Sun West Fruit Co. Inc. in Parlier, CA.

CORAL GABLES, FL -- Students and faculty now have healthier snack options to eat on-the-go, as "Del Monte" fresh fruit and vegetables are being sold in vending machines across university, college and school campuses, nationwide.

PLANT CITY, FL -- For the past month, temperatures have been near normal throughout Florida, but the state's growers are still grappling with the after- effects of an unprecedented two-week New Year's freeze that caused as much as $1 billion in economic losses.

The first hard data on the economic impact of the big freeze are beginning to roll in and support anecdotal evidence and estimates previously reported in The Produce News of $1 billion in lost product, revenues and wages.