HOUSTON -- A flourishing Chilean blueberry export trade received an additional shot in the arm last season when grower-exporters volunteered to contribute an additional $100,000 beyond their check-off agreement toward the North American public relations effort by the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association. This helped move a 34 percent increase in Chilean blueberry exports last season.

Divine Ripe, a Hidalgo, TX-based distributor of tomatoes, will ship product year round, according to Marco Jiminez, president of the company.

Mr. Jiminez, who began his career 11 years ago with his family's company, Bonanza, started Divine Ripe after splitting from Bonanza two years ago. He has since built his volume and uses "four or five big growers and some smaller growers" in various regions of Mexico. "I now have year-round supply on our own box," said Mr. Jiminez. "We have both round and Roma, with the majority (80 percent) being Romas."

ORADELL, NJ -- The Produce News has added a number of new features to its web site, including a Buyer's Watch column with full and specific commodity information via a direct link to Pro*Act.

In addition, visitors to www.theproducenews.com are now able to view full photo pages of industry events taken from current pages of The Produce News. Like all articles on the site, these photo pages will be archived so that visitors may view them at any time.

HOUSTON -- A variety of fresh-cut items and promotions were on display at the Del Monte Fresh Produce Co. booth during the PMA Fresh Summit, here.

HOUSTON -- More shoppers are looking for organic produce as well as locally produced fruits and vegetables, according to consumer attitudes research conducted by Cornell University researchers and presented during a workshop at the Produce Marketing Association convention, here.

Researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 544 shoppers in four markets across the United States, inquiring about food safety and organic produce. They also surveyed a variety of retailers, asking them to predict the responses of these customers.

HOUSTON -- After listening to several less-than-glowing accounts regarding competition from Chinese producers, Don Christopher of Gilroy, CA-based Christopher Ranch weighed in with a viewpoint that brought a lift to everyone assembled at the garlic industry's Oct. 13 breakfast at the PMA Fresh Summit.

"About five years ago, we lost the battle with Chinese garlic," Mr. Christopher said. "Now the Chinese hit themselves in the foot. It's not costing us anything. The whole market looks good for this year and next year."