The Organic Trade Association announced that it will co-locate its 2009 All Things Organic conference and trade show with Expo Comida Latina and All Asia Food June 16-18 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

Eurofresh Farms in Willcox, AZ, is launching a new marketing program designed to educate Arizona shoppers about the advantages of buying locally grown Eurofresh tomatoes.

Eurofresh is bringing back the familiar "Arizona Grown" logo and will include it on all packages and all materials shipped to Arizona grocery stores.

Muranaka Farm Inc. broke ground Thursday, July 24, on a new cooler that will sit on the company's 600 acres of farmland by its headquarters in Moorpark, CA.

The new cooler will be located just down the road from the company's current cooler and is scheduled for a December opening. The 18,000-square-foot facility will be more than four times the size of the current cooler, with additional doors for the loading dock.

It will replace Muranaka's 30-year-old cooler, which will be converted to a processing facility for new products that are in development.

After fielding resumes from across the country, the Florida Strawberry Growers Association board unanimously voted to appoint Ted Campbell as its new executive director.

Mr. Campbell, who began working Aug. 1 at the association's headquarters in Dover, FL, said that it was too early in his tenure to state exactly which strategies would be put in place under his directorship.

"Our South African citrus program began with limited supplies in June," said David Mixon, senior vice president of Seald-Sweet International, headquartered in Vero Beach, FL. "Due to growing conditions, supplies were somewhat late -- about two to three weeks behind last year. On a long-term average, it makes this year's movement about four weeks later than normal."

With rising fuel costs affecting California growers' ability to get loads of produce shipped, one southern San Joaquin Valley grower-packer-shipper found that a project that began predominantly as a convenience for truckers and a timesaving element has yielded real fuel- and cost-saving, emission- reducing and area traffic-lowering benefits that greatly exceed the company's original plan.