The Produce Marketing Association's Produce Solutions Conference, Consumer Trends '07, will be held March 22-24 in Charlotte, NC. The three- day conference is designed to give executives representing every segment of the supply chain the opportunity to focus on ways to target new consumer segments -- namely, moms, kids and the affluent.

With moms spending more than $1.6 trillion, kids influencing $146 billion in spending and the affluent averaging $3.1 million in net worth, there is considerable wealth to be spent among these target markets in this year alone.

Brooks Tropicals Inc. in Homestead, FL, announced the promotion of Jose E. Rossignoli to director of national sales. For the past two years, he had been an assistant to Neal (Pal) Brooks, president.

Since joining the firm, Mr. Rossignoli has been involved in the planning of the firm's papaya operations in Belize as well as the "SlimCado" avocado operations in southern Florida.

United Fresh Produce Association released the following letter Jan. 23 from Co-Chairmen Maureen Marshall and Mark Miller.

None of us can deny that our fresh produce industry faces a different business world today than we did six months ago. We have all been impacted by the recent food safety issues in our industry. Each time any fruit or vegetable is implicated in a foodborne illness outbreak, we all suffer from lost consumer confidence in our industry as a whole. In the long run, this is simply not sustainable and certainly not acceptable.

Prime Produce International LLC announced a new retail and foodservice account manager and a new 40,000-square-foot packing and cold-storage facility in Orange, CA.

PPI has named Michelle Spelman to the position of retail and foodservice account manager. Ms. Spelman has been employed in the avocado industry for over 15 years, most recently as marketing director at the California Avocado Commission.

Having become one of the larger watermelon growers and one of the faster- growing produce brands in its first year of operation, San Francisco-based Sundia Corp. has set its sights on several new offerings, including mangos, onions and tomatoes.

Mission Ranches Co. LLC and Sam McKinsey Farms LLC, two long-standing farming companies on California's Central Coast, are combining operations in order to meet growing consumer demand and pursue new market opportunities.

The merger will allow both companies to improve efficiency and quality across a broader production base and to streamline parallel administrative and management functions. The combined company will be known as Mission Ranches Co. LLC and will be based in King City, CA.