Church Bros. Farms added two new members to its sales and marketing department: Loree Dowse as director of marketing and Paul Ensley as retail data analyst.

The Southern Roots luncheon took place during the Southeast Produce Council’s recent Southern Exposure. Attendees heard from Heather (Lucky) Penney, who is widely recognized for her service on Sept. 11, 2001. She is a renowned speaker on topics such as personal courage, citizenship, decision-making under stress, leadership, organizational transformation, inclusivity, high performance teams, national defense issues and aviation.

GrubMarket launched its Sustainable California initiative, a commitment to promote and enhance agricultural sustainability in California by making meaningful investments from a portion of its net profits  in the following endeavors: preserving the farming environment of the Central Valley and other areas of California through methods such as planting trees; promoting organic farming practices by financially supporting local farmers to obtain organic certifications; and developing innovative technologies that improve the sustainability of

 DiMuto, a global Agri-FinTech company, has expanded its AI-powered financial services to the U.S. and Mexico through its latest financing deal with Grupo Paisano, a large international grower-exporter of fresh produce items based in Mexico.

Healthy Family Project’s annual thank you reception at the Southeast Produce Council’s Southern Exposure saw more than 200 produce industry professionals celebrating the ongoing impact of Healthy Family Project’s cause marketing programs. Cause marketing retail and digital campaigns in 2022 raised $235,000 for Feeding America food banks, Our Military Kids, Foundation for Fresh Produce and Ripe for Revival.  

Weather has been a nasty drawback for crops in some California farming areas. The snowpack alone in the central and southern Nevada mountains is double the normal amount for the year. There is so much accumulated snow that it has caused power failures throughout California mountain neighborhoods, collapsed building roofs, stranded vehicles and closed roads.

We talked to some Salinas, CA, growers and shippers about the status of product and were given some vital information in looking ahead.