After decades of serving the floral industry through long-standing partnerships, Channel Islands Flowers has stepped forward as an independent, direct California floral shipper, offering customers the ability to source flowers directly from the farm.

Based in Oxnard, Channel Islands Flowers operates a 90-acre growing operation supported by deep industry experience. While the farm has long been a trusted supplier of high-quality flowers, the transition marks a new chapter focused on establishing its own identity and expanding direct relationships across the floral supply chain.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture imposed sanctions on three produce businesses for failing to meet contractual obligations to the sellers of produce they purchased and for failing to pay reparation awards issued under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. These sanctions include suspending the businesses’ PACA licenses and barring the businesses’ principal operators from engaging in PACA-licensed business or other activities without USDA approval.

The following businesses and individuals are currently restricted from operating in the produce industry:

For more than 90 years, Meijer has supported local communities, including through in-store holiday shopping events. In the last 10 years, the company hosted more than 1,750 events, partnered with more than 560 organizations and impacted more than 5,200 families. This year more than $970,000 was invested in its holiday shopping partnership events.

Seeded Produce, a Nogales, AZ-based distributor of Mexican produce items, has opened an office in the Los Angeles area and is expanding its product line to include items from Asia and Central and South America that it previously did not offer.

Earlier this fall, AFE Program Manager Candice Musgrove and members of the Vic and Margaret Ball Committee visited the Benz School of Floral Design at Texas A&M University, one of the many programs supported through AFE’s James and Helen Phillip Floral Design Grant. The visit offered a firsthand look at how AFE’s educational funding is helping students strengthen their skills, pursue their passions and build meaningful futures in the floral industry.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture imposed sanctions on five produce businesses for failing to meet contractual obligations to the sellers of produce they purchased and failing to pay reparation awards issued under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. These sanctions include suspending the businesses’ PACA licenses and barring the businesses’ principal operators from engaging in PACA-licensed business or other activities without USDA approval.

The following businesses and individuals are currently restricted from operating in the produce industry: