BrightFarms premium Crunch Kit salads are now available across the Midwest and East Coast. The supplier of indoor grown packaged salads will be showcasing and sampling its premium Crunch Kit salads during IFPA’s Global Show (booth No. 4949) Oct. 27-29 in Orlando, FL.

The staff at Quail H Farms in Livingston, CA, looks to advance innovation and collaboration in the sweet potato business. In business since 2008, the company’s ownership and staff are “young” compared to other sweet potato companies. “We are fairly new to the industry when you consider a lot of the sweet potato companies in Livingston have been growing and shipping for 50 or 60 years,” explained Larelle Miller, sales manager. “We come into the industry with fresh eyes and we feel that brings innovation.”

On Wednesday, Sept. 29, about 20,000 pounds of colored Bell peppers arrived at the port of Miami from Colombia, marking the first time fresh Bell peppers were shipped to the United States from that South American country.

The International Fresh Produce Association announced the winners of the IFPA Retail Merchant Innovation Awards Program. The program, sponsored by Sage Fruit Co., recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of a vice president or director (or equivalent position) in the produce departments of a retail banner that demonstrates passion and purpose in developing innovative strategies to drive produce consumption. IFPA honors five of the industry’s top retail directors and vice presidents for this award; one winner per store count category.

Initial spring projections from New York apple growers called for a solid season of regional varieties with volumes expected to return to the previous three-year average. As picking of early varieties began in mid-September, the crop has shown even stronger results than anticipated.

There’s a lot of enthusiasm at SunDate this season and the company is positioned for continued growth. “As we are every year we’re experiencing growth due to young plantings coming to maturity,” said DJ Ryan, sales and operations manager for SunDate. “As those trees get older the tonnage goes up so we’re definitely increasing in volume.”