At the beginning of 2012, Green Tree International will enter its fourth year as a distributor and broker of onions from the Pacific Northwest. Sales Associate Shea Nanto spoke to The Produce News from his office in Wenatchee, WA on Aug. 3.

“We’re getting excited to go full bore,” he said of coming activity.

The company has co-packing agreements in place and sources red, yellow and white onions from Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

“We follow onions year-round,” Mr. Santo said. Onions from the Pacific Northwest are moved eight to nine months out of the year.

Consumers continue to clamor for sweet onions throughout the year. And Curry & Co., headquartered in Brooks, OR, is happy to keep them stocked and satisfied.

“Curry & Company has continued to see the benefits of providing certified sweet onions to our retailers,” President Matt Curry told The Produce News Aug. 5. “It’s important that our customers and the consumers know they’re getting a truly sweet onion each and every time.”

MIRABEL, QC - Mâche is up and coming within the 1.1 million square feet of greenhouse production for HydroSerre Mirabel Inc., located here. Beyond Mirabel, the company operates Quebec greenhouses in Drummondville, Victoriaville and St. Clotilde. This spring, the St. Clotilde facility doubled in size from its original 100,000 square feet of production.

While Boston lettuce has been common on North American tables for many years, its importance to greenhouse production is rising fast, according to Daniel Terrault, HydroSerre’s vice president of sales and marketing.

Veg Pro International Inc., which is headquartered in Sherrington, QC, is now offering three new individual lunch salads.

Sylvain Racette, the firm’s vice president of sales and marketing, said Aug. 4 that the salads were launched in early June in Canada at retailers Walmart Supercenter and Sobeys and the convenience store Couche-Tard.

The lunch salads “are off to a really good start,” Mr. Racette said.

BOUCHERVILLE, QC — An objective at Sobeys Quebec Inc. is to feature Quebec produce when it is in season, according to Pat Calabretta, the retailer’s senior director of produce branch purchasing and merchandising.

Sobeys, which operates under the IGA and IGA Extra banners in Quebec, advertises Quebec produce in its flyers every week it is in production, Mr. Calabretta said.

On July 21, when The Produce News called on Mr. Calabretta’s office, Quebec production was coming into full swing.

MIRABEL, QC — On first pass, it sounds like a marketing scheme from Madison Avenue. But down-to-earth Denis Bissonnette does not grin when he describes his new commodity: White turnips now come in red.

The president of Groupe Ethier Inc., located here, said that the white turnip, which is also known as a rabiole, is from “the same family as a rutabaga, but smaller. We have a new variety that is full-red.” Mr. Bissonnette added, “I have high hopes on the red” turnip. He has cooked and tasted it and predicts “it won’t take long” to catch on in the marketplace.