Garlic producer Christopher Ranch LLC in Gilroy, CA, has hired Mike Mantelli as its general operations manager to oversee and analyze company operations from the ground up.

?I?ll be working on strategies to advance Christopher Ranch?s position in the produce industry," said Mr. Mantelli.

With more than 1.5 million cases of under-glass peppers produced by the Divemex group of Mexican greenhouse growers, The Oppenheimer Group is seeing its strongest winter program to date, according to Mike Reed, category director.

Mr. Reed said that Divemex?s early winter production in its southern growing areas "has allowed us to offer customers a seamless supply of bell peppers when Canadian production dropped off in late October."

In the short term and "from a customer perspective," there will be "no change? in Sun World International?s operations following Black Diamond Capital Management LLC acquiring it, according to Christopher Kipley, a partner at Black Diamond.

Longer term, such changes as there may be "are largely going to be driven? by people who have been working at Sun World for years and who "know [the company] best," he said.

Naples, FL-based Incredible Fresh, which bought and sold a full line of fruits and vegetables including imported specialty items, has sold its produce and dairy lines to a partnership made up of three separate partners.

?The season to date has been absolutely terrible," said Joe Bernardi of Bernardi & Associates Inc. in Nogales, AZ, who echoed the sentiments of most of the other Nogales brokers and distributors who were interviewed by The Produce News during the latter half of February.

Unusually heavy rain in many growing areas in Mexico has created supply and quality challenges in tomatoes and most other commodities. Market prices for many items have been dragging bottom for much of the season, even when supplies were shorter than normal.

Lara Grossman, who held the position of value-added product manager for Spreckels, CA-based grower and shipper Tanimura & Antle Inc. before switching to Ready Pac Produce Inc. in August 2004, has returned to T&A as its new director of marketing.

Ms. Grossman, 36, had worked for T&A from August 2002 until being assigned last summer to become marketing product manager for Irwindale, CA-based Ready Pac when Ready Pac acquired Salad Time, T&A?s packaged salad line.