The watermelon production season for Coastal Growers LLC has been ideal and the marketing aspect is also bright, according to Will Hales, a partner in the firm, who said July 8, “We are looking to kick off the season on July 18.”

Gurdeep Billan, director of sales for Double D Farms in Fresno, CA, told The Produce News that the company is one of the larger growers of organic asparagus in the country, with near year-round supplies from Mexico from September through April.

“We also farm conventional asparagus from the same area,” said Mr. Billan. “Our organic line also includes domestically grown cantaloupe, honeydew and mixed melons. These are produced in California’s Imperial and central San Joaquin valleys for a May through September program.”

Christmas could come a little early for U.S. Christmas tree growers. Early this month, a penalty tariff imposed by the Mexican government on shipments of many U. S. goods into that country, including Christmas trees, is expected to be lifted.

California Giant Berry Farms teamed up with KNBR and the San Francisco Giants July 7 to cap off a six-week marketing campaign promoting berries and baseball.

The company set up a large tent in Willy Mays Plaza at entrance to AT&T Park in San Francisco with 2,500 containers of fresh strawberries to share with fans as they arrived for the game.

CHICAGO — The 420,000-square-foot warehouse operated here by Anthony Marano Co. works on some of the principles of a produce market. The temperature-controlled facility has refrigerated space that is competitive with any terminal market.

Anton J. Marano and Damon Marano, brothers who represent the next generation of management in the family-owned firm, discussed their company with The Produce News May 10. They work with their father, Anton Marano, within a firm established in 1946.

ROSEMONT, IL — Fesh produce is a featured category for the U.S. Foodservice marketing program in 2011, according to Frank Swanson, category manager for produce for the Monarch Food Group, a division of U.S. Foodservice. The Produce News interviewed Mr. Swanson at the U.S. Foodservice headquarters, here, in offices that are almost literally at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.