As a leading greenhouse vegetable operator in North America, Mastronardi Produce is no stranger to creating growth and opportunity. In a move that will continue the company’s unprecedented growth, Mastronardi has announced the establishment of a new distribution center in British Columbia on the west coast of Canada. The distribution center will serve the western region of the U.S. and Canada, delivering premium greenhouse-grown produce to a market that has only seen a small presence by the company to-date.

Embracing the virtual platform that this year’s PMA Fresh Summit offers, Shuman Farms will be showcasing its marketing initiatives and merchandising solutions to buyers.

The Produce Marketing Association has released the third and final Impact Award Winner and it is recognizing Al Romero, senior merchandising manager at 99 Cents Only stores, for his work bringing greater access to produce in his urban Los Angeles community.  The PMA Impact Award was first announced in 2019 at Fresh Summit in Anaheim, CA. The award is meant to recognize individuals and organizations who have had a transformative effect on the produce and floral community, consumers, and the world.

As the industry demands new and better data systems for compliance, traceability and transparency, one organization has met the challenge. Enter Nicholas Pasculli and Sam Spadoni of TMD Tech Solutions.

“We work with a wide variety of clients on things like websites, marketing materials, and so on and we end up needing all types of information in the process,” said Spadoni, director of business development with the company. “Invariably the client needs to gather all this up and get it to us for the project.”

Staying on-trend is one thing, but bringing the freshest seasonal ingredients in a timely manner is another, especially as consumers look for solutions to their “what’s for dinner?” dilemma. FiveStar Gourmet Foods has answered the call with their latest extension to the wildly successful Family Size line of Simply Fresh Salads with its new Fig & Walnut Salad.

The Simply Fresh Salads Fig & Walnut Family Size Salad launches this week in Costco and is produced in FiveStar’s state-of-the-art facilities that are USDA and SQF Level 3 certified.

“The weather has been perfect since the heavy rains fell in late June,” Ted Kreis said in mid-September. “I think we’ll have a nice crop.”

Kreis, who is the marketing director of the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association, added that in the Red River Valley, “the crop is coming along very well. We had some losses in late June with heavy rain. We thought we lost 10- to 15-percent of the crop at that time. We have possibly recovered some of that through plant recovery and higher yields.

“So overall, it looks like an average-sized crop,” he said.