The Edinburg Citrus Association in Edinburg, TX, is growing again, planting new grapefruit and orange acreage and adding to its staff as it makes ready to celebrate its 80th anniversary this season.

The new acreage adds to the several thousand the association already tends, but the new groves will not bear literal fruit for three-to-five years. The new staff, however, will start yielding dividends right away.

Elias Hernandez recently came aboard as grove care manager, after being part of the staff at the Texas A&M University Kingsville Citrus Center.

Marion Tabard, director of marketing for Turbana Corp. in Coral Gables, FL, said that banana growers in Colombia’s Turbo region are recovering from the effects of flooding earlier this year and moving into a period of exceptional banana production.

Pete Carcione, president of Carcione’s Fresh Produce Co. Inc., encourages customers to visit the company at the Golden Gate Produce Terminal in South San Francisco, CA to feast upon Mother Nature’s bounty. “We don’t deliver,” he told The Produce News Sept. 26. “We want customers to come to the terminal to see and smell the produce. Flavors are important.”

Six L’s, a leading field tomato grower based in Immokalee, FL, has changed its name to Lipman. The renaming applies to all divisions of the company, including research and development, farming, processing, repacking and procurement. Its subsidiaries, which include Custom Pak and RediPlants, will now operate under the Lipman name as well.

Mann Packing Co., based in Salinas, CA, is supporting its sales program with multiple promotions this fall.

In October, Mann began placing instant-redeemable coupons on 100,000 packages of Mann’s florets and blend, broccoli and carrots, broccoli and cauliflower, vegetable medley, California stir fry, Broccoli Wokly, and Cauliettes.

The “Fall into Fall” offer is good for 55 cents off any two packages of Mann’s products purchased in the United States. This annual promotion is historically a success nationwide; the 2010 redemption rate was 22 percent.

HBF International, which grows and sells a wide variety of fresh berries on a year-round basis, announced that it will be growing and shipping fresh cranberries this fall.

The Oregon-grown berries will be available from October through December, in time for holiday dishes and decorations.

Last spring, HBF took on a new name to accommodate the continued growth of the company.

Although the name has changed, the quality of products and the commitment of the company remain the same.