Doug McFarland, marketing director for Colorful Harvest LLC, headquartered in Salinas, CA, said that the company would be showcasing blueberries, strawberries and rainbow carrots at the Feb. 28-March 2 Southern Exposure Retail & Foodservice Conference & Expo in Orlando, FL.

“We will also be sharing news at the expo about our new Florida cooler with local Plant City management,” said Mr. McFarland. “This is an expanded southern blueberry program that we’ll be kicking off in March 2013.”

“Our expanded Florida strawberry growing operations are also up and running now,” he added.

With strawberry operations and dedicated cooling facilities in Florida, California and Mexico, Colorful Harvest is able to sustain a year-round national strawberry program. The company’s Florida growing operations have also diversified to include a variety of vegetable crops, such as sweet red corn, beans, squash and cucumbers to complement its line of unusually colorful heirloom style vegetables, such as Ruby Jewel sweet red corn; orange, purple and green cauliflower; and multi-hued Rainbow Crunch carrots.

In attendance at the company’s booth, number 820, at the Southern Exposure expo will be Dough Ranno, chief operating officer and managing member, Jeremy Burris, vice president of sales and sourcing, Florida division, and Lee Cobb, director of blueberry sourcing, southern division.

Colorful Harvest specializes in growing unusually colorful heirloom-style vegetables and sweet red strawberries. The company was founded by Mr. Ranno whose passion is for growing colorful foods that help improve nutrition and improve lives. The company was designed to be a cutting edge produce company with one foot in tradition and one foot in innovation. Its mission is to grow fresh produce for taste, color and nutrition that appeal to kids, families and chefs alike, and to have fun along the way doing that.

With the support of his investors and friends, Mr. Ranno set out to build his dream produce company. As he was moving ahead with his plan, his second child was born with severe food allergies. The allergies restricted the variety of foods in her diet and she was often in and out of doctor’s offices and hospitals in her early years. So Mr. Ranno began to look for natural foods that she could enjoy and that would boost her nutrition.

He worked with traditional plant breeders and invested in painstaking farming trials to determine how to develop and grow these rare seed varieties. In the process, Colorful Harvest created many proprietary growing and harvesting techniques to better bring these innovative crops to market. These developments were key to the Colorful Harvest brand taking root.

Colorful Harvest has been a member of the Southeast Produce Council for eight years, and it has exhibited every year since becoming a member.

“This expo provides us with valuable exposure and exchanges with growers, buyers and vendors,” said Mr. McFarland.