DALLAS — Bar codes and loyalty cards have given the retail industry and marketers a mountain of information that can be used to more clearly target consumers and give them what they want while increasing sales.

This was the take-home message for a workshop during the United Fresh Produce Association convention, here, in early May, as well as a follow-up session conducted on the expo floor.

Unlike most growers, Kid’s Choice Fresh Produce Inc. will have watermelons from its Georgia farms for the Independence Day holiday. The Weston, FL-based company is cleaning up its north Florida deal and readying to transition into Georgia, where its crop is coming on later than other growers due to later planting.

While most fruit in the United States is sold at retail by the pound, mangos are one of the few items still being sold by the piece.

Tavilla Sales Co. of Los Angeles, which has been operating for more than three decades, has teamed up with two sister companies to produce a nationwide network of mango and other tropical fruit representation.

Salinas, CA, lettuce shippers are seeing strong processor demand, while California and New Mexico onion shippers are seeing improving demand on lighter supplies. Idaho russet shippers are experiencing continued modest carton demand.

ICEBERG LETTUCE

A few key events are occurring simultaneously and quickly pushing lettuce prices higher.

A year ago, Raleigh, NC-based L&M Cos. Inc. got into the mango business in a pretty big way.

Tom Argyros, product manager for the firm, downplayed the volume the firm shipped, but said, “We imported about two million cartons from Mexico and then followed that with about 300,000 from Peru this winter.”