IRVINE, CA -- Western Growers Association has hired Mikel Pak as the communications manager in its headquarters office here.
Ms. Pak brings more than five years of experience as a journalist and communications professional. She was a business newspaper reporter in North Carolina and also worked in the communications and media relations department at The Council of State Governments, a trade association reaching more than 20,000 state government leaders in all three branches of government.

For more than three decades Yerington, NV-based onion grower-shipper Peri & Sons Farms has been home to numerous brands, including "Mustang," “Wabuska Whopper,” “Purple Passion” and “Mother's Love,” each with its own eye-catching design.
Going into 2011, however, the company is adopting a new branding strategy and a single label.

Winter weather in one way or another has decreased supplies on a variety of crops coming from the West, causing prices to reach very lofty levels.
Leading the parade is celery, which was in the $35-$40 range the week of Feb. 6-13, but there are also very strong markets on Iceberg, Romaine, leaf items and strawberries.

Bill Armstrong is a self-employed produce broker who operates Armstrong Marketing in Salinas, CA. His column appears here every Wednesday afternoon/Thursday morning. He may be reached by phone at 888/484-0800 or at ArmstrongMarketing@comc ast.net

As of Wednesday, Feb. 9, growers in the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Sonora were still assessing damage to assorted crops following a freeze the nights of Feb. 2-3, which is said to be the worst the area has seen in over half a century.

The Produce News spoke with distributors and brokers in Nogales, AZ, in the days following the freeze, who were tentative in their assessments, saying it would be at least another week or two before they would have any reliable information on how much growers might be able to salvage of some of the harder-hit crops.

Ryan Schneider, vice president of sales and business development for FoodLink Online LLC, headquartered in Los Gatos, CA, has already packed an impressive amount of education and experience into his short career.

At only 29 years old, his role includes growing the company's on-line platform to suppliers and retailers while helping the fresh fruit and vegetable industry with solutions for turn-key compliance with the produce traceability initiative, or PTI as it is commonly known.