PLANT CITY, FL -- For now, the offices are empty, the paint is so fresh one can still smell it and workers continue to scurry about putting finishing touches on a just-renovated 51,000-square-foot facility that will serve as headquarters for SunnyRidge Farms' Florida strawberry operations.

DILLSBURG, PA -- The nation's apple harvest yielded a vintage crop of apples in 2009, and many retailers took that opportunity to display and feature apples in their produce departments this fall.

John Napoleon Derdivanis, 87, died Dec. 12 in Monterey, CA.

Born March 29, 1922, to Greek immigrant parents in Fresno, CA, he graduated from Roosevelt High School, where he was class president in 1937, according to a Dec. 14 press release. He continued to Bakersfield Junior College, where he was student body president.

Citrus growers in California's San Joaquin Valley spent the nights of Dec. 7-8 taking intensive measures to protect their crops from freezing temperatures and managed to avert serious damage, according to press advisories issued Dec. 9 by California Citrus Mutual in Exeter, CA.

Al Gotelli, a third-generation cherry grower and co-founder and president emeritus of O-G Packing Co. in Stockton, CA, died in his Stockton home Nov. 25 following a long illness. He was 80.

Regarded by his peers as an industry innovator and leader, Mr. Gotelli helped establish the California Cherry Advisory Board and is also credited with helping to develop and market the industry's first mechanical cluster cutter and cherry sizer.

Cimino Brokerage Co., a firm based in Salinas, CA, that mostly sells broccoli, green onions and other vegetables grown in Mexico, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Jose, CA, in late November.