Muranaka Farm Inc. broke ground Thursday, July 24, on a new cooler that will sit on the company's 600 acres of farmland by its headquarters in Moorpark, CA.

The new cooler will be located just down the road from the company's current cooler and is scheduled for a December opening. The 18,000-square-foot facility will be more than four times the size of the current cooler, with additional doors for the loading dock.

It will replace Muranaka's 30-year-old cooler, which will be converted to a processing facility for new products that are in development.

After fielding resumes from across the country, the Florida Strawberry Growers Association board unanimously voted to appoint Ted Campbell as its new executive director.

Mr. Campbell, who began working Aug. 1 at the association's headquarters in Dover, FL, said that it was too early in his tenure to state exactly which strategies would be put in place under his directorship.

"Our South African citrus program began with limited supplies in June," said David Mixon, senior vice president of Seald-Sweet International, headquartered in Vero Beach, FL. "Due to growing conditions, supplies were somewhat late -- about two to three weeks behind last year. On a long-term average, it makes this year's movement about four weeks later than normal."

With rising fuel costs affecting California growers' ability to get loads of produce shipped, one southern San Joaquin Valley grower-packer-shipper found that a project that began predominantly as a convenience for truckers and a timesaving element has yielded real fuel- and cost-saving, emission- reducing and area traffic-lowering benefits that greatly exceed the company's original plan.

Coastline Produce in Salinas, CA, is offering premium clipped and washed green beans in microwaveable bags. The new value-added product is a 12- ounce bag packed six or nine bags per carton. Receivers have a choice of an English-only version or a French/English bilingual version for the Canadian marketplace.

SHERMAN OAKS, CA -- Sunkist Growers is realigning its sales operations, trading bricks and mortar for electronic technology to better serve its customers, shippers and growers. According to Mark Tompkins, Sunkist's director of domestic fresh fruit sales, the changes are a result of a comprehensive business evaluation undertaken by the cooperative citrus marketing organization.