The Organic Grower Summit presented by Western Growers and OPN returned to Monterey, CA, on Nov. 30 with a sold-out exhibition floor and jam-packed educational sessions where growers and educators provided firsthand information in a variety of areas ranging from agtech to food safety and sustainability.

Tops Friendly Markets promoted Carmen Torres to perishable warehouse supervisor.

In this role Torres will oversee the daily operations of warehouse employees, ensure compliance with all company policies, assist in the training of new hires, and ensure all safety, production, sanitation and quality standards are attained.

Torres, who was most recently a grocery warehouse shipping clerk for Tops, resides in Depew, NY, with her four children.

Tops is a leading full-service grocery retailer in New York, northern Pennsylvania and Vermont.

Campos Borquez and Deardorff Family Farms have come together to provide the marketplace a consistent supply of organic vegetables directly from farmers committed to social and environmental sustainability. The program will focus on organic celery and then add organic broccoli and organic cauliflower later in the season.

When you’ve been doing something well for 40 years, you become a trusted name in the industry. That’s certainly the case with Exp Group, which distributes tropical fruits and vegetables.

The company’s 35-acre, 293,000-square-foot facility in North Bergen, NJ, houses Exp Group, Exp Logistics and Exp Banana.

As the booming $7 billion avocado industry in the U.S. is continually navigating opportunities as well as challenges that impact its future, emerging leaders are stepping forward and investing their passion and time for the betterment of the whole industry through the Hass Avocado Board’s Board Leadership Development (BOLD) program.

Brighter Bites, a national nonprofit organization that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables directly into families’ hands, is further expanding within the Washington, DC, area.

Brighter Bites has served families in Prince George’s County, MD, since 2017, and is now expanding its reach to hundreds of more families in the D.C. Public Schools District. This year, the organization is serving 16 schools in Prince George's County and two in Washington, DC.