GM Produce Sales LLC, which is among the larger importers of Mexican mangos into the United States, has added a new retail specialist and expects to increase its volume by close to 20 percent.

JoJo Shiba, who heads the Los Angeles office for the Hidalgo, TX-based firm, announced the hiring of mango industry veteran Tom Argyros as the western retail specialist. Mr. Argyros has been in the produce industry for more than two decades and has been concentrating on mango sales since 1995.

California-based fresh produce company Prime Harvest hired Jim Stewart as vice president of sales. Mr. Stewart joins Prime Harvest with more than 30 years of experience in the Californian fresh produce industry, having most recently held the positions of president and sales manager at WesPak.

The California Strawberry Commission in Watsonville, CA, and California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, announced in late February the formation of a first-of-its-kind multidisciplinary partnership and the creation of the new Strawberry Sustainability Research & Education Center at Cal Poly made possible by a $1 million gift from the strawberry industry.

Joe Swick, senior market manager for the Pompano State Farmers Market in Pompano Beach, FL, told The Produce News that the market is in the process of moving into a new era with a fresh mentality.

"We are dealing with major issues today in ways that will better serve the community and the environment," said Mr. Swick. "As our tenants have also evolved over the years to be more community minded and environmentally aware, we are working together to make the market an ideal place to work and to serve."

Homegrown Organic Farms, an organic fresh produce marketing company based in Porterville, CA, that represents over 3,500 acres of organic produce, has positioned itself for future growth with the purchase of a new facility in Kingsburg, CA, where it will consolidate all shipping and packing operations for fruit originating in the San Joaquin Valley.

“We are definitely growing” in avocado sales, said Rob Wedin, vice president of fresh sales and marketing at Calavo Growers Inc. in Santa Paula, CA. “We are combining our focus on sales of avocados from Mexico and California avocados, and both sources have a good crop. Both sources have a larger crop than they have had for some time.”