West Pak Avocado Inc. has completed its relocation from Temecula, CA, to a new 115,000-square-foot facility in Murrieta, about four miles from the company’s previous location.

“This facility is our company headquarters and also houses packing, bagging, ripening and distribution facilities,” according to Doug Meyer vice president of sales and marketing. “It is going to be a nice compliment to the California crop” for the season just getting under way.

While other Texas growers were cutting back on their acreage after two tough seasons, Rio Queen in Mission, TX, took a calculated risk and actually increased production. It was a gamble, but perfect weather and proper planning meant an early start to the season and the company will increase yields by 50 percent over 2012.

“We started shipping sweet Texas onions Feb. 16 so we are extremely early,” said Rio Queen President Mike Martin. “We did that by design. We stepped out and took some chances and made an effort to be early and Mother Nature cooperated.”

Glassboro, NJ-based produce distributor, Sunny Valley International, which specializes in New Jersey blueberries and peaches, announced the hiring of CHAD R. PUSCHEL as a new sales associate and account manager.

For its 25^th anniversary, Sidney, OH-based Freshway Foods, a processor, repacker, distributor and logistics provider, is celebrating with tremendous growth, positive change and a longstanding commitment to creating a clear value proposition.

The California strawberry industry had record production in 2012 and is looking at an acreage increase of around 6.5 percent this year, with the clear potential, weather permitting, of setting another volume record.

FoodLink, a commerce and traceability platform that connects fresh food retailers and wholesalers to a network of over 2,000 growers, packers and shippers, announced that California Giant Berry Farms will use the company's item-specific tracking solution on all strawberries grown in the United States.

Under terms of the agreement, FoodLink will create QR-coded labels for "clamshell" strawberry containers. The code will contain information about the specific growing location of the packaged berries, allowing trading partners and consumers to trace the berries back to their source.