For the first time ever, growers, shippers and suppliers from the Salinas Valley will exhibit their products together at the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit convention this October in Anaheim, CA.

The Grower-Shipper Association of Central California is serving as the umbrella organization for its members and will attempt to duplicate the success it has had with its “Salad Bowl of the World” pavilion concept that it debuted at the 2011 United Fresh Produce Association convention and repeated this year.

Produce Alliance LLC, which specializes in helping member businesses grow within the produce industry, announced May 24 the addition of three new employees to its headquarters office in Nashville, TN.

Chicago native SCOTT BAGAN recently joined Produce Alliance’s sales team.

Tony Anderson of Anderson Produce and the Texas Melon Exchange in Edinburg, TX, knows people heard about the hailstorms that hit the Texas crop earlier this season. What he hopes is that they have also heard about the crop’s remarkable recovery.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service announced June 5 the eradication of European grapevine moth from Fresno, Mendocino, Merced and San Joaquin counties in California and the removal of restrictions on exports of EGVM host commodities, including stone fruit and table grapes, from those counties to Mexico.

According to several sources, the merger discussions between the United Fresh Produce Association and the Produce Marketing Association continue with no announced timeline for the conclusion of those discussions.

During the United convention show in early May, several very well-placed individuals who were privy to the information told The Produce News that a merger vote was scheduled by both associations for this week (June 4). However, it has been learned that the vote was postponed at least one month, though talks continue.

The Oppenheimer Group's volume of avocados has increased significantly in the last few years, and the produce marketer and distributer has launched an avocado-ripening service to better accommodate eastern U.S. and eastern Canadian customers. This service complements the ripening protocols Oppenheimer implemented for its western customers in 2010.