On May 16, Bob Von Rohr, director of customer relations for Sunny Valley International headquartered in Glassboro, NJ, told The Produce News that this year’s blueberry and peach crops are trending toward an earlier than normal start.

For more than 100 years, the Peixoto family has been farming in the Pajaro Valley on the central coast of California near Watsonville. Dick Peixoto started his farming career in eighth grade by hiring neighborhood kids to pick tomatoes on his family farm so he could market them. From that early start his business has grown tremendously.

Major League Baseball and the produce industry might not exactly go hand-in-hand, but for 26-year-old Brian Lapin the love and pursuit of one led to a promising career in the other.

Peppadew, a pepper-like fruit that is native to South Africa, will be marketed under the “Jersey Fresh” promotional program for the first time this year, with production of the Gold variety of the fruit currently underway in the Garden State.

Additionally, a new facility called Peppadew Fresh Farms & Vineyard will serve as a hub of events and educational activities that revolve around Peppadew.

VINELAND, NJ — With New Jersey vegetables starting early this year thanks to an exceptionally mild winter and early spring, the Vineland Produce Auction likewise opened the 2012 season about a week earlier than normal, according to Joe Bonanno, auction master. Opening day this year was April 12.

Everything old is new again at Vivafresh, which claims a world record of 60 days for holding roses in storage in “pristine shape,” The five-year-old division of Atlas Technologies in Port Townsend, WA, has taken vacuum technology from the late 1960s and made it work commercially for floral products. Its developers think it could revolutionize the way flowers are grown, stored and shipped.