How does your organic produce section measure up with your competition in the way of item variety, location and size?

A produce director called me recently and asked what the latest trends were in the organic produce sector. I told him it was expansion, but some of my observations of produce departments revealed a potpourri of various sizes.

Tops Friendly Markets successfully completed the transition of five stores it acquired from Supermarket Management Inc., a longstanding franchise partner. These stores, now operating under the Tops Friendly Markets LLC banner, include four full-service Tops locations along with a Tops Xpress store.

The new Tops stores will keep their existing management teams, continue to employ all 585 associates across the five locations and maintain all their current in-store operations, including pharmacy services.

In the realm of greenhouse agriculture, where the delicate balance of plant care meets the demands of market freshness, the role of technology has never been more pivotal. Picture a greenhouse bustling with activity, yet surprisingly serene, as rows of meticulously tended plants thrive under conditions finely tuned by a blend of human expertise and technological prowess.

New Jersey ranks fourth nationally for peach production, after California, South Carolina and Georgia. Overall, the state has more than 100 varieties of peaches and produces over 60 million pounds a year.

As a fifth-generation farmer at Horntown, VA-based Dublin Farms, David Hickman understands all that the Eastern Shore offers.

Working with his brother, Matthew, and his cousin, Philip, they combined to run the farm, following in the legacy of growing potatoes, which has been done by the family since the late 1800s.

Blueberries are super; just go ask your doctor or health care specialist.

That is what officials at Diamond Blueberries want consumers to understand as they get ready to harvest what they expect to be another excellent crop of blueberries from New Jersey this month.