Texas eyeing strong onion market
With onion production winding down from several competing areas and a smaller crop from the Rio Grande Valley anticipated for this season, it appears that a strong onion market may accompany the Texas onion crop throughout its six-week deal.
Because Mexico, which ships a significant number of sweet onions through Texas in the February-through-March time frame, tends to shut down around Easter, some Texas growers got started a little early this year in late March because of the early Easter date (March 27).
Rising country music star to play following Viva Fresh golf tournament
The proceeds from the second annual Viva Fresh Open will benefit the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Urban School Grant.
McDaniel sees expanding marketplace
On average, avocado sales in the United States have enjoyed double-digit growth for more than a decade — and veteran Rankin McDaniel Sr. of Fallbrook, CA-based McDaniel Fruit Co., sees more of the same on the horizon.
Surveying his own company’s efforts in the past year, he admitted that the status quo has been the order of the day in most regards though he added that the firm has expanded its acreage in California, increased its packaging capability and added to its bagging capacity.
Seven Seas expands strawberry footprint
With a strong program in Central Mexico and expanded acreage in Santa Maria, CA, to complement its Watsonville, CA, production, Seven Seas Berries has become a year-round grower-shipper of strawberries.
Watsonville-based Seven Seas Berries, which is the grower-shipper-supplier arm of Tom Lange Co. Inc. headquartered in Springfield, IL, relishes the added elements that this expansion gives it in the strawberry division of the firm.
Dirt Works training new generation of family farmers in South Carolina
ST. JOHN’S ISLAND, SC — The average age of a farmer in South Carolina is 59, a figure that has steadily increased with each five-year survey taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And most of the roughly 25,000 farms in the state in the latest survey in 2012 were smaller, family farms, with 60 acres the most common size.
Bob Meek named CEO of Utah Onions
Utah Onions Inc., a leading grower-shipper-marketer of fresh onions based in Syracuse, UT, announced the appointment of Bob Meek as chief executive officer. The appointment is effective April 4.
PACA sanctions lifted from Illinois produce business
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that Nico Mexi Foods Inc. satisfied a reparation order issued under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act so the Chicago-based company is now free to operate in the produce industry.
Additionally, Nicolas Ibarra was listed as the officer, director and major stockholder of the business and may now be employed by or affiliated with any PACA licensee.
Sanctions had been imposed on the company in January 2015 because Nico Mexi Foods failed to pay a $7,547 award in favor of an Illinois seller.
World Floral Expo 2016
LOS ANGELES — The World Floral Expo exhibit hall, here, was larger than last year, with lots of space between the various booths, which eliminated the crowded feeling of some shows. The expo offered opportunity for industry members to see new products currently available on the market and also some coming into production soon.
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Avocados from Mexico teams up with Tabasco for Cinco de Mayo
Avocados from Mexico, the top-selling avocado in the United States, announced a national partnership with Tabasco to spice up sales in time for Cinco de Mayo with its Fiesta Del Fuego campaign.
Fresno Food Expo looks to extend its success
Now in its sixth year of operation, the Fresno Food Expo has created a reputation as the nation’s only exclusively regional food show celebrating agricultural diversity in the San Joaquin Valley of California — the largest food-producing region in the world.