Price Chopper campaign raises $47,000 and 29 tons of food
Price Chopper’s 2014 Check Out Hunger campaign, an annual giving program that was available at all 134 store locations, raised more than $47,000 and 29 tons of food for 12 local food banks and their affiliated kitchens and pantries in the chain’s six-state footprint: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
Foxy’s Organic ‘BroccoLeaf’ generating interest
Since The Nunes Co. introduced its innovative “BroccoLeaf” product to the marketplace, it has achieved great critical success as well as generating tremendous interest from the buyer community.
Doug Classen, sales manager for the Salinas, CA-based company and its Foxy brand of produce, said the specialty store organic buyers were the early adopters of Foxy Organic BroccoLeaf, but the mainline conventional retailers have also expressed a lot of interest.
An organic New Year’s resolution from The Organic Center
On Dec. 29, The Organic Center, an independent non-profit research and education organization whose mission is to convene credible, evidence-based science on the health and environmental benefits of organic food and farming, and to communicate the findings to the public, issued a press release intended to help people ring in the New Year and truly turn over a healthy leaf.
In the release, the center transformed the top ten studies of 2014 into New Year’s resolutions that show how to improve the state of your diet and the state of our planet by choosing organic.
Thanksgiving saw big bump in movement for Worley & McCullough
Potato movement for Monte Vista, CO, company Worley & McCullough picked up nicely during the Thanksgiving period, according to Grower Relations/Food Safety Officer Erin Cooper, who said the uptick in traffic was throughout the month of November.
“Thanksgiving was quite busy this year,” Cooper said in early January. “We saw an increase in traffic, but it was spread throughout November which made production more efficient for the warehouse.” She went on to say that “due to the influx of business in November, December slowed slightly.”
Houlihan named executive director of WPVGA
Tamas Houlihan is now the execute director of the Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association. He succeeds Duane Maatz.
Although he officially took the post on Dec. 4, 2014, Houlihan isn’t exactly a stranger to the job in Antigo, WI. He had been the interim executive director since August. Furthermore, Houlihan told The Produce News that his recent appointment ended his third term as interim executive director. He also had that role in 2000 and 2008.
Detroit bouncing back from bankruptcy, brings hope to produce terminal
Despite its economic struggles in recent years, the future of Detroit is looking bright as the city’s 16-month-long municipal bankruptcy case, the largest in U.S. history, officially ended Wednesday, Dec. 10.
Although things are certainly taking a turn for the better, the city still has a long road ahead, reversing decades of population loss and restoring its economy to what it once was.
Belleharvest in ongoing quest for new apple varieties
“We are happy with where we are,” said Christopher Sandwick, vice president of sales and marketing for Belleharvest Sales Inc., located in Belding, MI. But ideally the company strives to be a specialist in new, tasty apple varieties.
“We continue to try and elevate our status in new varieties from around the world,” Sandwick said. The effort doesn’t instantly pay off but it’s “a long play” to achieve the goals of having new types of apples that taste good and have other unique, new high qualities.
Honeybear Brands rings in the New Year with ‘Pazazz’
Honeybear Brands — the marketing division of Wescott Agri-Products, a grower, producer and marketer of premium apples and pears — brought in the New Year with some extra Pazazz.
The Elgin, MN-based company officially introduced its latest apple creation, Pazazz, in select produce retailers across the country in early January.
Good quality, shortfall in other areas could bode well for Colorado spuds
Jim Ehrlich, executive director of the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, said a marketplace shortage of cartons has reflected in the price of potatoes this shipping season, and given that “our quality is probably the best in the industry year-in and year-out,” Colorado could have an advantage with volume.