Tom Page to retire from Supervalu
Tom Page, whose career in the retail food industry spans over 40 years, will be retiring from Supervalu Inc. this coming June.
Page, who is based in Lakeland, FL, is East Coast-import procurement manager for Supervalu, which is headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, MN, and which has around 3,000 stores under a variety of banners throughout the United States, he noted.
Growers check out new varieties at Seminis’ annual field day at research station
On May 21, 2013, vegetable growers from around the Southeastern United States gathered at the Seminis research station in Felda, FL, for a close look at more than 100 recently commercialized and pre-commercial Seminis varieties of vegetables, including additions to the company’s premium watermelon line. Among the featured products was a pre-commercial pollenizer hybrid watermelon, showcased as a new pollenizer option for SV0241WA, a high-quality 45/60 count watermelon hybrid with an average of three to four fruits set per plant.
Annual California watermelon festival grows into Pasadena’s Rose Bowl
There are watermelon festivals, and then there are Watermelon Festivals. For more than 50 years, the annual Sunland-Tujunga (CA) Watermelon Festival has drawn thousands from the Los Angeles area, and it has finally gotten so big that the 2013 event will require a new home: the legendary Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, CA. This year, the National Watermelon Promotion Board will also be stepping in as a sponsor for the Aug. 14-16 festivities, hosted by the Sunland-Tujunga Lions Club and benefitting schools, youth and community activities.
At Sage, individualization is key to successful marketing programs
Sage Fruit Co. lives by the motto that one-size marketing programs do not fit all. “Most retailers want to differentiate themselves from their competition to keep from having the ‘me, too’ syndrome,” President Chuck Sinks told The Produce News.
Sustainability practices a way of life at Peri & Sons
Global sustainability begins at home for Peri & Sons Farms. “Sustainability relies on a balance of environment, society and economics. All three are equally important for the longevity of not only the company, but for global sustainability as well,” Director of Food Safety & Organics Lindsay Dixon told The Produce News on May 9. “In regard to environmental sustainability, it is not just a philosophy at Peri & Sons; it is a way of life. It has to be. Not only is sustainable farming morally right, but farming is our livelihood.
Kary Osmond partners with OPMA for Produce Made Simple
Members of the produce industry recently had the chance to meet Kary Osmond at the Ontario Produce Marketing Association booth at the 2013 CPMA convention, where she was promoting the Produce Made Simple campaign. Ms. Osmond, former host of the CBC’s cooking show, “Best Recipes Ever,” has joined with the OPMA to create a healthy living program which stresses simplicity and learning the fundamentals of working with produce.
Pueblo Centennial High student takes top honors in Colorado Potato’s essay contest
Sixteen-year-old Emily Perez, a Pueblo, CO, Centennial High School sophomore and outstanding member of that school’s track team, was named winner of the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee’s Healthy Choice essay contest.
For her essay entitled “Loving Healthy Colorado Potatoes,” the student athlete received an Adventure Pack valued at $300. The pack contained redeemable gift cards which enable Ms. Perez to continue her “healthy and active lifestyle and having fun at the same time.”
Merger with WesPak gives Rivermaid Trading a strong full-season stone fruit program
Rivermaid Trading Co. in Lodi, CA, handled sales of stone fruit and other products grown and packed by WesPak Inc. during the 2012 season, following a merger of the two companies’ sales groups April 1, 2012. On Oct. 1, following the end of the shipping season, Rivermaid and WesPak finalized a full merger that brought WesPak into the Rivermaid group of companies and significantly expanded the Rivermaid product line, according to Blair Richardson, president and managing partner of WesPak.
O-G Packing had successful season with hothouse cherries
Hothouse-grown cherries were available from California in commercial volumes for the first time this year, according to Jim Hanson, a salesman at Grower Direct LLC in Stockton, CA, exclusive sales agent for O-G Packing Co.
“We have completed the season now,” Mr. Hanson told The Produce News in late April. “We are currently harvesting [field grown] cherries“ out of districts from Arvin to Fresno. The company expected to continue shipping cherries through June, with production peaking out of the northern districts in California late May and June.
Ingardia Bros. celebrates 40 years of success and growth
When Sam Ingardia was honorably discharged from the Navy in the early 1970s, he wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to do, but he knew he wanted to work for himself.
He went to work in the Southern California community of Costa Mesa where soon a vacant store front opened up next to his place of employment. “My father was in the shoe business but my uncles had a fruit stall in a produce market in Sicily and that sounded like something I could do.”