Lease negotiations between New York City and Hunts Point extended for third time
The lease negotiations between the City of New York and the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market have again been extended.
A story by Lisa Fickenscher published on Sept. 26 in Crain's New York Business.com, stated that the on-again, off-again exclusive lease negotiations between the city and the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market have been extended for the third time.
The story stated that the market, a co-op of 115 merchants, and the city's Economic Development Corp. agreed Monday to keep talks between themselves through Oct. 31, keeping New Jersey officials at bay.
Record attendance at picturesque venue marks SPC Fall Conference
ASHEVILLE, NC — A record 328 people attended the Southeast Produce Council's annual Fall Conference, held Sept. 19-22 at the Grove Park Inn, a beautiful venue nestled here in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains.
Among the highlights of the event were an opening cocktail party; a general session where outgoing President John Shuman delivered his state-of-the-council report; the president's dinner-dance, where attendees met the new officers of the council; a golf tournament; and the closing party.
Strong vegetable market should continue into winter production
Across the board, it has been a fairly strong summer for California producers of lettuce and other core vegetables, and all indications are that strong demand will be the order of the day for the foreseeable future.
Coast Tropical expects volume increase from Ecuador
San Diego-based Coast Tropical was moving along with steady but a controlled volume of mangos from Brazil during September prior to its big push the rest of the fall with fruit from Ecuador and Peru.
Fresh cut options expanding greatly at Lancaster Foods
John Gates, president of Lancaster Foods LLC in Jessup, MD, told The Produce News that the company continues to increase the amount of processing it does.
“We continue to process salads, but we are also engaged in numerous other fresh-cut and repacked items today,” he said. “A tremendous amount of our fresh-cut processed products go to foodservice operators, as well as retailers, for which we offer retail packs.”
Kingston & Associates Marketing hires Edgar Salazar
Idaho Falls, ID-based Kingston & Associates Marketing added EDGAR SALAZAR to its quality control team Aug. 27 as the new QC/QA and field inspector for its Monterey, CA, office.
69th annual FFVA convention draws attention to Florida growers' successes and challenges
NAPLES, FL — The 300-plus attendees at the 69th annual Florida Fruit & Vegetable Convention, held Sept. 18-21 at the Ritz-Carlton resort, here, heard from some of the industry's leading lights, met to discuss issues and challenges, relaxed a little in the Florida sunshine, and then went home to deal with an ever-evolving agriculture landscape in the state.
Florida Sen. Alan Hayes (R-Umatilla), honored as one of the FFVA Legislators of the Year, perhaps put it best during his acceptance speech: "This is a team sport, folks. It's also a contact sport."
New name, new logo for endive producer
Originally named Rebel Farms because everyone doubted that Belgian-style endive could be grown successfully in America, California Vegetable Specialties has a new name: California Endive Farms.
Founded in 1983 with just five acres by Rich Collins and his wife, Shelly, the company is the leading grower of white endive in the United States and one of the larger growers of red endive in the world.
Two produce industry veterans join Mann Packing
Mann Packing is expanding its staff with two new hires. Denise Takakjian joins the sales staff to replace Bixby Ramsey, who is moving to field operations, and Brian Bengard is the new regional sales manager for the company's foodservice division in the Western United States.
New apple variety from FirstFruits of Washington features intense sweetness and crunch
With the start of fall, apples are showing up in the produce aisle in a big way. And Sweetie, a new and intensely sweet and crunchy apple variety from FirstFruits of Washington, is making an appearance at retail this September.