Informal survey: Music can help sell flowers across generations
“Let the Sunshine In” booming in the background might inspire a flower child who came of age in the 1960s to buy a sunflower bouquet. For those who were teenagers in the 1950s, it might be Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” that inspires them to buy a gardenia corsage. Fast-forward to teens of the 1990s, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers singing “Under the Bridge” could prompt them to buy a brightly dyed bouquet.
Christmas tree sales, up 14 percent last year, expected to rise again in 2012
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas to folks at the National Christmas Tree Association as rosy scenarios roll in on sales of real trees for the 2012 holiday season. “We’re cautiously optimistic,” said Rick Dungey, spokesman for the 5,000-member organization with headquarters in Chesterfield, MO.
FPFC’s Southern California Expo attracts near-record attendance
ANAHEIM, CA — An estimated crowd of more than 1,200 packed the aisles of the Southern California Expo of the Fresh Produce & Floral Council on July 17 at the Disneyland Hotel, here. A capacity crowd of 171 exhibitors occupied all booth space on the show floor. Carissa Mace, head of the council, said that heavy advance registration and a high number of walk-ins the day of the show led to the near-record numbers.
Sakata Farms expects good onions and sweet corn crops
BRIGHTON, CO — With 67 years of farming under his belt, Bob Sakata has seen weather conditions range hit the extremes. This year, he said, Colorado is coming off the “lowest snowpack in history,” and growers remain in the throes of drought.
But at his office in Brighton, the well-respected founder of Sakata Farms said better conditions last fall and good farming practices this year are allowing both the onion crop and the sweet corn to do well.
West Pak Avocado highlighting firm’s JustRipe! ripening program
“West Pak Avocado will be proudly exhibiting at booth number 99” at the Produce Marketing Association Foodservice Conference & Exposition in Monterey, CA, July 20-22, said Doug Meyer, vice president of sales and marketing for the Temecula, CA-based company. “I will be joined by the director of business development, Dan Acevedo, and salesman Jaime Ramirez.”
Fresh Directions
Salinas Valley lettuce shippers were experiencing inconsistent demand from day to day. Leaf shippers were seeing continued good demand from areas of the nation that normally rely on regional growing areas during the summer season. Westside melon shippers were seeing fairly good demand.
WEATHER
Daytime temperatures in Saliinas, CA, were expected to range in the upper 60s through July 31 with overnight lows in the mid-50s. Patchy morning and evening fog was predicted through July 29.
Miles Murphy joins Borton & Sons
Yakima, WA-based Borton & Sons hired MILES MURPHY as director of food safety in the beginning of April.
Mr. Murphy is responsible for managing SQF and GlobalGAP programs for the company’s orchards in order to make sure they are complaint.
“It’s been a big learning experience,” Mr. Murphy said. “I’m enjoying getting to learn about the agriculture business.”
Before joining the team at Borton & Sons, Mr. Murphy worked at Ecolab Inc. for a year and a half. He is a graduate of the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA.
NRA Chair Roz Mallet addresses opening session of PMA Foodservice Conference
MONTEREY, CA -- Rosalyn (Roz) Mallet, chair of the National Restaurant Association and chief executive officer of PhaseNext Hospitality in Plano, TX, joined Produce Marketing Association President and Chief Executive Officer Bryan Silbermann July 21 at the opening session of the PMA Foodservice Conference, here, to talk about the commonalities between the two organizations' objectives as they work to increase produce consumption in the foodservice sector.
Stemilt golf tournament benefits WAEF
Stemilt Growers presented Washington Apple Education Foundation with a check for $12,000, which was raised during the fourth annual Thomas K. Mathison Memorial Golf Tournament, which was held May 17 in Wenatchee, WA.
WAEF is the charitable organization for the Washington tree fruit industry, which oversees more than 150 scholarships each year, including the Thomas K. Mathison Memorial scholarship.
Retail View: Supervalu decline shocks no one
Several weeks ago, Supervalu announced its poor fiscal first quarter results along with a number of cost-cutting and revenue-making measures in an effort to soften the economic blow on Wall Street. But neither Wall Street nor the business community were surprised by the poor performance of the nation’s third-largest grocery store company.