From the Viking trail to the produce department
Editor's note: The following is an account of a particularly challenging, albeit rewarding, project of setting up a produce department in one of North America's more extreme locations as told by In The Trenches columnist and produce consultant Ron Pelger.
In the year 1001, Erik the Red's son, Leif, and his sea-faring Vikings sailed from Iceland to Greenland and eventually found their way to Labrador and the very rocky island of Newfoundland in what is today a province in eastern Canada.
Uniban CEO says banana industry resisting financial crisis
MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA -- "Bananas, we think, are a primary food in all of our markets," said Luis Arango, president of Uniban, a grower-owned cooperative, which is among Colombia's larger banana producer-exporters.
Thus, Mr. Arango expects that in a difficult world economy, banana sales "will be affected less than other kinds of goods and products."
Driscoll launches expanded European program
Watsonville, CA-based Driscoll Strawberry Associates Inc. has established a new business unit - Driscoll's of Europe - in order to better serve the marketing needs of retail and foodservice customers on the European continent.
The new company is headquartered in Breda, the Netherlands, and Theo Houwen has been named managing director of Driscoll's of Europe. Previously, he served as director of Northern Europe for Bonduelle Groupe, a manufacturer of fresh and processed vegetables, and has been in the food industry in Europe for 19 years.
U.S. legislator speaks out on need for California water infrastructure
"California's biggest industry is still agriculture, and the beating that it has taken by burdensome regulations, high taxes, and water and electricity shortages has been staggering," Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) told The Produce News during an exclusive interview Feb. 25.
California's water crisis is "very real" and it poses "an imminent threat to Central Valley farming," he said, alluding to cutbacks in state and federal water allocations that will take hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland out of production this year.
After fire, Rio Queen bigger and better than ever
From adversity comes opportunity, and such was the case with the fire that leveled the Rio Queen Inc. facilities in Mission, TX, last summer.
"We've rebuilt on the same spot, but we're bigger and better," said Gretchen Kreidler, who handles marketing and public relations for the longtime Rio Grande Valley grower and shipper. "We have built a facility is more energy efficient. For example, we have eliminated 60 different motors."
SPC sixth annual conference and expo are set for Tampa
The Southeast Produce Council has planned a full program of business and social events for its sixth annual conference and trade show, scheduled for March 5-7 in Tampa, FL.
The council expects attendance to approach 1,000 for this year's event, which would match last year's event in Orlando, FL, according to SPC Executive Director Terry Vorhees. "We'll have somewhere between 900 and 1,000. That's where the numbers fell last year," Mr. Vorhees told The Produce News March 3.
Sage Fruit's Sonya display contest a winner
The checkered flag is down and Rob Jackson, produce manager for Albertson's in Flagstaff, AZ, has been declared the winner of Sage Fruit Co.'s Sonya apple display contest.
Sage Fruit President Chuck Sinks said that the contest was announced at last year's Fresh Summit. "The display contest was to show the apple and promote Kasey Kahne and his likeness," he told The Produce News. "[Mr. Jackson] did a great job in building the display."
NWPB looks to take New York City, the friendly skies and the blogosphere by storm
CHARLESTON, SC -- Looking for new avenues to promote watermelons, the National Watermelon Promotion Board is coming to the crossroads of the world, New York City's Times Square.
Vidalia onion pioneer Raymond Bland was 81
GLENNVILLE, GA -- Raymond D. Bland, a founder of Bland Farms and one of the early sweet onion farmers in this famed onion production region, died Feb. 19. He was 81.
"He had been disabled for about four years - bedridden," said Delbert Bland, his only son with whom he founded Bland Farms LLC in 1982. Born in 1927, Raymond Bland grew up and remained in the Vidalia onion- producing area of south Georgia all his life. "People around here don't migrate around too much," said Michael Hively, chief financial officer and general manager of Bland Farms.
Melon 1 and Borders Melon now utilizing HarvestMark
CHARLESTON, SC -- Two of the larger firms in the watermelon industry - Borders Melon Co. Inc. and Melon 1 Inc. - are now utilizing YottaMark Inc.'s HarvestMark solution for traceability.
Redwood City, CA-based YottaMark made the announcements during the National Watermelon Convention, held here Feb. 18-22 at the Francis Marion Hotel.