The Eastern Produce Council will honor Gordon M. Hochberg, vice president of The Produce News, with its 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award during its 46th annual dinner dance Saturday, April 5, at the Westmount Country Club in Woodland Park, NJ.

Denny Donovan, sales manager at Fresh Kist Produce LLC in Santa Maria, CA, said everyone in the vegetable production business in California knows there is a gap coming, but just when it is going to hit appears to be a moving target.

For the better part of a week in early December, extremely cold temperatures gripped much of the state, including the Central Coast, the Salinas Valley and the San Joaquin Valley.

“On December 6, the temperatures here in Santa Maria got as low as 21 degrees,” Donovan said. “I’ve never seen it that low.”

Though it is considered a staple product and doesn’t generate an extreme amount of excitement, carrot sales have garnered considerable growth during the past year and are actually in the midst of a pretty good five-year run.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the keynote speaker at a new joint general session hosted by the United Fresh Produce Association and the Food Marketing Institute this June in Chicago.

“We are honored to have Secretary Clinton as our keynote speaker for this very special event,” Tom Stenzel, United Fresh president and chief executive officer, said in a press release.

Eclipse Berry Farms LLC in Los Angeles, which is in the strawberry business year-round with production in California and Mexico, has expanded its California program this year with production in the Santa Maria district.

“This is the first year we have been in Santa Maria,” said Stuart Gilfenbain, who handles sales at Eclipse along with Rick Hearst and Ashley Chavira.

RIO RICO, AZ — Fruit sales in Japan are notorious for moving perfect fruit at outrageously high prices.

MAS Melons & Grapes LLC, located here, has met the challenge of selling honeydew to Japan. The process of meeting Japanese Brix requirements has opened other doors.

MAS is an acronym using the initials of the company’s 52 percent owner: Miguel Angel Suarez. In Spanish, the word “mas” means “more.” Suarez is best known by his nickname, “Miky.”

Suarez launched MAS with four Mexican grower-partners 17 years ago.