RIO RICO, AZ — A handshake with a Mexican grower 29 years ago put Bill Sykes in business. No contracts were ever signed, but trade continues to expand for grower-representative Sykes, who is president of The Sykes Co., based here.

His winter and spring watermelon offerings are expanding as key commodities for Sykes.

NOGALES, AZ — “Gradual and safe growth” has been the business approach for Sergio Chamberlain, president of SCC Fresh LLC, since he launched the company four years ago. Still, “we grow more and more each year,” he said. SCC Fresh handles Mexican produce entering McAllen, TX, as well as Nogales, but Nogales represents “a huge portion” of company sales. “We have a cold storage in McAllen” for some produce shipments.

Chamberlain has been in the produce business for 25 years.

RIO RICO, AZ — Produce distributors in this Nogales, AZ, shipping region have various business approaches. For IPR Fresh, the key approach is to select in Nogales the right products to fill customer orders. Among the local roughly 100 produce brokers and distributors, “We know who has the best product,” said Francisco Obregon, who heads business development for IPR Fresh. Essentially, IPR Fresh customers provide the company with shopping lists.

RIO RICO, AZ — Given consumer interest in nutritious, healthy eating and meat substitutes, these are good days for eggplant.

Malena Produce Inc. claims to be North America’s largest-volume eggplant grower and shipper.

Gonzalo Avila, the vice president and general manager of Malena, said the strongest demographic segment for consuming eggplant are older consumers, well-educated and higher-income households.

“Our job is to educate consumers,” Avila continued. “People say: ‘It looks nice. How do I eat it?’ “

NOGALES, AZ — Working in an international border town representing a produce trade that can have an annual value as high as $3 billion can be a daunting task.

Such is the career of Allison Moore, director of legislative and regulatory affairs for the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas. Moore calmly takes countless matters in stride, one at a time.

RIO RICO, AZ — Like the industry we serve, the world of produce journalism tends to become specialized. Onetime journalism students tended to move to a region and then get to know that section’s people and companies.

In the case of Kevin Hoppe of The Produce News, he graduated from the University of Kansas in 1978 and went to work on the West Coast. The prior year I’d packed my typewriter, Pentax K1000 camera and a couple of purple shirts from Kansas State and moved to Philadelphia.