A survey of shoppers in 58 countries across the globe revealed that fresh food continues to play an increasingly important role in the shopping decisions of most consumers.

The Nielsen Shopper Trends Survey was a global study covering 54 markets with a total sample size of 87,000 respondents. The survey was conducted online or with face-to-face follow-up in home interviews.

Valhalla Sales & Marketing, Inc., based in Kingsbury, CA, added GERRY SCHEIDT to its sales and customer development team.

Consumers are always shopping for sweet onions, and Curry & Co. is pleased to include Texas 1015s as part of its year-round sweet onion program. “We believe that the demand for sweet onions is year-round,” President Matt Curry told The Produce News on March 24. “The Texas sweet onion crop is an important part of this year round mix. It is the first domestic sweet available in the new year and helps set the stage for the season.”

“The Canadian Produce Marketing Association Convention & Trade Show is smaller than the Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit, and that means we get to spend more time with our customers at the CPMA event,” said Ken Green, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Westmoreland Sales, headquartered in Leamington, ON. “The majority of the customers that we see at this show are Canadian.”

The 2013 CPMA expo will be held in Toronto April 17-19.

The Michigan Apple Committee, based in DeWitt, MI, has hired two account managers, who will facilitate the sale of Michigan apples in retail stores. Michael Bardon of Grand Ledge, MI, and Terry Braithwaite of East Wenatchee, WA, will begin work with the committee this month.

WASHINGTON — Farmers would not lose experienced workers, future workers would move through a new visa system, and enforcement of E-Verify would be delayed for agricultural operations under the new immigration reform bill hailed by farm workers and agricultural employers at an April 17 press conference.

Just days ago, the Agriculture Workforce Coalition and the United Farm Workers reached an agreement on agricultural labor provisions -- a signal of how fluid negotiations were on the immigration reform legislation right up until the bill was introduced this week.