A major packinghouse renovation was well under way at Del Rey Avocado Co. Inc. in Fallbrook, CA, and was within a few weeks of completion, when The Produce News talked to Robert (Bob) Lucy, the company’s president, Feb. 19.

“We have torn down a lot of the old coolers and have built one massive one,” Mr. Lucy said. Instead of having “the three little coolers that we had,” with the space “all chopped up,” those have been replaced with “one great big cooler that will almost double our storage space, which is just wonderful for us.”

Grimmway Farms, one of the world’s larger carrot producers and shippers, continues to expand its connection with the popular “The Biggest Loser” television show as a way to increase awareness for its own brand and to stress its healthy eating emphasis.

As a former director of produce operations, I wore many hats in being responsible for achieving a sales and profit budget. Besides sales and merchandising, another important function was “controlling shrink.”

Whenever a produce manager was questioned about his or her shrink, the response usually was, “I don’t know where our shrink is occurring. I have a good staff and we faithfully follow all the company shrink programs. The numbers have to be wrong.”

2013 National Watermelon Queen Amber Nolin with Gordon Hunt of the National Watermelon Promotion Boa

Today's Headlines

{loadposition todays_headlines2}

Even though Florida’s exclusive window as the producer of the first fresh blueberries of the calendar year is narrowing, production is ramping up and this year promises and abundant crop and ample returns to growers, despite a mild freeze in early March that damaged some fruit in the northern part of the state and nipped at the edges of central Florida fields.