Calavo Growers Inc., which is headquartered in Santa Paula, CA, continues to work on improving quality and consistency in its tomato program “inside of this 2012-13 season,” according to Javier (J.J.) Badillo, director of diversified products in the company’s Nogales, AZ, office.

The company is also expanding the Roma side of its tomato business as well as its red bell pepper program, which is now in its second year.

It was a little like building an airplane while trying to fly it. Mrs. Bloom’s Direct, an Elmsford, NY, importer, opened a West Coast office last fall that also will be home for its new mass-market division, Thai Blooms. The office experienced its baptism by fire during the Valentine’s Day holiday.

Jim Daly, vice president of Floralife global operations and corporate research, and Alan Tanouye, general manager of North American operations for Floralife, have recently been appointed to industry organizations, the Walterboro, SC, post-harvest products and technical services company announced in a press release.

Floral importers who rely on cargo ships unloading at East Coast docks breathed a sigh of relief in early February as a potential strike was averted that could have flummoxed importers and caused bottlenecks as they tried to re-route shipments to the West Coast.

Officials of the Fresh Produce & Floral Council expect to draw more than a thousand attendees and about 170 exhibitors to its Northern California Expo at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, CA, on April 10. They anticipate the show will feature about 40 floral booths among 160 exhibitors.

A Dutch floral design team from the Boerma Instituut in Aalsmeer, Holland, will give daily demonstrations between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. all three days of the World Floral Expo in downtown New York, according to officials at HPP Exhibitions, sponsor of the annual trade show.