“The crowd this year is mildly optimistic, more serious about buying than last year.” That statement by Steven Medeiros, marketing manager at Clearwater Nursery in Nipomo, CA, summed up the sentiments of several vendors at the International Floriculture Expo in Miami Beach, FL, June 19-22.

“Building the Future, One Opportunity at a Time” will be the theme of the Fresh Produce & Floral Council’s Southern California Expo July 17 at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, CA. About 1,500 floral and produce professionals are expected to attend, an FPFC spokesman said in a June 15 interview, and a capacity crowd of 171 exhibitors has reserved all booth space on the show floor.

Mann Packing, based in Salinas, CA, kicked off its annual summer promotion with on-pack instant redeemable coupons and participation in a food conference designed for food writers.

The Canadian Produce Marketing Association’s convention was the starting point for this year's European Flavors, a European Union project for worldwide promotion of the quality and tastiness of fresh and processed European fruit and vegetable products.

European Flavors has already set foot in Calgary, where pears, kiwis, oranges and plums were at the center of a promotion initiative aimed at Canadian consumers.

Branding and success go hand in hand in New York. The Empire State’s Pride of New York program, first developed in 1996, provides instant recognition among consumers for products grown and consumed in New York.

Having leased office space in Leamington, ON, for the past decade, the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers’ members decided it was time to purchase a building to house the association’s offices. It moved into the new building on Seneca Road in Leamington April 23.