Inaugural expo a highlight of 54th annual FPAA convention

John Groh

November 6, 2023

TUCSON, AZ — The Fresh Produce Association of the Americas held its 54th annual convention Nov. 2-4, here, at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort. The event featured the inaugural SWIPE (Southwest International Produce Expo), drawing nearly 40 exhibitors involved growing, shipping and promoting produce from Mexico.

Justin Wright and Jeff Richardson of Great Lakes Greenhouses.

Zorian Fonseca and Karen Greathouse of First Interstate Bank.

The iDeal HarBest team of Adrian Gonzalez, Hermy Torres, Lory Rodriguez, Manny Fajardo, Danny Baltazar and Dominic Romero.

At the Wilson Produce booth were Scott Kosnik, Alicia Martin and German Moreno.

Produce House was represented by Raquel Espinoza, Gracie Aguirre, Juan Garcin, Camila Espinoza, Esteban Paz and Emma Hobbs.

At the Grower Alliance booth were Ramon Barraza, Luis Hanna, Jacob Villanez and Eddie Condes.

Fresh International was represented by Nick Rendon, JJ Badillo and Lori Badillo.

Sporting a gift basket giveaway they won on the show floor were Arthuro Jimenez, Evelyn Castro and KJ Peraza.

Dan Spellman and Ramon Ojeda of the National Mango Board.

Bryan Barsness of GrubMarket with Chris Damon of Produce Connection.

Jesus Urias, Alexa Lopez, Daniel Alegria, Dora Castro, Tully Tranthan, Sasha Lewton and Sergio Chamberlain of Farmer’s Best.

Luis Cruz, Sabrina Olivarez and Becky Brennan of WestRock.

Denisse Mercado, Jason Kanis and Kyle McGrath of Tricar Sales.

Jaime Bustamente and Kevin Smith of DRC.

Marco Serrano, Martha Noriega and David Watson of Fresh Farms.

Brian Itule of Ciruli Bros.

At the Divine Flavor booth were Luis Rodriguez, Michael DuPuis and Patrick Cortes.

At the Malena booth were Gonzalo Avila, Denise Quiroga, Alyna Cardenas and Luis Galviz.

Otilio Garavito, Nate Bachelier, Kenny Olmos and Atanasio Panousopoulos of Delta Fresh Sales and Sherman Trucking.

Adrian Vazquez of Frello Fresh.

At the Frank’s Distributing booth were (front row) Isabel Pena, Marielle Lujan and Monica Martinez, and (back row) Eddie Stoller, Ricardo Roiz and Luis Soto.

At the Seeded Produce booth were Omar Losolla, Isaac Losolla, Luis Vargas, Caleb Losolla, Egla Losolla, Omar Sanchez and Jose Vasquez.

Veggie From Mexico was represented by Chema Gaxiola and Georgius Gotsis.

Bobby Astengo, Czarina Astengo and Juan Pablo Diaz of Peppers Plus.

Gustavo Elias, Jose Luis Obregon, Alvaro Obregon, Samanta Alvarez and Enrique Obregon of IPR Fresh.

JC Myers and Bob Hartmann of SunFed.

Wholesum Family Farms was represented by Ricardo Crisantes, Memo Castillo and Joanna Jaramillo.

John Groh

About John Groh |

John Groh graduated from the University of San Diego in 1989 with a bachelors of arts degree in English. Following a brief stint as a sportswriter covering the New York Giants football team, he joined The Produce News in 1995 as an assistant editor and worked his way up the ranks, becoming publisher in 2006. He and his wife, Mary Anne, live in northern New Jersey in the suburbs of New York City.

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