Tanimura & Antle, based in Salinas, CA, is gearing up for salad season with new packaging and promotions designed to drive sales and meet market demands from trade and consumer audiences.

With the 2012 New Zealand Meyer lemon season about to start, Giumarra Cos. is gearing up promotions to move what it expects to be a strong crop.

Holtzinger Fruit Co., based in Yakima, WA, announce that Vickie Edwards has joined the company as sales manager. Ms. Edwards has 32 years of fresh produce experience, including tenures at industry leaders Del Monte Fresh and Sunkist Growers Inc.

Ms. Edwards brings to Holtzinger a wealth of fruit sales and marketing knowledge, and has an affinity for the apple industry, according to a May 9 press release issued by the company.

Edward L. Myrick Produce Inc. in Pompano Beach, FL, got an early start on its Florida season and rolls into the beginning of its Georgia deal about a week earlier than usual.

Myrick grows beans, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant and squash of all types and due to an extremely warm winter and spring will start its Georgia deal “probably around the 15th of May,” said Jimmy Myrick.

On May 15, the Eastern Produce Council will, for the first time in its 46-year history, hold its annual May dinner outside of its normal geographic range. This year’s event will be held at the new Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, which opened its doors in June of 2011.

John McAleavy, executive director of the EPC, told The Produce News that for the past couple of years the board and members have been striving to become more of a regional association, rather than representing produce professionals only in New York and New Jersey.

Village Farms International will host a grand opening ceremony May 17 to celebrate its newest greenhouse in Monahans, TX. The greenhouse features Village Farms' proprietary Greenhouse Advanced Technology Environment System, known as GATES.

The opening event will feature a greenhouse tour, ceremony and reception, and Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples is scheduled as honorary guest speaker for the event.