Giumarra Bros. Fruit Co. Reedley, a division of Los Angeles-based The Giumarra Cos., announced in a press release dated April 9 that its stone fruit volume for the 2012 season will increase by 32 percent over the prior year.

Last spring, Georgia farmers took a roundhouse to the jaw when the state Legislature passed one of the nation’s toughest anti-immigration bills just before the start of the spring harvest. Fearful workers stayed away in droves, and the state lost $150 million in crops alone and sustained an overall economic loss of $500 million.

After its first year in operation, the Vidalia Onion Museum, located at the Vidalia Onion Committee headquarters in Vidalia, GA, is an unqualified success, drawing visitors from 40 states and seven countries to the town of 10,000.

HERMOSILLO, MEXICO — It’s a rare day when a state agricultural inspector receives a hero’s welcome, but that is exactly what happened in early April to José Puig, an Arizona field operations/training program manager, when he visited Hermosillo and Caborca, Mexico.

Tad Thompson, business development manager for the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, told The Produce News that the new terminal market has been jumping with activity since it opened its doors on June 5, 2011.

A few months ago, Bland Farms LLC in Glennville, GA, a 12-month supplier of sweet onions and a leader in the Vidalia onion deal, brought in a new chief executive officer and did some other internal restructuring. The results, according to owner Delbert Bland, have been even better than he had hoped for.