Evan Ehlers was a student at Drexel University in 2018 when he conjured up the idea of using his dining hall meal ticket to donate the food he wasn’t going to eat that semester to those in need.

“I would put the food in my car and drive around Center City Philadelphia handing it out,” he said, noting that it gave him a first-hand look at poverty. “For a lot of people, it was the only meal they were going to have that day.”

The big news out of Peru this season is that its avocado crop is smaller than it has been, but that will not be evident in the volume available from Santa Paula, CA-based Calavo Growers Inc.

“Overall, Peru has a smaller crop but our volume coming to the U.S. market will be a little bit more than last year, with a slightly smaller size curve,” said Peter Shore, vice president of product management.

Though Mission Produce is one of the leading exporters of avocados from Peru, this year it will rely on several points of supply to fill demand for avocados during the summer months.

By a wide margin, the 2024 California avocado crop is being picked and packed in much greater numbers than previously anticipated, which resulted in the California Avocado Commission significantly increasing its crop estimate in its annual mid-season report.

Make no mistake about it, Mark McBride is old school.

He is proudly going to take that characterization into retirement with him when he steps down from his sales position at Coastline Family Farms, where he has spent the final two decades of his notable career.

Umberto Bifulco Jr. (Bert) was born on Staten Island, NY, and attended schools there. He worked on the family farm that his parents started in 1929 after coming from Naples, Italy. The young Bifulco branched out and owned a fruit and vegetable market and also had a commission house in the New York City Produce Market with his brother.