Cited for a being a pioneer in the organic farming world, Rod Braga, president and CEO of Braga Fresh, was named the 2023 Organic Grower Summit Grower of the Year at its show in Monterey, CA, Nov. 29-30.

In early November, the Texas International Produce Association opened up booth registrations as it continued its quest to curate a great experience for its Viva Fresh Expo, which will be held April 11-13 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Houston.

Three construction projects that will ultimately double capacity and significantly improve efficiency at the Pharr Bridge border crossing in South Texas are on track and should all be completed by 2026.

“Once it is all done, we will see a significant difference in the way we operate,” said Bridge Director Luis Bazan of the city-owned Pharr Bridge. “We will double the capacity and we will see a significant reduction in wait times. Today’s wait times which are typically 30 minutes to an hour will be cut to 10-15 minutes tops.”

After a challenging year, culminating with a weather-caused delay in its fall production from Mexico, McAllen, TX-based GR Fresh is looking for a strong rebound as it heads into the holiday season and typically greater production from West Mexico.

For the past two years, produce industry members and their representatives have been trying to get the government agencies that report imported produce crossing data from Mexico to go back to the previous more timely reports.

So far, those efforts have not resulted in action so now they are enlisting help from their political representatives and trying to publicize the problem to shine light on what they call government inaction.

A lack of rain has reduced the size of the current avocado crop from Mexico, according to a report from the leadership team at La Bonanza Avocados.