Capitalizing on a strong stone fruit market and looking ahead to future opportunities, The Oppenheimer Group and Pride Packing Co. have joined forces.

The recently announced alliance with the Wapato, WA-based Pride represents Vancouver, BC-based Oppenheimer's first full-scale venture into domestic stone fruit marketing.

CHICAGO  At the U.S. Apple Association 2005 Apple Crop Outlook & Marketing Conference, held here at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago Aug. 18-19, James R. Cranney Jr., vice president of the hosting group, told the audience of apple marketers that the total U.S. apple crop this season will be down 6 percent over 2004 and should total about 234.2 million bushels, which is, however, 3 percent above the five-year average.

Earlier this month, the state of Pennsylvania gave $500,000 for a small local supermarket chain to open another unit in Philadelphia.

The state made a similar investment in Shop Rite late last year, which has resulted in the development of another Philadelphia supermarket that is already up and running.

And the state has about $19 million more earmarked for similar investment.

Plans for the second annual Fair Trade Month to be held in October are being finalized through Oakland, CA-based non-profit TransFair USA, the only independent third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States.

Fair Trade certification is a business model that aligns the interests of growers, farmworkers, the industry and consumers. Fair Trade growers are guaranteed a minimum return designed to cover the cost of sustainable production and a decent standard of living for farmers and farmworkers.

He graduated from college and went to work the very next day.

That was how Jason Sardilli recalled his official start in his family's produce company, Sardilli Produce & Dairy Co. Inc., where he works alongside his father, Don, and his older brother, Devin.

And although he hails from a produce family and "helped out" at the wholesale distributor in Hartford, CT, while he was growing up, his joining the company was never assumed or pre-ordained.

The board of directors of the newly formed Mission, TX-based Greenhouse Produce Co. LLC has announced the appointment of greenhouse pioneer Fried De Schouwer as president.

Mr. De Schouwer, a greenhouse tomato industry leader, left Eurofresh, where he was vice president of sales and marketing, after 14 years in 2004. During his tenure, Mr. De Schouwer was the cornerstone of the company's rapid growth in sales from $3 million to more than $85 million by 2004.