Page 118 - Roduce Editorials News Today

The SF Market, home to 26 of San Francisco’s merchant businesses, has named Virginia Hines as its new board president and added three new board members.  

As Rice Fruit prepares to begin its fall harvest season, it is focused on providing a good mix of premium apples that will have broad appeal to consumers. “We are looking at our 2022 crop with promise and optimism,” said Brenda Briggs, vice president of sales and marketing for the Gardners, PA-based grower-shipper. “The growing season has been uneventful with adequate moisture and sunshine, and harvest timing is expected to be similar to last year.”

Crunch Time Apple Growers is comprised of 150 growers in New York State. When the company was formed, it was granted an exclusive license to grow and market SnapDragon and RubyFrost apples in North America.   “These two apple varieties are the entire focus of the company,” said Jessica Wells, executive director of the Lockport, NY-based company. “The company has learned a lot in the last 10 years about marketing premium apples to consumers and to retailers and we’re excited to continue ...

After months and months of stratospheric FOB pricing on avocados, big volumes were available in the U.S. market in July leading to much lower prices with promotional opportunities expected to stretch far into the future.

New Jersey continues to be one of the leading states in produce safety. In fact, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture carries out approximately 100 produce safety inspections, educational on farm readiness reviews, and 175 USDA third-party audits annually.

Since its establishment in 1967, the California Table Grape Commission has assisted California table grape growers to create and expand markets for each season’s crop. The 2022 initiative continued the work to foster demand for California table grapes around the world through the fielding of a robust global marketing campaign targeting the U.S. which consumed 76 percent of the 2021 volume, and 16 foreign markets that together represented 95% of export volume June through December 2021.

In 1998, Shuman Farms began its farming operations in Peru, developing a vertically integrated program that allows the company to ship sweet onions to its retail partners from September to March. The company recently debuted a state-of-the-art packinghouse and updated facilities in Peru.

Summer can be the hungriest time of year for many families with an estimated 22 million children facing summer hunger, according to Feeding America. In response Stop & Shop launched its annual “Local Produce for Locals in Need” program, an initiative dedicated to donating locally grown, fresh vegetables to neighbors in need to help combat summer hunger in children and families throughout the month of August.

Twenty years ago, I started my first job out of college and 12 years ago next month, I entered the produce industry. When recently speaking to a colleague about how different the workplace is now for college graduates vs. when I entered, she asked me, “If you could give advice to your younger self, what would you say?”

Inflation and COVID-19. It seems neither can be avoided, and they both continue to send grocery shoppers to digital devices. According to the Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey fielded July 29-30, online grocery sales for July jumped 17 percent year over year to $7.8 billion.