Page 162 - Roduce Editorials News Today

Norma McClain has joined Grow Farms Texas as a member of its sales and marketing team in McAllen, TX. As an account sales team member, McClain will primarily be responsible for growing sales with direct retail and foodservice accounts, but she will also play an integral role in liaising between sales and growers.

Watermelon shippers enjoyed some strong markets earlier this spring, as the f.o.b. pricing for fruit from Mexico was in the mid-$300s in March and most of April. Then the bottom fell out. “It was a really tight market in March and April, and then April 25 came and it’s been a bumper crop for just about everyone in Sonora,” said John Gee, vice president of sales for Eagle Eye Produce. “All the fields looked great, and we were, shall I say, ‘blessed’ with a ton of watermelon.”

Leslie Harden has been promoted to eastern region sales director for Monterey Mushrooms. She will manage fresh retail and foodservice mushroom sales, including the company's locations in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Florida.

It's time to generate those berry sales as summer approaches. The weather has greatly improved with ideal growing temperatures that are rapidly bringing on berry growth. As usual, the quality of the California strawberries is outstanding and taste is superb.

The Fresh Avenue team announced its partnership with Modern Restaurant Management with the Keep it Fresh Webinar being held on Tuesday, June 9 at 2 p.m. eastern. It will cover strategies restaurants can use to manage inflation, specifically with their produce programs. The webinar will be moderated by Barbara Castiglia, the managing editor of Modern Restaurant Management, with expert insight from Mark Vaughan and Brian Rooney of Fresh Avenue. Some of the discussion will cover:

HILLSDALE, NJ — The New Jersey Department of Agriculture hosted the May 24 meeting of the Eastern Produce Council, here, at Demarest Farms, and as is in previous years, Jersey Fresh held a starring role. Each year, the NJDA uses the event to feature its popular Jersey Fresh marketing program, now in its 38th year, making it the oldest state-sponsored program of its kind.

Coming up with new dinner ideas to ‘wow’ your family with can be tricky to say the least. Often, it’s a balancing act between choosing nutritious meals and considering food preferences of those living in your home. Let’s be honest, it can be a refined art to get kids to try something new but this Hawaiian Chicken Bake recipe is the complete dinner package – fun, fruity, sweet, colorful, delicious, and healthy! 

Wada Farms got into the watermelon business five years ago, and a year ago it took a major step forward to expand the category by adding a longtime industry veteran to oversee the program.

The SF Market, a wholesale produce market that is home to 26 merchant businesses in the heart of San Francisco, welcomed California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross on May 20. She took a tour that showcased the critical fresh food infrastructure that The SF Market has provided for San Francisco, the Bay Area, and California businesses since 1963.

Berry lovers have a new reason to hit the produce aisle this summer. Driscoll’s newest flavor innovation, Tropical Bliss, expands its premium, high-flavor strawberry collection, which also includes Sweetest Batch and Rosé Berries.