Page 10 - Roduce Marketers News Today

The conditions across the West settled into mild temperatures for a couple weeks. Now the forecast is predicting that a storm is brewing for many locations, including snow in Northern and Central California. Coastal Southern California is expecting one to four inches of rain this Thursday and Friday.

Wendy McManus of Connect 2 Potential can’t stop talking about the 16 enthusiastic college students who are part of the 2023 Southeast Top Agricultural Recruits Scholarship program.

Over the last few months, Homegrown Organic Farms has been busy outlining the details to bring HBF International into its growing berry category. Combining decades of berry sales and marketing expertise, Homegrown is building a complete berry program by expanding into conventional blueberries and adding blackberries, currants, cranberries and the kiwi berry.

The first seven interns to participate in the Project SEARCH program at Stemilt recently completed one of three, three-month-long internships and shared their learnings at a Project SEARCH Open House.

Continuing its growth path fueling significant plans for expansion, Pure Flavor acquired Cervini Farms C5 in Leamington, ON, to add to its expanding portfolio of greenhouses and distribution centers.

Nature Fresh Farms expanded its sales team, welcoming three new key account managers and aligning its team with the growth in sales and retail partnerships it continues to experience. “The business has grown rapidly since its infancy,” said Zanelle Hough, director of sales at Nature Fresh Farms. “Seeing exceptional growth and expansion across facilities, category offerings, and partnerships; the growth of our sales team is reflective of the evolution of the business.”

Blair Chastain has been named chief revenue officer for Kwik Lok Corp. In this role, Chastain will focus on enhancing Kwik Lok’s global sales and marketing strategies. “Blair’s experience developing strong sales strategies and empowering agile teams will be a strong asset as Kwik Lok continues to grow our business worldwide and make a difference in our communities,” said Don Carrell, Kwik Lok CEO.

By collectively working together, Food Lion’s customers, associates and Food Lion Feeds helped nourish neighbors in 2022 with more than 158 million meals, an increase of 6 million meals over 2021. Food Lion Feeds was founded in 2014 by Food Lion to address food insecurity in the towns and cities it serves.

Mission Produce Inc. recently announced a joint venture with ZZ2 Boerdery, one of South Africa’s largest farming companies, and Criterion Africa Partners, a private equity firm developing assets within the forestry value chain in Sub-Saharan Africa. The joint venture company, Selokwe Agri, is expected to expand to over 1,000 hectares of avocado orchards in the premium growing region of Limpopo, South Africa.

ProducePay recently launched its virtual Storefront, a new feature offering growers a personalized platform to market their brand, available commodities and initiate transactions with trusted and verified buyers all in one place.