Villita Avocados, a grower-packer-shipper of Hass avocados based in Pharr, TX, has introduced a new bag for retailers that wish to make their produce departments more sustainable. With a label made of paper film and netting composed of cellulose fiber yarn from Forest Stewardship Council-certified eucalyptus wood, the bag is 100 percent plastic-free. The netting is TÜV-certified home compostable and industrial compostable. Villita is the first produce company to offer this innovative packaging in North America. Consumer demand for sustainable products has been well established; according to a

Football season is right around the corner, and no gameday celebration is complete without guac. That's why Avocados From Mexico has partnered with the College Football Playoff to become the official avocado of the CFP, making it the first produce brand to ever join forces with college football's pinnacle national championship event. In honor of this perfect pairing, Avocados From Mexico will make tailgating even better by introducing hungry football fans to "Guacgating" this season. A Guacgate is a new twist on the "Homegate" — a tailgate hosted at home — that combines the fun of cheering on

Mother Nature continues to test the resilience of California avocado growers this year, the latest test being heavy rainfall and winds from Tropical Storm Hilary and a moderate earthquake in the Ojai area on the same day. Fortuitously for many California avocado farmers, these events will not impact this year’s harvest because most of the fruit was picked before the storm. “This year’s crop of premium California avocados is about 90% harvested,” said California Avocado Commission President Jeff Oberman. “Fortunately there have been no reports of damage due to the Ojai earthquake; however

Del Rey Avocado Co. is a year-round supplier of avocados from multiple sources of origin, but it still focuses on its California crop with an organic-forward mentality. “As a California avocado grower and packer, our No. 1 priority is California,” said Patrick Lucy, president of the Fallbrook, CA-based company. “We always strive to be the first in and last out with California fruit.” This year is no exception as Del Rey still represents a sizeable portion of the avocados grown in California’s most northern district encompassing San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay. “We expect decent volume from Morro

Industry veteran Giovanni Cavaletto expects GLC Cerritos, a Mexican avocado grower-packer-shipper, to register significant growth in the U.S. market over the next five years as its plantings mature and more groves are certified for exports to the United States. Cavaletto, who spent more than quarter of a century with California avocado firm Index Fresh Inc., recently joined GLC Cerritos as its CEO. “I’ve known the family for 20 years,” he said of Grupo Aguacatero Los Cerritos, which is a Jalisco, Mexico-based farming entity. “They are a vertically integrated grower-packer-shipper that pays

Peruvian grower-shipper Agrokasa and its U.S. sales division Pacific Produce (PacPro) LLC implemented a grove-to-retailer service this year that proved highly successful and will be offered to others next year. Isabel Tavera, vice president/sales director for PacPro, revealed that the service was trialed on one container with one retailer in 2022. For 2023, it has been expanded to 30-40 containers to that same retailer. “We call the program Delta Avocado and it is a ‘technical sell,’” Tavera said. “We work with the customer from the grove to the store.” She said the service requires season