MONTEREY, CA -- Jim Bracher is all about applying positive character traits -- such as integrity and honesty -- to business leadership. He said that it is a message that the Salinas Valley agricultural leadership wants to hear, based on the response he has received to his upcoming workshop. Mr. Bracher said that the agricultural community is a good fit for his workshop. "In agribusiness, the less you mess with nature, the better off you are," Mr. Bracher said. "You don't control nature or the marketplace. There's no substitute for the truth -- you get it out of the field or you don't." The

CHICAGO -- Pero Vegetable Co. Inc. in Delray Beach, FL, unveiled individually wrapped green and yellow squash at the United Produce Show, held here May 5-9. Frank Pero, vice president of Pero Vegetable Co. Inc., said that the new line addresses two major areas of concern for retailers: shrink and food safety. The individual pieces of squash "are never touched by a [bare] human hand," said Mr. Pero, explaining that field workers harvest them with gloved hands before they are wrapped in plastic. Then, while at retail, the plastic protects the items from the hands of customers sorting through the

PHILADELPHIA -- Procacci Bros./Garden State Farms, here, is introducing a new series of proprietary melons that will be collectively marketed within the "Santa Sweets" brand melon program. Company President Mike Maxwell told The Produce News shortly before the United Produce Show in Chicago, where the new additions to the melon program were unveiled, that the volume of the melons is increasing and should be in strong supply by June. "We're getting pumped up," Mr. Maxwell said. Santa Sweets is providing point-of-sale and merchandising literature for retailers to help introduce the melons. The

CHICAGO -- The produce industry breezed its way back to The Windy City for the United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association's Produce Expo & Conference, held May 6-9 here at McCormick Place. Now in its third year in Chicago, the convention, which is co-located with four other trade shows and together are dubbed The Power of Five, has "been on a growing cycle," according to Amy Philpott, United's vice president of marketing and industry relations. "We have seen growth over the last three years in part because of the dynamics between the groups," Ms. Philpott said. "We are very happy and have

Ryan Cherry looks back to some important advice that he received from his father 11 years ago, advice that would serve him well as he searched for a career path. Mr. Cherry had just earned his degree in marketing management from the British Columbia Institute of Technology and was mulling over his options as to what industries he could go into. At the time, Mr. Cherry was working in the produce department at Save On Foods and his father, who had worked in the food industry for many years, saw his son's dilemma and said something to him that would change his life. "One thing my dad told me that

BALTIMORE -- The convenience chain Sheetz Inc. said that its popular fruit cups have been a successful model for marketing fresh-cut products, but other fresh-cut offerings have been a disappointment. Speaking at the Fresh Cut Expo, held here April 26-29, Louie Sheetz, executive vice president of marketing, said that the high quality in its fruit cups and the ease of assembling them have driven the company to look at introducing other fresh-cut products. "It's been a tremendous success," he said, adding that the company assembles the cups fresh throughout the day and puts it out on the shelves