The new South Carolina State Farmers Market & Agribusiness Center will open in phases beginning Aug. 16, Hugh Weathers, commissioner of agriculture, announced July 14. The market is located on Highway 321 in Lexington County. The first phase will include the South Carolina Department of Agriculture's laboratory and consumer services facility, farmers sheds and administration building. That opening will coincide with the opening of private wholesale companies V.B. Hook & Co. Inc., Senn Brothers Inc. and Supersod Inc. The next phase, planned for the fall, will include opening of several more

As a key expansion component at Al Harrison Co. in Nogales, AZ, on July 23, Thomas (T.J.) Bauer became the vice president of the company. Mr. Bauer was previously the director of the Nogales office of L&M Cos. Inc., which is based in Raleigh, NC. Al Harrison President Brent Harrison told The Produce News July 28, "T.J. and I have talked, and we have a plan to redirect Al Harrison Co. into other areas" beyond its watermelon specialty “by adding new commodities. We are going to continue to be strong in watermelon and hard-shell items but add some new commodities such as bell peppers, cucumbers

With the fading of July, both plum and nectarine production from California should remain fairly steady, so the firm prices that have accompanied the deals for most of the season should prevail. Dale Janzen, director of industry relations for the California Tree Fruit Agreement, said that the significant acreage removal of stone fruits in California's San Joaquin Valley following the 2008 season "have turned the late-season [volume] peaks into foothills. Looking at the upcoming varieties, I don’t see anything but steady supplies. We’ve gotten through the July crunch." Mr. Janzen predicted that

Mann Packing Co. Inc. in Salinas, CA, hired John Haydock as senior vice president of sales. Mr. Haydock has spent his entire career in the food business. He began as a sales representative in 1980 with American Home Food Products, then moved to Good Humor-Breyers Ice Cream Co., a division of Kraft, where he worked from 1985 to 1999. While there he led sales for the "Breyers," “Light n Lively,” “Good Humor,” “Popsicle,” “Klondike” and “Minute Maid” brands. He then moved to Vlasic Foods as vice president of sales, where he implemented national account sales strategies for “Swanson,” “Vlasic” and

Green Giant and the Facebook game FarmVille are offering on-line game players and their families another incentive to eat fresh vegetables. FarmVille recently passed its first anniversary as the No. 1 gaming application on Facebook. Nearly 65 million people worldwide play the game, with 20 million playing daily. In a new promotion, selected "Green Giant Fresh" brand products contain a packaging sticker that includes a code redeemable on-line at TheGiant.com for five free Farm Cash dollars, one of the official FarmVille currencies that players use to manage virtual farms on Facebook. Company

Held June 10-12 at McCall, ID's historic Shore Lodge overlooking Payette Lake, the Idaho-Oregon Fruit & Vegetable Association convention brought several dozen association members and companions to this year’s 48th annual event. According to Candi Fitch, executive director of the association, "Attendance for the convention and annual meeting was the largest it has been for several years." Idaho-Eastern Oregon is one of the larger onion growing regions in the United States, shipping about 30 percent of the onions consumed domestically. The nonprofit association has a membership of about 40