SALINAS, CA -- River Ranch Fresh Foods LLC announced that Bruce Knobeloch has joined the management team in the newly created position chief operating officer. Mr. Knobeloch will direct the sales and marketing, processing, distribution and agricultural operations within the company. His immediate focus will be supporting the sales and marketing efforts of the company, helping guide operations to focus on growth with current and future customers in the salad, spinach, cut vegetable and private-brand segments. Mr. Knobeloch had previously spent seven years as vice president of marketing for

VANCOUVER, BC -- When the Northwest cherry season begins in June, one of the produce industry's older and more experienced companies will become one of the deal's fresher faces. Through a multi-year arrangement, Orchard View Farms in The Dalles, OR, has appointed The Oppenheimer Group as its exclusive marketing partner. Oppenheimer will market Orchard View Farms' cherry crop both domestically and overseas. Orchard View Farms, a fourth-generation, family-owned-and-operated cherry producer, grows on 1,800 acres in Washington's Klickitat County as well as Hood River, Wasco and Sherman counties in

WASHINGTON -- U.S. fresh-market apple holdings of 67.4 million bushels on Feb. 1 reflect a 10 percent decrease compared to January 2009 holdings, according to Feb. 16 statement from the U.S. Apple Association. Total processing apple holdings as of Feb. 1 were 29.6 million bushels, approximately the same as this date last year. The total number of apples in storage on Feb. 1 was 96.7 million bushels, 7.5 percent less than last February's total. For more details, including state-by-state data, visit www.usapple.org/media/publications/marketnews/2010/february2010.pdf

Now more than ever is a great time to promote the value of a relatively inexpensive fruit. According to Gordon Hunt, director of marketing for the National Watermelon Promotion Board, the Orlando, FL-based group enjoyed success with retailers last year by encouraging merchandising watermelon's low cost per pound. With unemployment still high and the nation still suffering a difficult economy, the message will be stronger than ever in 2010. Mr. Hunt spoke with The Produce News Feb. 4 as he prepared for the association's board meeting Feb. 20 in Dallas. He noted that the national watermelon

Mission Produce in Oxnard, CA, announced in mid-February the grand opening of its latest ripe center in Toronto. Mission, a global avocado packer-shipper, has strategically built state-of- the-art avocado ripening facilities in major U.S. markets. Toronto becomes the first in Canada, and the eighth overall, following centers in Oxnard, CA; Denver; Dallas; New Jersey; Chicago; Atlanta; and Seattle. "Toronto represents our first Ripe Center established outside the U.S. and increases our continental distribution network where avocados are received, inventoried, ripened and delivered to customer

Ballots are being mailed Feb. 15 to decide whether the California Cut Flower Commission will continue to operate. The referendum is required every five years by legislation establishing the commission in 1990. California growers who sell flowers and grossed at least $500,000 in sales in 2009 are eligible to vote. In an interview earlier this month with The Produce News, Kasey Cronquist, executive director and ambassador of the commission, estimated that about 60 of the state's 250 growers are eligible to vote. Ballots will be counted by the California Department of Food & Agriculture, which