After an eventful Chilean fruit season, importers are hoping for some stability as the deal winds down into the spring with apples and kiwifruit. Early Chilean apple imports had been arriving in the Philadelphia area for two weeks when Ron Dandrea spoke to The Produce News March 19. Mr. Dandrea, who is vice president of Dandrea Produce, based in Buena, NJ, said that his firm's Chilean apple volume this spring will be up about 20 percent from 2007, but buyers should expect "smaller sizing, at least on the front end of the deal." For Dandrea the largest-volume apple variety will be Galas, with

FRESNO, CA -- The weather this past winter and early spring has been just about ideal to produce a strong and consistent bloom and a good set in cherry, apricot, peach, plum, nectarine and other stone fruit orchards in California's San Joaquin Valley, according to growers and shippers in the area. Barring any future weather problems, good-quality fruit and an orderly harvest with good volume are expected for the 2008 season. "We have had a very, very good quality bloom period, which is critical," said Don Goforth, marketing director at Family Tree Farms in Reedley, CA. "There is nothing right

Industry veteran Chris Elsie has launched a new grower-shipper operation called Pura Vida Farms, which is headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ, and will begin shipping melons in late April. "We will eventually focus on a wide range of fruits and vegetables, but we are beginning this spring with a melon deal," he told The Produce News March 26. The firm will start with a small Mexican watermelon deal in late April and then will begin shipping cantaloupes, honeydews and mixed melons in late May from Arizona and California. "We will have both a spring and fall melon deal, so we are expecting to start

In the 6th century B.C., a popular plant called lettuce was served to Peruvian kings. Today, this same lettuce has been nurtured into sophisticated packages of fresh-cut salad blends and displayed in produce departments. When World War ll ended, big changes arrived with it. Many trends began to emerge in people's lifestyles, especially with eating habits. This post-war transition period was primarily triggered by the military service people who brought home various types of food experiences from foreign countries in which they had served. Those new recipes began a dramatic change in the U.S

MONTEREY, CA -- Pro*Act announced in mid-March that Freedom Fresh LLC in Miami has joined the company's distribution network. Freedom Fresh was founded by produce veteran Walter Vazquez Sr. and his sons Walter Jr. and Jorge. Together the Vazquez family and their team of produce experts have grown the company to become the premier fresh fruit and vegetable distributor in south Florida, according to Pro*Act. Freedom Fresh provides a full line of conventional, organic and specialty items to wholesale, retail, cruise ship, export and now foodservice customers from its 100,000-square-foot state-of

FRESNO, CA -- Fazio Marketing Inc. and Trinity Fruit Sales Co., both here, have entered into an agreement to create a strategic marketing alliance for the two companies' California table grapes and other products, the two companies announced jointly Wednesday, March 26. "This new alliance will bring together over 50 years and four generations of grape-growing experience from Fazio Marketing with the diverse marketing programs currently being offered by Trinity Fruit Sales," according to a joint press release announcing the new alliance. Trinity Fruit Sales, formed in 1999, is a year-round