After 54 years in the produce business, Rosie Cornelius has decided the time has come to enjoy parts of life that were not allowed by her long career. “If anything was going to give me a kick out the door, this season was it,” 73-year-old Cornelius half-joked with The Produce News. Speaking entirely seriously, she noted, “It’s time to start doing things I couldn’t do before.” Traveling is high on her wish list. A European river cruise was planned for this summer, but the global pandemic quashed that plan. “Now, we’ll have to do that in the future. I also want to go to Italy again. Greece has

Hy-Vee stores in the Twin Cities will hold a donation campaign and “Stuff-A-Truck” event to help provide food and essentials to local organizations and food banks amid the area’s recent unrest. The effort is part of Hy-Vee’s companywide commitment to supporting racial unity and equality. Today through Sunday, June 21, Hy-Vee customers can donate any dollar amount at the register during checkout. Proceeds from the donation campaign as well as a supply commitment from Hy-Vee will be used to purchase grocery and other items that will go toward filling at least 11 semi-trucks. The supplies will

Empire Co. Ltd. announced the next six locations for the expansion of its FreshCo discount banner in western Canada, including the first FreshCo locations in Alberta. With this announcement, the company has now confirmed 28 of approximately 65 locations in western Canada. In fiscal 2018, the company announced plans to convert approximately 25 percent of its underperforming Safeway and Sobeys locations to FreshCo over a five-year period. “Breaking ground in Alberta is a significant milestone in our western Canadian expansion. We have now opened or planned locations in every province in western

As part of its efforts to enforce the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act and ensure fair trading practices within the U.S. produce industry, the Department of Agriculture has imposed sanctions on three produce businesses for failing to meet their contractual obligations to the sellers of produce they purchased and failing to pay reparation awards issued under the PACA. The following businesses and individuals are currently restricted from operating in the produce industry: D&T Produce LLC, operating out of Cordele, GA, for failing to pay a $24,567 award in favor of a California seller. As

Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. Inc., one of North America’s leading marketers and distributors of high-quality fresh and fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, promoted longtime employee Ana Cristina Fonseca to a newly created role: vice president of product management. Over the past 28 years, Cristina has displayed a dedicated commitment to Del Monte Fresh Produce, and, in her new role, will lead the product management team and enhance supply-chain capabilities to help Del Monte Fresh Produce meet the future needs of the organization. This change comes as Scott Owens, an industry veteran who

When Paige Huntington was crowned National Watermelon Queen back in February during the National Watermelon Association convention in Orlando, FL, she was set to begin a whirlwind schedule that would have her traveling around the country promoting watermelons for the next year. Instead, just weeks into her reign, the coronavirus pandemic brought the nation to a halt, rendering non-essential travel off limits and severely hampering her role as the chief ambassador for the watermelon industry. But Huntington has adapted to the restrictions and continues to promote America’s favorite summertime