Monterey Mushrooms remains committed to investing in the scholastic achievement of its youth. This is evident as Monterey's Carl Victor Fields scholarship program, initiated in 1992, has now surpassed $1.5 million in awards to over 980 dependent children of its employees. Awards for the school year 2010-11 included a total of $150,000 in new or renewed scholarships awarded to 107 students. The challenges of this decade are always top-of-mind to Shah Kazemi, president and chief executive officer of Monterey. "Today more than ever, Monterey looks to its people to maintain its vision and strength

Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc. will release a new eight-ounce stand-up bag for its roasted pistachios in mid-October, company officials said. Joseph Setton, the firm's vice president of sales and marketing, told The Produce News Sept. 22 that "the smaller pack size is attractive this year because of pricing," and added that the firm believes that this will help increase sales of pistachios that might otherwise be lower due to the downturn in the economy. The new bag will join the firm’s 16- and 32-ounce stand-up bags, Mr. Setton said, noting that the company also offers its pistachios in

DNE World Fruit Sales Inc. will showcase its line of citrus from around the world at this year's PMA Fresh Summit in Orlando, FL. "We will be kicking off Florida citrus and Texas grapefruit, as well as promoting Mexican lemons, Spanish clementines and the 'Ocean Spray’ Fresh tie-ins," Kathy Hearl, marketing promotions manager at DNE, told The Produce News. Ms. Hearl added that visitors to the DNE booth (No. 3865) at the PMA expo can expect to see more merchandising, including high-graphic display bins and some bagged citrus. Offering an overview of the upcoming season’s crop conditions

FRESNO, CA — Export markets are a major outlet for fresh California grape sales, consuming for typically around one-third of the state's roughly 95 million-box annual crop. Last year, total exports were a little over 34 million boxes (19-pound equivalents), with Canada accounting for about one-third of that volume and Asian countries constituting 38 percent of all grape exports from California. Because of the importance of export markets to the industry, the California Table Grape Commission has long put a strong emphasis on market development programs in importing countries. With supermarkets

ORLANDO, FL — The Produce Marketing Association's annual Fresh Summit event offers great formal and informal opportunities to network, make new contacts and work to grow your business. It all starts Friday, Oct. 15, with the welcoming reception, scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hilton Orlando Hotel. This reception is designed to help develop new business relationships and to reconnect with colleagues. The Chilean Fresh Fruit Association is the sponsor of the welcoming reception. To highlight the new Food Safety Solutions Center at Fresh Summit this year, attendees are invited to attend

Amy Nguyen, sales executive for Dragonberry Produce Inc. in Clackamas, OR, is on a mission at this year's Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit. "What’s exciting is our new apple — the Green Dragon," she told The Produce News. Ms. Nguyen plans to visit with the company’s partners and retailers to give them an in-depth look at this year’s offering. “We have been testing this for three years,” she said. “We test drive certain commodities before releasing them. We’ve got a lot of unique product offerings.” The Green Dragon, heretofore sold exclusively to export markets, also will be sold