PLACENTIA, CA -- Prime Produce International LLC, here, a year-round supplier of domestic and imported avocados, announced that it has invested in the H&H Avocado Co. in Yorba Linda, CA, and will be marketing fruit packed by H&H in both the "H&H" and "Prime Produce" labels. Supplying avocados to the trade year-round requires "a strong element of California avocados" as one of the components of the program, said Avi Crane, president of Prime Produce. "We have worked in the past and we continue to work with Corona College Heights," an avocado packer in Riverside, CA, marketing that company's

All 16 varieties of baby lettuce that comprise the gourmet salad mixes from Bab? Farms are now available with organic certification. In a collaboration with organic lettuce grower Produce International Marketing in Salinas, CA, Bab? is meeting its club store customer orders with the entire current crop available to it at this time. The organic salad blends will be sold and packaged under the established "Bab? Farms Spring Mix" brand with a green label in a one-pound clamshell package. Jeff Lundberg, who heads farming operations for Bab? Farms, said that more acreage was being set aside by PIM

Mann Packing Co. in Salinas, CA, announced the promotion of veteran employee Tom Koster to the newly created position of vice president of sales and shipping. Mr. Koster will be responsible for overseeing the servicing of Mann's customers from order receipt to product shipment. Bill Ramsey, co-chairman of the board, said in a statement, "Tom has an innate familiarity with these two aspects of our operations. By having him oversee both sales and shipping, we will not only streamline processes but provide a more efficient response to our customers' needs." Mr. Koster joined Mann in 1990 on the

The Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Winter Conference "is an absolutely wonderful opportunity for the folks in Vidalia onions -- and in the industry -- to go down and meet vendors," said Wendy Brannen, executive director of the Vidalia Onion Committee in Vidalia, GA. The annual conference was held Jan. 5-8 in Savannah, GA. Ms. Brannen said that the conference is composed of educational seminars and a trade show of more than 150 vendor booths, as those suppliers target growers from the southeastern United States. There were also some produce buyers at the show, which is sponsored by the

The photos in the television commercials soon to be aired on major cable networks will put Florida tomatoes in an enticing new light, and enticement is the precise goal of Florida tomato growers in a new national advertising campaign. Beginning Jan. 30, 15-second ads that feature Florida tomatoes will run on national cable television, including the Food Network, HGTV, Discovery Health, Discovery Home and Do It Yourself. The first segment, or "winter" campaign, will run through Feb. 26. The spring campaign begins March 13 and runs through April 9. Over all, the ads are expected to reach 36

The U.S. Apple Association, headquartered in Vienna, VA, is compiled of 40 state and regional apple associations. Its goal is to promote apples and apple products, and also to provide the means for all segments of the U.S. apple industry to join in appropriate collective efforts to profitably produce and market apples and apple products. Those goals are accomplished through a number of promotion efforts on multiple fronts. Wendy Davis, director of communication and consumer health, said that the organization has had great success reaching the print media with new USApple recipes targeted to