In the coming months, Vancouver, BC-based Oppenheimer Group will gain additional greenhouse pepper distribution, thanks to increased volume from Divemex. Divemex, Oppenheimer's Mexican pepper grower, has more than doubled the size of its Etzatlan, Jalisco, facility, planting over 36 new acres under glass in recent months. Divemex CEO Luis de Saracho anticipates that this winter's yield will surpass the 2004-05 crop by roughly 60 percent. "By adding production in Etzatlan, we can begin our harvest two months earlier," Mr. de Saracho said in a statement. "We began harvesting in early October

A new company has emerged in the temperature-monitoring business with an eye toward making a mark in an already- competitive U.S. marketplace. Escort Data Loggers LLC, which was incorporated in January and is based in Redmond, WA, will handle U.S. sales, marketing and distribution of technology and products developed by Escort Data Systems LLC, an Auckland, New Zealand-based company founded in 1989 by Andrew Maskill. According to Pat Vach?, chief executive officer of Escort Data Loggers LLC, Escort Data Systems LLC had focused primarily on the European market in the past and had minor

Mushrooms are considered to be a perfect complement to many dishes, and with the recent signing of a supply agreement with Birds Eye Fresh, one major mushroom supplier will have a chance to prove that its product is the perfect complement to a national fresh produce brand. Under an agreement signed Oct. 18, Cardile Bros. Mushroom Packaging Inc. in Avondale, PA, will supply fresh white and exotic mushrooms to be distributed nationwide under the "Birds Eye Fresh" label. The agreement comes less than a month after Birds Eye Fresh signed on Pandol Associates Inc. in Delano, CA, to provide grapes

Highline Mushrooms, a leading independent family-owned grower-shipper of fresh mushrooms in Canada, with farms in Leamington and Wellington, ON, and distribution facilities in Montreal, was named Vendor of the Year by Meijer Supermarkets at its recent Perishable Vendor Summit in Grand Rapids, MI. "It is a great achievement and honor for Highline and our associates to be recognized for our efforts and motivates us to excel by setting our sights even higher," said Murray O'Neil, founder and chairman of Highline. "It was certainly a surprise when [Meijer Vice President of Produce] Jim Spilka

Tottori 20th Century pears from Japan are the latest item to be packed exclusively under the "Oppenheimer" brand. The sweet, yellow-skinned pears are one of the more unusual items in the Vancouver, BC-based marketer's pipfruit repertoire. Grown with exacting care by growers in Japan's Tottori prefecture, the quality of these pears make them a perfect fit for the "Oppenheimer" brand, according to John Anderson, chairman, president and CEO of Oppenheimer. "This is the first year that 100 percent of the Tottori pears available in North America will be marketed in the Oppenheimer box," he said.

After thrashing Cancun and Cozumel in Mexico Saturday, Oct. 22, Hurricane Wilma was heading toward southern Florida on a path that was expected to take it somewhere between the Florida Keys and Tampa. Forcasting the tracks of hurricanes is extremely tricky, but as of Sunday afternoon, Oct. 23, the best estimates by weather forecasters have the category 2 storm coming ashore sometime in the early morning hours Monday, Oct. 24 in the vicinity of Naples, FL, then cutting through the state before exiting into the Atlantic Ocean and heading northward up the East Coast. The hurricane is currently