Monday, October 12, 2020
NORTH AMERICA

Our team

Marieke Hemmes
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Annika Durinck
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Astrid van den Broek
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Sander Bruins Slot
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Job Offers

Director Of Growing - Carleton (MI) USA

Greenhouse Manager - Cleburne (TX) USA

Sales Manager

Growing Manager young vegetable plants

Sales Agents / Representatives - Germany

Lead Grower California USA

Produce Construction Manager - USA

Sales Manager / Director - West Coast primary, USA

Medewerker productmanagement support - Bleiswijk

Head grower & Indoor farming-/hydroponic specialist - Küssnacht am Rigi, Switzerland

On-time start and growing volumes for Mexican raspberry and blackberry season

In Mexico, the raspberry and blackberry season starts in September. This year, the season started on time and looks to be a normal season, maintaining the trends of the…

Sakata Seed America brings California field days to the customer

Traditionally, each year in August, Sakata Seed America holds its annual California Field Days. This year, instead of organizing a full-scale, in-person event, the company…

Oppy amplifies strength in avocado category with Eco Farms partnership

Oppy has recently acquired a 65% stake in Eco Farms, an avocado grower since 1972 and the first to grow and market organic avocados in the U.S. The move is the latest in a…

Fruit Logistica goes for special edition from Tuesday 18 to Thursday 20 May 2021

The organization of Fruit Logistica has published its plans for Fruit Logistica 2021 today. With the current Corona-restrictions in place, the organization has…

Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. pays over $1.9 million for violating state clean air laws

The California Air Resources Board announced a settlement with Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. Inc. for $1,990,650 - the largest penalty to date related to clean…

Costly preparations for growers

Hurricane Delta makes landfall in Louisiana

This past Friday evening Hurricane Delta made landfall in southwest Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane and sustaining 100 mph winds. While spinning north over land, Delta…

Juan González Pita of Salix Fruits:

“Connecting digitally with our colleagues is our bread and butter”

For Atlanta-based Salix Fruits, PMA Fresh Summit will be the first virtual trade show they participate in. Despite this, the company feels confident that their participation…

Transition time means slim supplies of eggplant

Supplies of eggplant are tight currently and likely will be for the next few weeks at least. “We’re actually down in supplies because we’re starting to head into transition,”…

Markon Cooperative

Fully recyclable cardboard clamshells for strawberries launched

To help move the produce industry away from plastic and increase recyclability, Markon Cooperative’s new cardboard, fully recyclable strawberry clamshell is now available to…

“Ask Us Anything: Fair Trade” webinar

Giumarra and Fair Trade USA join forces at PMA Fresh Summit

The Giumarra Companies, in partnership with Fair Trade USA, announced an educational “Ask Us Anything: Fair Trade” webinar to take place during Produce Marketing Association’s…

Special PMA Fresh Summit

Lipman Family Farms

New fresh-cut green beans to be featured at Fresh Summit

As the holiday season approaches, Lipman Family Farms will feature their new fresh-cut green beans at PMA’s upcoming virtual Fresh Summit. With shipments starting this month,…

PMA and CGT announce winners of four major annual awards

Produce Marketing Association and Center for Growing Talent have announced the 2020 winners of four major annual awards leading up to Fresh Summit. The awards are given each…

Global Focus Top Fruit

Michigan Apple Committee pilots new pop up display bins

The Michigan Apple Committee is adding cardboard pop-up display bins to its in-store offerings on a pilot basis this fall. The bins will be featured beginning this month at…

Chinese apples face stronger competition in the global market than Chinese pears

The outbreak of Covid-19 had a significant impact on the Chinese market in the first half of this year, and although the pandemic has largely been brought…

Retail

Shipt plans to hire another 100,000 personal shoppers

Amazon: Stake in SpartanNash

US: Grocery strike averted!Teamster unions representing more than 4,000 warehouse workers and truck drivers who deliver food and supplies to So. California's largest grocery…

Southern Specialties celebrate their 30th anniversary

Southern Specialties, Inc. announced they are celebrating their 30th anniversary. The company was founded by President and CEO, Robert Colescott, in 1990. Robert and members…

Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety - University of Guelph

Canadian officials tell California growers to test their lettuce for E. coli

Extensive federal import restrictions on romaine lettuce and salad mixes from California’s Salinas Valley are an indication of problems in the U.S.…

October USDA citrus forecast kicks off 2020-21 season

Statement by Commissioner Nikki Fried on 2020-21 Citrus Forecast

On October 9, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the initial citrus crop forecast for the 2020-21 season. Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner…

Canada invests in cold storage and packing facilities

'Vegetable cold storage facilities will grow food self-sufficiency'

The Honourable Elvis Loveless, Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture, announced a $1.25-million investment to help establish vegetable cold storage…

United Fresh now accepting applications for Produce Safety Immersion Program

United Fresh Produce Association is now accepting applications for Class Two of the Produce Safety Immersion Program. To further support the career development…

University of Hawaii researchers to help national avocado production

Avocado production worldwide continues to boom, with 6.4 metric tons produced in 2018 alone, according to recent statistics. That’s a lot of guacamole but as more countries…

British Columbia, Canada

Vancouver Island growers speak of above average cranberry harvest

Vancouver island growers are seeing an above average cranberry harvest. Grant Keefer, owner of Yellow Point Cranberries in Ladysmith, said: “There’s good fruit…

Drought thwarts New Brunswick potato harvest revenues

With the harvest season underway, the impact of this summer's dry conditions are coming to light in New Brunswick. Potato farmers say their yields are down…

Oregon farmer baffles TikTokers who don’t know how agriculture works in the US

Owyhee Produce CEO Shay Myers has surprised TikTok users with a Q&A video on onion storage, talking about the ins and outs of North American agriculture. Myers has been…

Cédric Geens, W. Jonckheere

“First grapefruits from Florida expected in Belgium in early November”

"We've had beautiful weather in the past five to six months. That made for a fantastic summer season. There was a lot of demand for Spanish produce. The supply of melons and…

Illiass el Mrini, Med Green Import:

"The Moroccan season is about to start

Med Green Import is currently in full preparation for the Moroccan citrus season. “We will receive the first mandarins from Morocco in ten days,” says Iliass el Mrini. He…

Renée Peeters, Vitacress Real:

"Vitalicious is our out-of-home market brand"

Vitacress Real recently introduced a new herb brand for certain European food professionals - Vitalicious. In this interview, brand manager, Renée Peeters, tells us more. More…

How will the Russian ban on Chinese citrus affect the Vietnamese fruit sector?

On January 2020, Russia introduced a temporary restriction on the supply of citrus fruits from China to Russia and the restriction is still in place. Russian importers must…

Box filler model BKV 2880 can fill boxes from 1.800mm wide

The new box filler, model BKV 2880, is a further development of the model KV 2800. Where the KV 2800 can fill boxes from 1.400 - 1.600 mm wide, the BKV 2880 goes a step…

Organic and Fairtrade banana consumption amounts to 10% in Europe and North America

According to a report by the International Trade Center (ITC), the demand for bananas that comply with Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) has been increasing, especially…

Mango consolidates itself in the top 5 Mexican fruit exports

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, between January and August 2020, Mexican mango exports registered a 6.9% year-on-year increase in value, amounting to 298.6…

Protests impact Costa Rican pineapple and banana exports

Widespread protests in Costa Rica against new taxes proposed by the government, as a condition of signing a US$1.75 billion loan agreement with the…

Ecuador's mango export season begins

Ecuador's mango harvest started in the third week of September with the harvest of the yellow varieties, the earliest varieties, followed by the harvest of the…

Argentina extends the citrus sector's emergency declaration for one year

With 242 votes in favor and one abstention, the Chamber of Deputies signed into law the bill that establishes a one-year extension of the economic, productive,…

Crop and Export Report 2020, Week 41

Chilean blueberry harvests continue to be focused on northern regions

This week, the Systems Approach regulation was finally published in the Federal Register, great news for producers in the Ñuble and Biobio regions who will now be able to…

Australian strawberry grower remaining upbeat despite challenging 2020 winter season

An Australian fresh produce company admits its winter strawberry production in 2020 has been "a little different" due to a number of unique challenges to contend with.…

Australia: Bellamish Aerial Imaging checks on tree health

Bellamish Aerial Imaging Solutions can tell growers how their crop is performing with a simple press of a button. This will send a thermal imaging drone whirring across…

Auckland Airport Cargo Monitor report

NZ: Avocado volumes smashed by air cargo capacity drop

Shrinking air freight capacity is having a knock-on effect by reducing export market options for avocado growers, according to the latest data from Auckland…

October 14 and 15 at LIVEConnect

Fruit Attraction hosting the Women's Forum

On October 14 and 15, the Women's Forum will be held within the framework of Fruit Attraction LiveConnect. It will be a space intended to help move forward in…

Large amounts of state-owned land made available and land expropriation bill put before parliament

South African land reform goes into higher gear

Yesterday the South African government gazetted a new expropriation bill to replace the apartheid-era Expropriation Bill of 1975. The new bill opens the space for…

Study finds untapped climate-resilience in sweetpotato

Extreme weather events and other effects of climate change already challenge farmers’ ability to grow enough food, which is expected to become more challenging as the…

Appreciation of the food and agriculture sector increases, following years of decline

Public appreciation of the food and agriculture sector is greater in 2020 than it was two years ago. This applies to all sub-sectors, apart from pig farming,…

FreshPlaza Funny

Raining cats and dogs