Endless rain on the West Coast set back crops and harvests as excessive water hit fields. A considerable amount of California strawberry volume became very light. Mexico and Florida experienced cooler weather, lowering production. The Arizona desert crop escaped freezing and just had light rain.

The lettuce supplies are much better and are moving to normal levels again with lower pricing. Other vegetables are working their way into the supply system accompanied by lower markets.

Broccoli demand is fairly light on a steady market. The quality is very good and volume is increasing. Good for

Vision Global Group LLC has been added to the William H. Kopke Jr. Inc. family of companies and is now in full operation. Vision Global Group is an industry leader in the lime, lemon and mango import-export business, and is headquartered in New Jersey, and complemented by teams in Arizona, Texas, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Kopke and Vision are both multi-generational, family-owned-and-operated businesses, bringing over a century of produce knowledge and experience to customers and suppliers. Vision Global Group brings an expanded, consistent and reliable supply of products, further supported

Legacy Farms LLC, based in Anaheim, CA, has acquired the assets of Frieda’s Inc. after more than a year of discussions. The company will now be known as Frieda’s LLC and its new CEO is Dan Madsen, who has been leading Legacy Farms since 2019.

"We are so excited that his first order of business was to name my eldest daughter, Alex Jackson as vice president, sales and procurement," said Karen Caplan, who'd been CEO of Frieda’s Branded Produce. "As you know, Alex is the third generation of our family business, founded by our mother, Dr. Frieda Rapoport Caplan in 1962.  Alex has been a

Big Y’s annual Sack Hunger campaign provides funds for the four food banks within its two-state marketing area. In turn, these food banks support local soup kitchens, food pantries, senior food programs, day care centers and many others of the 2,100 member agencies that they help every day. The goal is to maximize access to nutritious food and other resources that support food security for those at risk of hunger.

For $5, customers supported Sack Hunger at Big Y’s 72 supermarkets or Table & Vine Fine Wines and Liquors. Every $5 donation brings 10 meals to those in need of support. Big Y’s

Dealing with inflation, following trends and predicting the hot produce categories for 2023 were a few of the topics covered by a diverse panel of industry representatives during a Fresh Produce & Floral Council luncheon meeting in Northern California on Wednesday, Jan. 18.

More than 200 people attended the Pleasanton, CA, event and listened to the presentation, which was moderated by Lori Taylor, founder and CEO of The Produce Moms, a group “on a mission to put more fruits and vegetables on every table to change the way America eats” through its platforms and produce supplier partnerships.

Pacific Trellis Fruit, a year-round grower, shipper and marketer of premium fresh fruit, recently presented a check for $39,000 to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

Since 9/11, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation has been helping America’s heroes by providing mortgage-free homes to Gold Star, fallen first responders, and veterans’ families and by building custom-designed smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders.

Pacific Trellis Fruit launched the initial fundraising campaign this past November in honor of Veterans Day. The company released co-branded packaging under