The California Strawberry Commission is ready to kick off the 2021 season with increased planted acres and an exciting consumer public relations campaign.

Total California strawberry acreage reported for 2021 is 36,487. Acreage has increased in response to rising consumer demand. Fall planted acres, that reach peak production in late spring through early summer, increased 5.7 percent. California volume is expected to increase in the second half of March. Weather conditions have been favorable for excellent fruit quality and availability from all districts as the season progresses. Peak volume

The GIANT Co. announced today that Glennis Harris, an experienced retail leader with more than 20 years of experience, has been named senior vice president of customer experience, effective March 22. Harris succeeds John Ponnett, who is retiring from the company on April 2.

As senior vice president of customer experience, Harris will oversee all stores and the company’s e-commerce fulfillment centers as well as asset protection and safety, delivery operations, and store support. She will report directly to Nicholas Bertram, president of The GIANT Co.

“Glennis is more than a brilliant

Ocean Mist Farms, a leading grower and marketer of fresh artichokes in the U.S., announced the arrival of the second season of its proprietary purple artichokes. This limited addition to the Ocean Mist Farms artichoke family is supported by a social media promotion in tandem with the season.

Ocean Mist Farms is supporting retail sales for the purple artichokes with a variety of marketing activations to highlight this unique “limited edition" variety and drive purchase intent. Alongside adding this unique item to the store locator on the website, Ocean Mist Farms has a second chapter to the

United Fresh Produce Association’s virtual BrandStorm featured discussions of cutting-edge industry topics and ended on a powerful note.

This last Zoom session, Fireside Chat with Past Produce Marketing & Merchandising Council Chairs, began with Danny Dumas, incoming chairman of the United Fresh board of directors, welcoming virtual guests. Mary Coppola, United’s vice president of marketing and communications, then introduced moderator Mark Munger, vice president, sales and marketing, for 4Earth Farms.

The panelists were Roger Pepperl and Cindy Jewell, each of whom have a long history of

CMI Orchards has announced strong branded apple sales growth for several of its brands.

Jazz apples have jumped into the second position for branded apple sales across the United States, with an overall increase of 13 percent in sales dollars representing 24 percent in volume over the latest 52-week period according to Nielsen scan data ending Jan. 23.  Jazz apples currently account for 21 percent of the U.S. branded apple category sales.

Envy apples showed similar success, with growth in volume of 8 percent year-over-year and a 10 percent growth in sales dollars. Envy apples account for 22

Science and technology have teamed up to prevail over safety threats to food products, processes and personnel for several decades now. The marshalling of forces against the latest coronavirus is no exception.

For example, Oxyion, whose Oxyion advanced air and surface sanitation technology is capable of eliminating up to 99.9 percent of viruses and bacteria, was confident its system could check the new virus as well.

“We suspected that our systems would have success against the coronavirus because of the established data showing our effectiveness against norovirus, rhinovirus and other