While Controlled Environment Agriculture continues to be controversial within the realm of organic certification, suppliers and the retail community are predicting that it will continue to expand to include more fresh produce items and more volume.

KINGSTON, MA — The New England Produce Council held its 26th annual golf tournament Tuesday, July 19, at the Indian Pond Country Club, here. About 148 golfers participated on a sunny and extremely hot day, according to NEPC Executive Director Laura Sullivan.

As in previous years, money raised from the 25th annual golf tournament will benefit the NEPC Scholarship Fund.

William H. Kopke Jr. Inc. has added Rodrigo Del Sante to its global team. Del Sante has over 30 years of experience in the produce business and most recently served as the general manager and CEO of Comercial Greenvic S.A.

If you're after some hefty sales, then take advantage of featuring any or all of these high volume mid-summer items: grapes, strawberries and cherries. With a shortage of workers, all three items take very little labor time to display. Just take the packages out of the cartons and place them on the displays.

After several days of disruption by truck driver protests, the port of Oakland’s marine terminals are open and operating normally. The port of Oakland is one of the biggest gateways for California’s agricultural exporters, and last week's shutdown exacerbated the congestion of containers at the seaport.

Baldor Specialty Foods partners with more than 1,000 farms to supply food items to restaurants, wholesalers, corporate foodservice, schools, hospitals and more — but foodservice has long been its bread and butter.

“The success of our foodservice business has allowed us to venture into other sales channels,” said Benjamin Walker, senior vice president of sales, marketing and merchandising for the Bronx, NY-based company.