For a produce department to succeed, freshness is obviously a priority. For Roche Bros., local products help provide that freshness required to keep shoppers coming back. The local angle comes naturally as local is part of Roche Bros.’ DNA.

AmericanHort announces Cultivate’22 will be held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center July 16-19, 2022 in Columbus, OH and the Pre-Registration period will be open from February 14-25, 2022. Anyone who registers during this two-week Pre-Registration period will have a pre-assigned date during the week of March 7 to reserve hotel accommodations. The Cultivate’22 general registration opens March 15 and hotel accommodations can be made when registering for the conference.

Apple sales continued to show dollar increases year over year, according to data from Nielsen over the latest 12 weeks from Nov. 7 to Jon. 29.

“We had some wild weather in the west in January that caused a few hiccups for apple shipments, but it was good to see that apple sales continued to show those 7 percent dollar increases year over year with Gala and Honeycrisp leading the pack at 44 percent of apple volumes,” said Brianna Shales, marketing director at Stemilt.

Fox Solutions, a manufacturer and distributor of state-of-the-art, custom packing equipment, announces the partnership with its first flow-wrap machine manufacturer, Redpack. In addition to bringing current customers new packaging solutions, this partnership will enable Fox to serve new industries that utilize flow-wrap on many items.
 

On the surface, produce sales appear to continue thriving as the pandemic is about to enter its third year; however, a deeper dive paints a bit of a different picture. According to IRI and 210 Analytics, January dollar sales have surpassed previous records set in 2020 and 2021. Those sales, however, were boosted by inflation as volume sales declined compared to last year.

Over the weekend, the U.S. government suspended avocado imports from Mexico "…until further notice," but retailers, consumers and foodservice professionals can continue to purchase and enjoy avocados from the Dominican Republic. Desbry Tropical Avocados are available in ample supply for immediate shipping.