The Del Rey Avocado senior leadership team and business partners Bob Lucy and Bob Siemer announced the transition of leadership of the company to the next generation — Jessica Hunter (Siemer’s daughter) and Patrick and Donny Lucy (Lucy’s sons). Lucy and Siemer will remain active in industry and will serve on the company’s board of directors.

The avocado’s surge in popularity has defied gravity over the past decade and once again it appears headed in that direction as f.o.b. prices are almost record-breaking even as volume increases.

During the four full weeks of January, Mexico sent more than 222 million pounds of avocados to the U.S. market, and California began its harvest for the season chipping in another 8.8 million pounds. Those are robust numbers and will make January one of the top avocado-producing months of the year, yet the f.o.b. price is red hot.

"With this acquisition, GrowGen is strengthening its global product supply chain and adding significant distribution of its growing list of private label products," said Michael Salaman, President and co-founder of GrowGen. "Keith Harrington is one of the most respected executives and one of the early innovators of the U.S. modern horticultural market. We are excited that he will contribute his multi-decade expertise to the GrowGen team."

Early bird registration for the 2022 CPMA Convention & Trade Show, which will take place April 5-7 at the Palais des congrès in Montreal, QC, is now open. CPMA’s annual trade show is Canada’s largest event dedicated to the fresh fruits and vegetable industry.

Plant City, FL-based Wish Farms, an international grower and year-round marketer of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and pineberries, is proud to announce the hiring of Carlos Fear as director of berry genetics.