The Produce News has named Southeastern Editor Chip Carter to head up the company’s newly established in-house video production program, which will launch in late February from the upcoming Southeast Produce Council Southern Exposure trade show in Orlando, FL, in late February.

Over the past three decades, Carter has periodically worked in broadcast, commercial and Internet video for PBS, CBS, AOL, MovieFone, Nintendo, SEGA, the St. Pete/Clearwater Convention & Visitors Bureau and numerous others.

Executives representing the top Hass avocado companies in the United States and South Africa announced during Fruit Logistica in Berlin the establishment of the U.S.-South Africa Avocado Committee.

The committee’s primary purpose is to work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to obtain the necessary approvals to allow for the exportation of Hass avocados from South Africa into the United States.

Sage Fruit Co. renewed its associate sponsorship of JR Motorsports — the professional race team owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. — which fields multiple teams and tours nationally in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (formally Nationwide Series). This will be the second year Sage Fruit has sponsored JRM.

Lakeside Organic Gardens LLC, headquartered in Watsonville, CA, recently announced that the company now offers highly nutritious organic broccoli leaf.

“Some argue that broccoli leaf is even more nutritious than kale,” said Lindsey Roberts, marketing communications director for the company. “Try them sautéed in a little olive oil and garlic just like you would with collards. They’re delicious, earthy and resemble broccoli just enough to remind you of where they came from.”

NOGALES, AZ — Organic Mexican vegetable supplies are down in January and demand is pushing prices to high levels, according to Steve LeFevre, sales manager for Wholesum Family Farms, based here. LeFevre added that red Bell peppers are the exception to this rule.  

“The cucumber market is extremely tight,” LeFevre said. “Wholesum’s organic cucumber volume was down this year anyway. We don’t have the (cucumber) numbers we had in the past. But organic cucumbers from Mexico are down in general. It’s extremely tight.”

The Southeast Produce Council's 2015 conference and trade show could see record overall attendance, with excellent representation as always from the key retail and foodservice sides of the produce industry, according to one of the leaders of the council.