People in the north needed a taste of summer during the past brutal winter, and Procacci Bros. in Philadelphia gave them just that with its “Taste Like Summer” campaign, which promoted “UglyRipe” heirloom tomatoes and “SantaSweets” grape tomatoes.

Figs from the California desert region have been in the marketplace since late April, which was much earlier than normal because of warm winter weather.

Kurt Cappelluti, sales manager for Stellar Distributing in Madera, CA, said last year's start date of May 8 was the earliest he had ever seen in more than 20 years in the deal.

"And this year we beat that by two weeks," he said. "We shipped our first carton on April 23. Unbelievable."

The season is getting off to an early start for California stone fruit, with beginning harvest dates for many early varieties as much as one to two weeks ahead of normal.

A lot has been written about millennials, a term used to describe those born between 1981 and 2000. Also known as Generation Y, Boomerang Generation and Echo Boomers, this segment of the U.S. population is estimated to be 76 million to 80 million strong, or roughly one in four people.

NatureSweet, a leading grower of premium, branded fresh tomatoes, has introduced a new line of ready-to-eat snacking tomatoes called Cherriots.

These bite-sized tomatoes meet the growing demand for snacks that support a healthy lifestyle. Cherriots will be sold in a convenient pull-apart three-pack.

ProduceMonkey.com is bringing a new swing on social media marketing to the produce industry with its official May 1 launch.