“At this point, we are expecting a smooth transition moving northward this season,” Calvert Cullen, president of Northampton Growers Produce Sales Inc., headquartered in Cheriton, VA, told The Produce News on March 21.

However, the company, as with many other growers in Florida, took a hard hit with early pepper production due to freezes earlier in the year that caused a major bloom drop and numerous other issues.

Green Earth Produce Trading Inc. in Los Angeles, which opened in March 2012, is the avocado division of Green Earth Produce Trading Inc. in Gloucester City, NJ. Gahl Crane, an avocado industry veteran who was previously with Fisher-Capespan and prior to that with Prime Produce, was brought in at that time as director, to open and manage the division which is, according to Crane, “its own headquarters for avocado operations.

The New Jersey operation handles primarily grapes, citrus, apples and pears, he said.

In an overwhelming show of confidence in the Almond Board of California, the state's almond growers once again voted in favor of continuing the federal marketing order for California almonds. Federal Marketing Order 981 requires the continuance referendum to take place every five years.

Voting in the referendum took place from Feb. 18 through March 7; growers who produced almonds within the state of California between Aug. 1, 2012, and July 31, 2013, were eligible to vote.

Hass avocado trees tend to be alternate bearing, so after a 505 million-pound crop in 2013, one of the larger harvests on record, it is no surprise that the 2014 California avocado crop is expected to be significantly smaller. What is, perhaps, surprising is that last year's California crop was not lighter, inasmuch as the prior year's crop was also extremely large, making two big crop years in a row.

RedLine Solutions, a leader in produce traceability and inventory solutions, announced the extension of technical support hours to better serve the central time zone. The offering of technical assistance availability in the central time zone means that customers can benefit from getting live support from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST.

WASHINGTON — Produce companies are getting so frustrated over congressional inaction on immigration reform that they may be rethinking plans to contribute to Republican campaigns.

Agriculture groups are beginning to loudly criticize House Republicans for not moving on immigration reform at a time when the opportunity for legislation appears to be slipping away.