Crunch Pak, a sliced-apples specialist, announced the hiring of Scott Sargent as its new chief executive officer.

He replaces Crunch Pak’s former CEO, John Graden, who will work side by side with Sargent through the end of the year, then become a member of the board and continue as director of raw product purchasing.

Alex Ott, executive director of the California Apple Commission in Fresno, CA, told The Produce News that just about all California crops, including apples, are running about eight days early this year.

Cathy Green Burns will join the Produce Marketing Association as president, effective Dec. 1, as part of its continuing restructure of the senior leadership team. In this new role, which further strengthens the staff’s blend of association management and industry expertise, Green Burns will focus initially on leading board and staff team development as well as lending her insight to business development activities.

F-D-S Manufacturing Co. in Pomona, CA. which manufactures clamshells and other packaging for grapes and other produce, is now able to use about 99 percent recycled PET plastic in its manufacturing processes, according to President Robert (Bob) Stevenson.

In some cases, “we are able to run 100 percent recycled PET now,” he said.

In addition to using recycled products as feedstock for manufacturing, the company also enhances its environmental sustainability practices by recycling heat in its manufacturing processes.

GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ — A few months ago, Leo Holt, president of Holt Logistics Corp. had a problem. As part of his Delaware River region operations, Holt runs the Gloucester Marine Terminal here. There, an ancient crane needed to come down to make way for a gleaming new $5 million mobile unit with many times the lifting capacity and much more versatility.

Demolition crews wanted a fortune — and a long timetable — for the project. Holt instead chose to turn to his best resource: his employees.

The price differential between Chinese and California garlic is expected to be greater this year than it has been recently because of a larger Chinese crop than China has seen in the past three years. The California crop, expected to be up a little in volume from last year, is expected to be of very good quality with good yields, particularly on the California Early variety, which is the first variety harvested.