Mark Tompkins, director of North American sales, is retiring from Sunkist. He began his career with Sunkist Growers 50 years ago in Calgary.  

“We will miss the wisdom, steady leadership, dependability and humility that Mark Tompkins has brought to Sunkist,” Kevin Fiori, vice president of sales and marketing, said in a press release. “Mark’s contributions are many and very much appreciated by Sunkist. His legacy will live on in the people he mentored who sell Sunkist’s citrus every day. We wish him and his family all the best in retirement.”

There are two major changes at Hronis Inc. in Delano, CA, for the 2013 grape season, according to Pete Hronis, vice president of sales and marketing.

One is a major increase to new varieties, which is “quite an amazing change,” he told The Produce News. “Number two, we are now 100 percent in what they call the handle bag or stand-up gusseted bag,” which makes it “easier for the consumers to pick up the grapes and continue on their way.” That has been “the other big change for us here at Hronis.”

Heading into summer with good volume and quality on all varieties, Sweet Clover Produce in Walla Walla, WA, is now shipping its famed Walla Walla sweets as well as organic yellows and reds and conventional reds, whites and yellows.

Sales Manager Bill (Sweet Willie) Brownfield said earlier in the season that healthy stands and good irrigation were harbingers of a strong season.

The Organic Trade Association, based in Brattleboro, VT, has named Kyle Mathison, Stemilt Growers co-owner and grower, as its Organic Farmer of the Year for 2013.

Mathison, 60, farms apples, pears and cherries on Stemilt Hill in Wenatchee, WA, and also has cherry farms in Bakersfield, CA, and Chile. He has been farming fruit organically since the late 1980s and was one of the first organic growers to use an integrated organic program in his orchards. He also deploys innovative farming techniques, such as the use of fish oil and compost, in order to grow his fruit.

The Fresh Grocer, an eight-store chain owned and operated by Patrick J. Burns, will be joining Wakefern Food Corp. as its 50th cooperative member.

The Fresh Grocer has six stores in Pennsylvania, one in Wilmington, DE, and one in New Brunswick, NJ. Burns brings with him 25 years of experience in the supermarket industry and 17 years serving as the president and chief executive officer of The Fresh Grocer.

Weather is always the caveat in agriculture, and that is particularly true on the shoulders of the strawberry season, either early or late. This year, according to Carolyn O'Donnell, marketing director for the California Strawberry Commission in Watsonville, CA, weather took its toll on the early season in Southern California. Since then, “the weather has been really great." Coastal growing areas have escaped the extreme heat felt farther inland this summer.