Expansion, upgrades and new equipment at its LaSalle, CO, packing facility has allowed Strohauer Farms to begin year-round shipping, according to company President and Owner Harry Strohauer.

“Our Colorado packing facility is going through significant changes this season with the additions of an optic sorter/sizer, new washing and drying equipment, increased cooler capacity and overall streamlining of our sorting and packing operation,” Strohauer said in late June.

Steinbeck Country Produce announced the launch of a series of animated spots that highlight its “Nature’s Reward” brand. The spots will air strictly in the digital sphere in the form of banner ads and online videos. The creative focuses on the company’s line of premium-quality “Nature’s Reward” fresh vegetable and strawberries.

Mi Pueblo, which has 21 Northern California stores targeting Hispanic shoppers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection July 22, claiming it has financing issues with its main lender.

In a letter to its vendors, dated on the same day, Juvenal Chavez, founder and chief executive officer, said all stores would remain open as the supermarket chain reorganizes.

Growers Citrus Packing, a Terra Bella, CA-based grower-shipper of citrus, primarily Navel oranges, is joining Sunkist Growers Inc.

“We are pleased to be joining Sunkist, where we will benefit from their broad worldwide customer reach and marketing expertise," David Evans, chief executive officer of Growers Citrus Packing, said in a press release. "We look forward to a long and prosperous future together.”

Projected to pack 1.6 million cartons annually, Growers Citrus Packing will be part of the robust Sunkist packinghouse network.

In the first year after the signing of the U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement, the head of the flower exporter group in Colombia contends the United States has come out on top. Augusto Solano, president of Asocolflores, the flower exporters group, told The Produce News, “The media in both countries has pronounced this particular free trade agreement as having been more beneficial for the United States than it has for Colombia.”

A crowd of about 1,200 area residents visited one or more of the six growers on the Monterey Bay Greenhouse Growers fourth annual open house tour June 15. Kathleen W McDonough, who organized the event, told The Produce News that more than $10,000 was raised from flower, plant, and refreshment sales for five local charities, including state parks and a cancer fund.