Bayshore Vegetable Shippers continues to enjoy steady growth, as it posts its third consecutive year with double digit numbers.

The company, based in Burlington, Ontario, is reaping the benefits of new packing equipment, new products and new seed varieties. Bayshore represents over 100 local growers and ships fresh produce to retailers and wholesalers in both Canada and the United States.

The Canadian Produce Marketing Association, in association with the Canadian Public Health Association, hosted a national health summit in Ottawa, Ontario, June 12-13 at the Ottawa Convention Centre.

The event, titled “Increasing Fruit and Vegetable Consumption for a Healthier Canada: Partnerships, Promotion and Policies,” gathered together a wide variety of stakeholders with an interest in increasing fruit and vegetable consumption. The purpose of the summit was to facilitate dialogue among the diverse participants to come up with collaborative action plans.

Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers have product with exceptional quality this year, which should help growers rebound from slowed movement in 2012 and allow them to make improvements and additions to their facilities.

George Gilvesy, general manager of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers in Leamington, ON, told The Produce News that the organization has placed a concentrated effort on the launch of this season’s Ontario greenhouse program.

Unified Grocers has named Charlie's Produce as its exclusive partner in all produce categories for Unified's independent retail customers operating stores in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Retail customers of Unified in the Pacific Northwest will now have more than 5,500 fresh produce items available, as well as a broad assortment of specialty and prepared produce, floral and home meal replacement products.

Throughout its many generations farming in the rich soil of Elba, NY, Torrey Farms Inc. has acquired the expertise necessary to bring the freshest quality produce to the marketplace.

“We continue to focus on growing proven varieties for flavor, nutritional value and freshness, and we are always trying new things to adapt and to produce the best product possible,” said Shannon Kyle, part of the company’s sales and marketing team.

The message from Greg Orchards & Produce Inc., based in Benton Harbor, MI, is clearly one of health and abundance.

“We should have an abundant crop of good-quality apples and peaches,” Sales Manager Marilyn Redder told The Produce News. “Growers have been busy thinning, which is an excellent sign. All our fruit trees, both apples and peaches, are very healthy coming into the 2013 season. We had abundance of blossoms and more leaves present than normal. The trees are green, lush and full of good-quality fruit. A healthy tree produces more flavorful sweet fruit.”