“As of late April, New York’s apple trees look absolutely perfect,” Jim Allen, president of the New York Apple Association in Fishers, NY, told The Produce News April 29. “Growers are right on track with a textbook perfect season at this point.

On May 2, United Supermarkets LLC helped serve the hungry in local communities for the second year in a row by making a donation of 12,800 pounds of apples to the South Plains Food Bank in Lubbock, TX. This donation is part of 40,000 pounds of apples United is giving to food banks in Abilene, Amarillo, Lubbock and Wichita Falls, TX.

The donation signals the company’s committed participation in the Take a Bite Out of Hunger program sponsored by FirstFruits Marketing of Washington.

The board of harbor commissioners of the city of Wilmington, DE, opened the Port of Wilmington for commerce May 2, 1923.

BALTIMORE — Will Daniels, senior vice president of operations and organic integrity for Earthbound Farm, criticized retailers and other branches of the produce industry, including media, inspectors and researchers, for chasing the money and not moving fast enough on food safety during a presentation he delivered at the Food Safety Summit, held here.

CHARLOTTE, NC — Chiquita Brands moved its headquarters late last year to a downtown office building, here, located next to the sleek and stylish Hall of Fame for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, which is apropos since the produce marketer is refocused on its core banana and salad businesses, which are on track and racing ahead, according to Bob Stallman, who gained a new job title during the move.

Georgia is not the first place one thinks of when blueberries are mentioned, nor does one think of that fruit when the Peach State is mentioned. But steady growth based on early bearing varieties has in recent years positioned Georgia to compete for the title of the nation's top blueberry producing state.