Homegrown Organic Farms plans to begin packing blueberries at its new facility in Kingsburg, CA, in 2014. Director of Marketing Scott Mabs said the new facility — which is significantly larger than its current production facility in Arvin, CA — will give the company the ability to handle commodities under one roof.

The Reedley, CA, division of Giumarra Bros. Fruit Co.

VIDALIA, GA — There is debate on how dramatically seed stem will affect this year's Vidalia onion crop, but already fields here show marked presence of the bolting flowers that indicate the condition — and more pop up every day.

The Nunes Co. Inc., marketers of "Foxy" brand produce, has partnered with Skinny Mom, a multi-platform lifestyle brand and blogging network made up of over 100 mom bloggers, for two marketing campaigns during May.

As part of the month-long promotion, Foxy produce is the premier sponsor for the Skinny Mom May Meal Plan, which is distributed to over 37,000 dedicated emails subscribers. In addition, Foxy is also a partner for the Skinny Mom 14-Day Slim Down Challenge and will be the featured sponsor in one of the daily emails to participants.

Publix's sales for the first quarter of 2013 were $7.5 billion, a 6.1 percent increase from last year's $7.1 billion.

Part of the increase is attributable to the Easter holiday having occurred in the first quarter of 2013, which increased sales by approximately 1.3 percent. Easter was in the second quarter last year.

The fresh produce industry is mourning the loss of Jan Fleming, chief executive officer of Strube Celery & Vegetable Co. in Chicago, who died May 1 at the age of 67.