“The Canadian Produce Marketing Association Convention & Trade Show is smaller than the Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit, and that means we get to spend more time with our customers at the CPMA event,” said Ken Green, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Westmoreland Sales, headquartered in Leamington, ON. “The majority of the customers that we see at this show are Canadian.”

The 2013 CPMA expo will be held in Toronto April 17-19.

The Michigan Apple Committee, based in DeWitt, MI, has hired two account managers, who will facilitate the sale of Michigan apples in retail stores. Michael Bardon of Grand Ledge, MI, and Terry Braithwaite of East Wenatchee, WA, will begin work with the committee this month.

WASHINGTON — Farmers would not lose experienced workers, future workers would move through a new visa system, and enforcement of E-Verify would be delayed for agricultural operations under the new immigration reform bill hailed by farm workers and agricultural employers at an April 17 press conference.

Just days ago, the Agriculture Workforce Coalition and the United Farm Workers reached an agreement on agricultural labor provisions -- a signal of how fluid negotiations were on the immigration reform legislation right up until the bill was introduced this week.

Wada Farms Marketing Group, the exclusive marketer of “Dole Fresh” potatoes, onions and sweet potatoes, announced the opening of a new sales office in Raleigh, NC.

Wada, which currently has offices in Texas and Oregon, including its headquarters in Idaho Falls, ID, will be focusing their sweet potato program from this new location.

TORONTO — Participants of this year's Canadian Produce Marketing Association retail tour, here, visited four supermarkets April 17, but after the first two stops somehow found themselves walking around a 100-year-old locomotive repair shop and Toronto's historic Maple Leaf Gardens, which was home to the National Hockey League's Maple Leafs for nearly 70 years.

AUSTIN J.P. MIGOTTI of Coastline Produce died in a car accident on April 11. He was 27 years old.

“Austin was a fun-loving person who lived his life to the fullest,” said Vivian Sotelo, marketing manager for Coastline Produce. “He was also up for anything. Whether it was a last minute camping trip, or you needed him to sub for a Saturday at work, he was always ready and willing. He was one of those people who never complained and could always be counted on.”