In mid-October 2011, Tom Ciovacco, president of Mutual Produce Corporation located at the New England Produce Center in Chelsea, MA, purchased all shares of the company from his previous partners.

Philip Forster, general manager of the company, explained to The Produce News that it was founded in 1961 by Lewis Gussman.

JOHN ECKENDORF joined Rosholt, WI-based Bushman’s Inc. Oct. 1 as a sales account representative. In his new position at Bushman’s, Mr. Eckendorf will concentrate on potato and onion sales.

“We are fortunate to have John on board,” Mike Carter, chief executive officer of Bushman’s said in a press release. “His extensive experience in developing a customer base within the produce industry will be an asset to us as we continue to build our business.”

Anthony Sharrino, president of Eaton & Eustis Co., located at the New England Produce Center in Chelsea, MA, told The Produce News that the company is well known for its major onion program, including sweet onions from all areas of the country and offshore.

“We handle all of the popular sweet onions, including Vidalias, Walla Walla and Peruvian sweet onions,” said Mr. Sharrino. “We also handle a full line of garlic products, fresh and peeled, all of which is sourced from California. We’ve been doing business with Christopher Ranch in Gilroy, CA, for over 30 years.”

Mexico, which is the largest supplier of Hass avocados to the U.S. market and which is anticipating record volumes for the 2012-13 crop, expects to export a record volume of avocados to the U.S. market during the 2012-13 season.

According to information furnished to The Produce News by APEAM, the avocado growers and packers association in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, projected exports of Hass to the United States from July 2012 through June 2013 will total more than 918 million pounds, up from around 782 million pounds during the prior year.

Kingston & Associates Marketing LLC announced its plan to expand its Costa Rican MD2 golden variety pineapple program, the Kingston "Sugar Pine," with an estimated volume increase of 30 percent over last season.

The growth is driven by increased customer demand and expansion into new geographic areas of the United States in recent months.

"We will be introducing our new retail line of packaged gourmet veggies at the upcoming PMA Fresh Summit," said Ande Manos, sales and marketing director for Babe' Farms headquartered in Santa Maria, CA. "It includes 16-ounce and 14-ounce packages of gourmet vegetables, such as topped and trimmed mini root vegetables, mixed color baby beets, gourmet radishes, rainbow carrots, baby purple and green brussels sprouts, baby purple artichokes and baby fennel."