Retailers wanting insights about additional ways to boost apple and pear sales during the winter months can discuss strategies with Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers at Booth No. 911. The company is headquartered in Wenatchee, WA and is one of the premier tree fruit growers in the Pacific Northwest.

“Organic diets are a big consumer trend right now,” said Jasmine Hines, director of marketing and advertising for RBest Produce Inc., headquartered in Port Washington, NY. “Everyone is looking into healthier habits, and with that we’ve noticed an increase in the demand of organic produce.”

RBest imports produce from all over the world, with a strong focus on well-known top-quality brands.

“We have totally cleaned up at our Georgia and Alabama facilities,” Jason Bell, managing member of Tater Man, headquartered in Sydney, FL, said on Jan. 28. “We are currently pulling exclusively out of North Carolina and Mississippi. These programs will last until we start harvesting again in 2015.”

HERMOSILLO, SONORA — The prelude to the second annual International Vine Symposium was a Feb. 4 tour of Grupo Alta plantations to the north of Hermosillo. Formal technical production sessions were scheduled for Feb. 5-6 in Hermosillo and a closing tour on Feb. 7.

Wegmans Food Markets, a family-owned supermarket chain with 85 stores in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic region, reached the top spot for corporate reputation among the 100 most visible companies, according to the 16th annual Harris Poll Reputation Quotient study. Other ranked retailers included Publix Supermarkets (eighth), Whole Foods Market (21), the Kroger Co. (32), Meijer's (39), Aldi (44) and Safeway (67).

Ian MacKenzie, president of the Ontario Produce Marketing Association, has announced that he plans to retire at the end of this year.

MacKenzie has been with the OPMA since 1994, leaving briefly in 1998 to become general manager of the Ontario Apple Marketing Commission, but returning to OPMA in 2002.