The U.S. Department of Agriculture's monthly forecast for the 2014-15 orange crop remains unchanged at 108 million boxes.

Early-mid varieties accounted for 52 million boxes, while Valencias came in at 56 million boxes.

The USDA makes its initial estimate in October of each year and revises it monthly as the crop takes shape until the end of the season in July.

The USDA's estimate of the 2014-15 Florida grapefruit crop came in at 15 million boxes. Specialty fruit is estimated at 3.3 million boxes.

The membership of the Fresh Produce & Floral Council and guests went beyond themselves as they set a new record for charitable donations at the annual December Holiday Charity luncheon held in Cerritos, CA., on Wednesday, Dec. 10.

At the annual December Holiday Charity luncheon, Fresh Produce & Floral Council members and guests raised $130,545, a new record, for Caterina’s Club, an Orange County, CA, charity that focuses on providing a nightly dinner to underprivileged kids. 

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David B. Dillon, who led The Kroger Co. leadership team's development of the company's successful Customer 1^st Strategy, will retire as chairman of the board Dec. 31, after 38 years of service. Rodney McMullen, Kroger's chief executive officer, will take on the additional post of chairman commencing Jan. 1, 2015. McMullen has served on the board of directors since 2003. Additionally, Nora A. Aufreiter has been elected to the company's board of directors.

L&M Cos., which is based in Raleigh, NC, and has branch operations in Nogales, AZ, and several other locations around the country, will be adding mature green tomatoes to its lineup of offerings out of West Mexico for the winter season this year, according to John McDaniel, sales and operations director for the Nogales office.

The mature greens will be coming from Sinaloa and were expected to start about mid-December, continuing throughout the winter and wrapping up around late March or mid-April, he said.

NOGALES, AZ — The Crisantes family, which owns Wholesum Family Farms Inc., based here, has always expressed its social conscience and cared for and invested in the well-being of its employees.

But as the FairTrade movement became more established, there were increasingly reasons for Wholesum to move toward formal FairTrade certification.

Ricardo Crisantes Sr. tells the story of his board members’ approval process prior to the FairTrade commitment three years ago.