WASHINGTON — President Obama announced sweeping new executive actions on immigration reform Thursday that will likely set up the White House for a battle with the Republican-controlled Congress, but the produce industry hopes it will serve as a catalyst for a legislative fix.

During his prime-time televised speech, Obama criticized the House for failing to hold a vote on the Senate-passed bill, which he called a compromise.

For many California vegetable grower-shippers, winter marks a shift in production areas and a transition from the central coast to the California or Arizona. That’s not the case for Oxnard, CA-based Boskovich Farms.

“Pretty much we grow the same crops all year-round,” said Don Hobson, vice president of sales and marketing.

With the multi-colored pepper crops transitioning from one district to the next during the fall season, supplies are generally tight and demand good during the Thanksgiving to Christmas time frame. That is especially going to be the case this year as a series of September-October storms created multiple challenges in Baja California, which is the main production area at this time of year. “Not only did the storms damage the crops in the ground but there was significant damage to the infrastructure,” said Mike Aiton, marketing manager for Prime Time Sales LLC in Coachella, CA.

This holiday season, Food Lion is partnering with customers in its more than 1,100 stores, Nov. 19-Dec. 23, to help solve hunger through its Food Lion Feeds "Holidays Without Hunger" campaign.

Santa Cruz, CA-based Awe Sum Organics announced the addition of Gabe Reyes to its team.

In his newly created role as financial controller, Reyes will manage all accounting and financial activities, and develop procedures to position Awe Sum for continued growth.

The Chilean Cherry Committee, an entity associated with the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association, commonly referred to as ASOEX, expects total exports of fresh cherries from Chile to reach 100,000 tons this year. As the second-largest export market for Chile, North America anticipates a 45 percent increase in volume over the 2013-14 season.