Midwestern retailer Meijer is preparing to hire thousands of new team members for its stores as the growing company prepares for the fall and holiday selling seasons, announced Janet Emerson, executive vice president of operations for the Grand Rapids, MI-based retailer.

“Meijer is always looking for good people,” Emerson said in a press release. “Our continued growth provides a great opportunity to find new team members who will help deliver on the Meijer promise of providing exceptional customer service.”

The fall 2014 vegetable program of Rio Rico, AZ-based distributor Fresh Farms will add green Bell peppers to the mix.

Jerry Havel, director of sales and marketing, indicated the volume on most other Mexican vegetable commodities will be up this fall. But Fresh Farms' overall product mix will otherwise be the same.

Havel said Fresh Farms' fall program will kick off Sept. 15 with cucumbers. The cucumber volume this fall will be up about 30 percent.

Total Produce, based in Dublin, Ireland, has purchased a 45 percent share of Eco Farms Avocados Inc., a Temecula, CA-based grower, shipper and importer of avocados and other fruit.

Eco Farms, which was started by a partnership led by company President Steve Taft in the early 1970s, was one of the pioneers in the development of the organic avocado sector.

After a month of encouraging individuals to vote, share and voice their opinion in Turbana's "Win 25K For Your Cause" Facebook contest, Turbana has tallied the votes and announced that KEEN New York is the official winner of a $25,000 partnership.

All across America, the sports focus is shifting to college football — and also to Avocados from Mexico.

Mexico's fall crop is currently being harvested, and AFM's first promotion of this season will kick off Sept. 8 and run until Dec. 15, mirroring the college football season. The promotion tagline is "Hungry for Football" and will be conducted in partnership with ConAgra Foods and its Ro*Tel line of canned tomatoes.

LIMA, PERU — Since the U.S. market opened to Peruvian citrus in 2006, shipments have increased approximately 20 percent per year, due in part to the quality of the product but also to the work of the association charged with promoting the category to foreign markets.