Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers' harvest of 2014's Northwest cherries kicked off the last weekend of May, and Oneonta Marketing Director Scott Marboe said early signs point to a great season.

“The fruit is looking very nice, really clean with a good range of size," Marboe said in a press release. "Our field staff and Mother Nature have done a great job so far.”

Marboe expected that volumes should have started to pick up this past weekend, and he said this week "will be a good time to start with those early-season programs.”

The United Fresh Produce Association kicked off its 2014 convention in Chicago with an opening reception held at Millenium Park. The reception followed the joint United/FMI General Session, which featured Hillary Clinton as the keynote speaker. Traffic was strong on the floor both days of the trade show.

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Pear Bureau Northwest announced the 40 winners of its inaugural “Pear Up with USA Pears” display contest. The contest invited all retailers from across the U.S. and Canada to build an eye-catching display that features Green Anjou, Red Anjou, and Bosc pears at minimum, with inclusion of other varieties of USA Pears being encouraged.

CHICAGO — Pete’s Farm Market is an icon of Chicago’s retail scene.

Behind its unit at 43rd and Pulaski the nine-store chain operates its own refrigerated warehouse to receive direct truckloads of produce. Still, Pete’s produce buyer Steve Sotirakopulos said he shops the Chicago International Produce Market on a daily basis.

“We try to buy the best produce around,” Sotirakopulos said.

“We opened the new facility at the end of March,” said Jamie Graiff, manager and co-owner with his brother, Dan Graiff, of Dan Graiff Farms LLC, in Newfield, NJ.

“It’s actually an expansion of our existing facility by 17,000-square-feet, giving us a total of about 50,000-square-feet of total space,” he added.

He explained that the new facility incorporates a state-of-the-art, fully automated packing line that was developed and built in Italy. While the line is used in Europe, Dan Graiff Farms is the first company to have one in the United States.

The tomato market should be fairly solid this summer as the drought might affect supplies but local deals should help produce promotable supplies for the category.