“Synchronicity” is an important term in Maj. Dan Rooney’s life. A fighter pilot with three tours of duty in Iraq and a golf pro who owns a Robert Trent Jones-designed course, Rooney believes everything happens for a reason.

And in his life, everything that’s happened to now has simply led to a means for him to help others.

“Our customers — the importers — are currently bringing in blueberries from Chile, asparagus from Peru, assorted vegetables from Guatemala and mangoes from Peru, among other items,” said Ana Ramos, co-owner with her husband Frank of The Perishable Specialist, a leading customs brokerage firm headquartered in Miami. The company handles fresh produce exclusively.

Top-performing retailers generate up to three times more apple category dollars even after equalizing for store size, according to a new analysis released by CMI. The report assesses the key differences between top- and bottom-performing retailers in U.S.

Sambrailo Packaging in Watsonville, CA, is “a full-service packaging supplier for the berry and fresh vegetable industry here in California, and we also have locations in Mexico,” according to Jim Scattini, vice president of sales and marketing. “We are now in our 91st year,” and berries have a major focus of the company “for probably the last 45 years.”

Every season is different, but this season, at least early on, is bringing unusual challenges to the industry and to suppliers to the industry such as Sambrailo.

It has been two years since Pacific AgPak, a leading provider of plastic consumer packaging for strawberries and other produce, relocated from Exeter, CA, to a new 50,000-square-foot facility in Watsonville. The facility has enabled Pacific AgPak to improve customer service and reduce turn-around times for strawberry shippers, according to President Dave Baum.

Can you imagine an amateur community choir from Aptos, CA (population 6,600), 10 miles up the coast from Watsonville, being invited to perform in the Vatican as part of an observance marking the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Vatican Choir?