Grower Alliance LLC in Nogales, AZ, which was founded seven years ago, has “been able to grow little by little” from its inception, and that growth continues for the 2013-14 season with expansion in several commodities, according to Jorge Quintero Jr., managing partner.

“Euro cucumbers we just started this week,” Quintero said Nov. 19. “That is our big deal,” and it has expanded significantly this year. “We are doubling our production from last season, so that is something huge. That is all out of Culiacán” in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

Divine Flavor LLC, which is located in the Rio Rico Industrial Park north of Nogales, AZ, is building a new 90,000-square-foot state-of-the-art warehouse and office complex on a 22-acre site on Mariposa Road in Nogales, which is expected to be ready next October in time for the 2014-15 season, according to Pedro Batiz, vice president of sales.

“We are breaking ground next week,” Batiz told The Produce News on Nov. 25.

“It is going to be a green warehouse” with solar panels, he added.

Organizers of the America Trades Produce Conference announced that Christopher Wilson, associate at the Woodrow Wilson Institute's Mexico Institute, will be the keynote speaker at the fourth annual conference.

"We are delighted with how the agenda and speaker lineup is developing," Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, which runs the conference along with the Texas International Produce Association, said in a press release.

Syngenta announced Dec. 17 that it has signed an agreement to sell its Dulcinea Farms business to Pacific Trellis Fruit LLC, a Fresno, CA-based grower and marketer of fresh produce.

Based in Ladera Ranch, CA, Dulcinea was formed in 2004 in partnership with Tanimura & Antle, initially as a vehicle for branding proprietary mini-watermelon and specialty melon genetics directly to consumers through national food retail chains. Syngenta took full control of the company in 2005 and annual sales have since increased to around $80 million.

A little over a year ago, Veggies Inc. relocated to a new 25,000-square-foot facility, 75 percent larger than the company’s previous facility, that includes offices and a fully refrigerated warehouse with 13 loading doors, compared to just eight at the previous location, according to Marco Barrerda, vice president of the company.

The new facility has enabled Veggies Inc. to increase its cross-docking and sales business, Barreda said. “For that, we had to increase, as well, our fleet of trucks,” he said. “We added a couple of refrigerated bobtails and a couple of semis as well.”

JAKE ERICKSON joined Scottsdale, AZ-based Pura Vida Farms earlier this year.