With a network of farmers spread across a 120-mile radius in eastern North Carolina, Nash Produce of Nashville, NC, is already widely known in the sweet potato world. And now, the company is making moves to strengthen its position in the market.

Nash recently installed an ozone system “to extend the shelf life of our sweet potatoes as well as eliminate residue from the product,” said Director of Marketing Laura Kornegay.

The Nickey Gregory Co. LLC of Forest Park, GA is on a roll. Business has boomed in recent years, leading to regular expansion of the company’s headquarters on the Atlanta State Farmers Market and a mushroom operation and second warehouse in Miami.

Gregory also recently launched its “Cheryl’s Best” line of tomatoes, named after Gregory’s wife and the company co-owner, Cheryl Gregory.

The Center for Produce Safety at the University of California-Davis announced 16 new grant awards valued at $3 million.

The research awards are directed at answering critical questions in specific areas of food-safety practices for fruit, vegetable and tree nut production; pre-harvest, harvest and post-harvest handling; and co-management of food safety and the environment. The objective is to provide the produce industry with practical, translatable research data that can be used at all levels of the supply chain.

Sunsweet Growers Inc., a leading marketer of prunes, specialty dried-fruit products and fruit juices based in Yuba City, CA, announced that Dane Lance, the company's president, has taken on the additional role of chief executive officer, effective Oct 6.

Arthur Driscoll II, chief executive officer since 2004, is retiring after a distinguished tenure with Sunsweet. During Driscoll's time at Sunsweet, the company achieved record-setting revenue and grower-member crop returns.

California Gov. Jerry Brown's veto of a bill designed to protect the state's citrus growers against the spread of Huanglongbing, or citrus greening, has roiled the members of the state's citrus cooperative.

Orange County Produce is recalling red and green Bell Peppers after a random sample tested positive for Salmonella.

The recall is limited to three lots (Lot # SB 7 920, 923, 924) containing 1,208 25-pound cartons of peppers. No illnesses have been reported to date.

The lots were distributed to farmer's markets and wholesale foodservice within Southern California Sept. 21-24. The product was shipped in cases under the "OC Harvest" labels.