The Fresh Produce Association of the Americas held its annual membership meeting May 7 in Nogales, AZ. This year’s meeting had several significant highlights:

Meijer, a Grand Rapids, MI-based retailer with supercenters and grocery stores throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, will mark a milestone May 16 with the opening of its 200th store.

On May 3, Calvert Cullen, president of Northampton Growers, headquartered in Cheriton, VA, told The Produce News that Florida “got hammered” with rain during the previous couple of days.

“We were finished there, but some of our neighbors still have things in the ground,” said Mr. Cullen. “Rainfall ranged from nine to 12 inches in one day, not including what we got earlier in the week. Most growers are close to being done, but there is definitely some damage done to what was still there.”

Sunny Valley International’s South Carolina peach harvest was anticipated to begin May 20.

“Our growing partners in Monetta, South Carolina, Cotton Hope Farms, expects to begin harvesting the Flavorich peach variety on May 20,” Bob Von Rohr, director of customer relations for Sunny Valley International Inc., headquartered in Glassboro, NJ, told The Produce News May 6. “This is about two weeks later than they started last year.”

Social media campaigns have become major tools for many commodities in their efforts to boost consumption, an approach being used extensively by the California fig industry through the California Fig Advisory Board, a marketing order for dried figs, and its sister organization, the voluntary California Fresh Fig Growers Association in Fresno, CA.

Keystone Fruit Marketing Inc. is anticipating a good Walla Walla sweet onion production season in 2013. “We had a mild winter and a cool spring. The May forecast looks very good for growing onions,” Sales Manager Dan Borer told The Produce News. “Based on expected yields, [we anticipate] 10 percent to 15 percent more volume than last season.”