Grower Alliance LLC in Nogales, AZ, has picked up a small spring watermelon deal out of Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, according to Jorge Quintero Jr., managing partner.

It was a deal the company hadn’t planned on, he said, but it complements the company’s regular spring melon deal out of Hermosillo, Sonora.

The Guaymas deal consists of about 65 hectares [160 acres] of seedless watermelons. “We are expecting maybe about 120 to 140 loads,” Mr. Quintero said.

Morada Produce Co. LP in Linden, CA, has made “a lot of changes” to its cherry packing facility during the off-season, according to Michael Jameson, marketing director and export salesman for the company. The biggest change has been the installation of “the largest optical cherry sorter in the world,” he said.

The new sorter is manufactured in Italy by Unitec and “can sort fruit for firmness, for color, for size, for defects, for double and spur recognition. So it is a huge advancement to our company this year,” Mr. Jameson said.

Daily Fresh Distributing LLC in Nogales, AZ, has “some new vineyards that we are going to be breaking into this year” in Sonora, Mexico, which will give the company a modest increase in volume for the 2013 Sonora grape season and a greater increase in future seasons, according to Paul Bachelier, who founded the company in September 2011.

CMI, a Washington state grower-shippers of premium-quality conventional and organic apples, pears and cherries, has started its import season for the exotic KIKU® apple variety. Once the imported KIKU® apples are gone, customers will have to wait until the new domestic crop is available next fall.

All the signs point to good volume and quality for California’s blueberry producers. “We’re hunkering down for a good blueberry season,” said Alexander Ott, executive director of the California Blueberry Commission. “Overall, the season has been really good.”

Bruce Turner, a produce industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience in shipping, packing, marketing and retail, has joined Curry & Co. as director of sales and business development for berries.