“We have a good grape program coming up,” Gonzalo Avila, vice president and general manager of Malena Produce Inc. in Nogales, AZ, said in an interview with The Produce News.

Malena will have additional acreage in its Sonora grape program this year. “We are growing our program a little bit,” Mr. Avila said. “We have new vineyards coming on, particularly in Flames,” but “volume is going to be up across the board for us at Malena.”

Chiquita Brands International and Organics Unlimited have formed an agreement to supply organic bananas to the U.S. market under the "Chiquita" label. This agreement for Organics Unlimited is an expansion of its distribution in the United States with organic bananas from Mexico and Ecuador.

Weis Markets announced that it would invest $135 million in its 2013 capital expenditure program, an 8 percent increase compared to the year prior, to put toward 37 major projects, including four new stores, 15 major remodels and 17 remodels.

WASHINGTON — Two Mexican suppliers of cucumbers are now on the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's Import Alert list after FDA followed the paper trail back from cucumbers eaten by six people who are part of a multi-state outbreak.

At least 73 people in 18 states are infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Saintpaul, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention announced April 25. Fourteen people have been hospitalized and no deaths reported in the latest outbreak.

Production is set to begin in earnest at the new facility for Holthouse Farms of Ohio Inc. “We had a fire in 2010 at the Walcher area,” said Kirk Holthouse, partner and head of sales and buying. “The new building project is now complete, and we can ramp up production.”

Wiers Farm is celebrating its 117th year of operation during 2013. “It’s always a pleasure to see members of our family’s fourth, fifth and sixth generations working side by side at the farm,” President Ben Wiers told The Produce News.

From its headquarters in Willard, OH, the company farms over 40 commodities in Ohio and Florida. The extensive commodity manifest includes cabbage, varieties of lettuce, leafy greens, cucumbers, parsley, peppers and squash.