KINGSVILLE, ON - Red Sun Farms is wrapping up its Hacienda Special Reserve Tomatoes in brand new packaging.  The display ready box was picked as a finalist for Best New Packaging at United Fresh this year.

The display is made of a corrugate material with wood grain artwork.  Retailers have the option to have it shipped with or without the aspen wood hay.

The display ready box was designed to be reminiscent of a case of fine wine in order to compliment the flavor of the different varieties of Hacienda Special Reserve Tomatoes inside. 

The new varieties include the Brandy Yellow, Cherokee Green and Purple, Green Zebra, and Aurea Big Tiger.  Each tomato offers a unique appearance and flavor profile sure to delight tomato lovers.

Red Sun Farms

WATSONVILLE, CA – Capitalizing on summertime thoughts of pool parties and bathing suits, California Giant Berry Farms and SUNSET® Produce are co-launching their Skinny Summertime Sweepstakes. Knowing the influence the nutrition buzzword “skinny” has for consumers, California Giant hopes that thoughts of shrinking waist-lines will inspire consumers to get on-board with their promotion and put more fruits and veggies, like their famous strawberries, on their plates this summer.

“We wanted to deliver this fun opportunity and great, summery content to consumers beyond our individual audiences and felt that partnering with a complementary fresh brand and popular bloggers was a great way to take advantage of the summer eating season in a really big way,” said California Giant Berry Farms’ Director of Marketing, Cindy Jewell. “I can’t wait for our customers to realize the many ways that fresh products can be the stars of their dinner tables all summer long.”

Popular food bloggers Sam Henderson of Today’s Nest, Dani Meyer of The Adventure Bite, and Adriana Martin of Adriana’s Best Recipes will be helping California Giant send sweepstake participants recipes each week until the 4th of July. Each recipe will highlight a “skinny” fresh berry dish ranging from sides, to salads, to dips, and deserts, according to a press release.

The Skinny Summertime Sweepstakes grand prize is a $1,000 airline voucher and $500 gift card from globalhotelcards.com, but smaller weekly prizes consisting of $100 VISA gift cards will be given out as well.

To enter just look for the Skinny Summertime Sweepstakes logo on California Giant Berry Farms' homepage.

California Giant

SUNSET Produce

SOLEDAD, CA - Braga Fresh's line of romaine hearts, Josie's Organics, stole the show at the United Fresh Produce Association's annual convention this month, winning the Best New Packaging Product Award from a pool of over 40 competitors. Judges loved the blue polka dot packaging designed by Moxxy Marketing, a design meant to reflect the wholesome goodness of Braga Family produce.

“As a third generation farming family, we know a lot about quality, sustainability and hard work,” said Braga Fresh Family Farms President Rod Braga. “Moxxy designed this look to honor my grandmother. Her commitment to hard work and serving healthy meals inspires us every day to help families put fresh vegetables on the table. We named Josie’s Organics after her.”

Braga's grandmother was the inspiration for the Josie's logo which was designed to represent the Josie's tagline “deliciously organic produce” and the modern American woman: busy and focused on her health, according to a press release. The font on the packaging is also intended to remind consumers of a woman’s handwriting.

Although still relatively new in produce circles, Josie's Organics are already being sold at Whole Foods, Kroger, and many independent retailers. Sales so far have been excellent, supported by Braga's reputation for quality, food safety, customer service, and of course the award-winning packaging.

Congratulations on the Best New Packaging Product Award Braga Fresh!

Braga Fresh

SAN MIGUEL, AZ - The United States government announced that it has launched an investigation in the wake of an incident early on Thrusday morning between U.S. Border Patrol and a Mexican Law Enforcement helicopter in which shots were fired on the U.S agents. Luckily no Americans were harmed in the skirmish.

"A Mexican law enforcement helicopter crossed approximately 100 yards (100 meters) north into Arizona nearly 8 miles (13 km) southwest of the Village of San Miguel," U.S. Border Officials in Tucson said. "The incident is currently under investigation."

According to KVOA News, U.S. Border Patrol Spokesperson Andy Adame said that the Mexican helicopter was on American territory during the course of a “drug interdiction operation.” During the course of the operation, Mexican police mistakenly fired two shots on Boarder Patrol Agents, according to Reuters.

"One of the helicopters apparently crossed the line and fired on a marked border patrol vehicle," said Shawn Moran, Vice President of the National Border Patrol Council. "They missed all the agents...It is my understanding that they [the Mexican military] went back across the border and contacted the U.S. and apologized for the incident," he said.

Thursdays incident comes at a time of heightened tension on topics of border security and immigration control in the United States. Early Friday morning, The Hill reported on plans by immigration activist group United We Dream to occupy office buildings in the House of Representatives in protest of Republican opposition to immigration reform and for "harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric."

United We Dream also wants Congress to do more for undocumented minors. Over 52,000 unaccompanied children have been smuggled into the U.S. from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras alone this year. United We Dream is fighting for an expansion of the 2012 program the Obama administration passed, which deprioritized undocumented children for deportation, to include their family members.

Republicans however stand firm in their commitment to table immigration reform until the Obama administration improves security on the southern boarder.

U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter told Reuters reporters that the Department of Homeland Security informed him that there had been 300 documented incursions onto U.S. soil by the Mexican military since 2004. 152 of these incidents had involved armed subjects.

Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for developments in this ongoing situation.  

PORTERVILLE, CA - Homegrown Organic Farms’ Oregon blueberry season has commenced.  The company anticipates a great season, as berry quality has been outstanding so far.

“We are anticipating a more consistent, spread-out season over last year’s mostly front-loaded harvest.  Our farms are located throughout the state of Oregon and are strategically planted with proven Northwest varieties such as Duke and Draper,” Cherie France, Marketing Manager, tells AndNowUKnow.

“We are always working on new variety development and continue to seek out those varieties that have an excellent flavor profile while maintaining larger sizing and durability.  The 2014 harvest is expected to last 8 weeks and should wrap up in late-August,” France notes.

Homegrown’s goal is to further expand and connect the west coast by filling out both its California and Northwest production.  For the benefit of the company’s customers, Homegrown knows it is important that they continue to allocate resources toward developing the necessary organic supply from April - September.

“Quality is always our number one priority and we are proud of the fact that we have complete control from the farm to the market place, and everything in between.  This allows us to maintain the attention to detail necessary to ensure the high-quality standards that are at the core of who we are,” France tells us.   

Along with Homegrown’s blue organic goodness the company has additional retail support to offer to its customers including display bins, organic promotional material, grower stories, and social media support.

Homegrown Organic

RIVERSIDE, CA - Polymer Logistics is looking to bring big changes to produce aisles across America with the release of the world's first Wood Effect plastic crates. These foldable, stackable crates are made of simulated wood and combine the fresh look and feel of traditional wooden crates with the immense advantages of Retail-Ready Packaging, such as the "active-lock" mechanisms.

"If retailers truly want to offer their customers that market fresh look then they need to find an alternative to the generic plastic crate that is prevalent in every retail Produce aisle," stated Adrian Dale, Managing Director Polymer Logistics UK. "Here at Polymer we believe that this represents a major breakthrough in terms of store enhancements and are confident that if retailers invest in the Wood Effect crate they will see a major uplift in sales."

The fresh produce aisle is a major focus of retailers looking to improve their establishments because retailers are increasingly recognizing the strong connection between the perception of freshness and locally-grown products and sales growth. Before now, retailers were forced to choose between costly traditional wooden crates and artificial, tired looking plastic crates.

Polymer's new Wood Effect Crates allows retailers the best of both worlds, keeping the farm-fresh look of wooden crates without the hygiene and cost issues actual wood crates pose.

According to a press release, the Wood Effect crates were named as a finalist for the United Fresh Produce Associations 2014 New Product Awards.

Polymer Logistics 

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Nature Fresh Farms and the popular blog, The Produce Mom, are kicking off bell pepper season with their Pepper Pinathon Pinterest contest. Nature Fresh bell pepper lovers can pin their favorite bell pepper recipes to put them in the running for a range of exciting prizes.

“Consumers really enjoy participating in events like this. They benefit from gaining new recipes and other information straight from the industry experts. I’m excited to focus a Pinterest contest specifically on peppers, which are at the peak of their growing season,” said Lori Taylor, The Produce Mom.

Nature Fresh hopes that the contest will spread awareness about the versatility and quality of their pepper products which were awarded Best Overall Pepper and Best Orange Bell Pepper at the 8th annual Perfect Pepper Competition.

“It’s a perfect time to promote our peppers,” said Andrea Quiring, Marketing and Social Media Director at Nature Fresh Farms. “Our peppers are in full production and our growers and staff continue to work hard at producing the finest greenhouse products. We hope that consumers will engage in the contest and use the pepper recipes we have provided.”

Anyone interested in participating in the Pepper Pinathon Pinterest contest can visit the Produce Mom's website for full instructions.  
Nature Fresh Farms

If you’re an iPhone or Android user and you find yourself making phone calls with hard-to-remember extensions or conference room codes, there’s an easier way to dial those contacts. You can save the extension or passcode to a new or existing contact. Here’s a quick and easy tip to simplify your conference calls.

iPhone

There's two different options you can use for iPhone devices. The first dials the extension automatically after the phone call has been answered. The second should be used when you need to listen to the automated message before entering any extensions or passcodes.

• Auto-dial extension

1. Enter the phone number you wish to dial
2. Hold the Asterisk/Star key until you see a comma
3. Enter the extension or passcode
4. Save it to your Contacts list by hitting the + button to the left of the number

• Wait

1. Enter the phone number you wish to dial
2. Hold the Pound key until you see a semicolon
3. Enter the extension or passcode
4. Save it to your Contacts list by hitting the + button to the left of the number

Now every time you dial that contact, you will see a button on the bottom left that shows the code you entered. Just tap that button to enter it on the keypad automatically.

Android

Similarly, there’s two different options you can use for Android devices: Pause or Wait. “Pause” dials the extension automatically after the phone call has been answered. “Wait” should be used when you need to listen to the automated message before entering any extensions or passcodes.

• Pause

1. Go into your contacts list
2. At the end of a new or existing phone number, tap the “Symbol” button on your keyboard
3. Tap "Pause" or the comma key
4. Dial the extension or passcode

• Wait

1. Go into your contacts list
2. At the end of a new or existing phone number, tap the “Symbol” button on your keyboard
3. Tap "Wait" or the semicolon key
4. Dial the extension or passcode

You can even use these functions to quickly navigate through phone menus. Try entering combinations like 11,22; and so on.

That’s not all we’ve got. Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for more tips and tricks for your smartphone.

ESSEN, WESTPHALIA - Aldi is putting fresh produce first with the undertaking of a major renovation plan in stores across the eastern United States which will expand the fresh produce and organic options it can offer its customers. The new stores will feature an additional produce aisle, allowing Aldi to offer both more selection and expanded product lines. According to a spokesperson with Aldi, some of these new product lines include SimplyNature natural foods and LiveGfree gluten-free items.

Joe Hauptman, a partner at the Willard Bishop retail food consulting firm, said that Aldi is pushing for these renovations so that "they're able to attract a wider range of shoppers."

The renovations are part of an overall push to market Aldi as an attractive option for the modern consumer, a consumer which the Times Herald Record noted is more budget and health conscious than ever before.

"Today, when you go into many Aldi parking lots, you are highly likely to see high-performance cars, foreign and imported cars, and working-class vehicles," Hauptman said. "They recognize that everybody is looking to stretch grocery budgets today."

Among those stores being renovated are the Wallkill, Newburgh, and Kingston locations. The Wallkill location will be the first to be ready for its grand-reopening and will be welcoming customers back inside starting Thursday next week. Newburgh and Kingston Aldis should be ready to go by October.

Aldi