Sunkist meet

Sunkist Growers will hold its annual meeting in Visalia today, and this story notes that representatives from crop insurance companies and government agencies will be on hand.
Sunkist President Tim Lindgren will give the annual report for 2006.

TK: A key player as Sunkist move forward is Mark Tompkins, general manager of Sunkist Global Sourcing. I think my first conversation with Mark goes way back to the early days at Pronet, the Vance commodity news service that kicked off in 1984. From a Sunkist press release last year

As General Manger Sunkist Global Sourcing, Tompkins is responsible for securing production and folding it seamlessly into the Sunkist international sales and delivery network. Currently Sunkist is sourcing complementary citrus fruit from South Africa, Australia, and Mexico and delivering it to customers in North America and Asia.

TK: Getting Sunkist's U.S. growers comfortable with the idea of sourcing citrus from other countries is one thing, and that hurdle has largely been cleared. Getting growers from other countries in the Sunkist fold is yet another formidable challenge, and little easier than the first.