Charley Wolk is stepping down after 20 years of successful leadership as chairman of the California Avocado Commission's Nutrition Advisory Committee.

His retirement comes after a distinguished tenure of service overseeing the committee responsible for scientific research into the health benefits of California avocados. His deep commitment to the committee educated millions of consumers about the California avocado's role in a healthy diet and dispelled common myths about the fruit, industry observers said.

Having outgrown its current facility, Baldor Specialty Foods, one of the larger importers and distributors of fresh produce in the Northeast, will be moving to a larger facility this coming spring.

"We are forward-thinkers and we have spent the last two years knowing that we needed to move to a larger building as we outgrew ours," said Michael Muzyk, president of Baldor.

PHILADELPHIA -- J.M. Procacci is excited. He expects ExpressTrak to be doubling its refrigerated rail cargo service in the near future.

His firm, Procacci Bros./Garden State Farms, here, is in the midst of a two-year contract with ExpressTrak, which Procacci Bros. has used to bring produce to Philadelphia from various distant U.S. shipping points.

Prime Produce International LLC in Placentia, CA, announced Thursday, Dec. 8, that it has signed an exclusive marketing agreement with an avocado growers cooperative in Michoacan, Mexico.

Integradora De Productores de Aguacate de Michoacan is a growing, packing and marketing cooperative that was recently formed to pool the production of Mexican Hass avocados for sales in the U.S. market, said Avi Crane, president and chief executive officer of Prime Produce.

Oregon potato growers will gather to learn more about the state of their industry at the 39th annual Oregon Potato Conference to be held in Portland Jan. 26-27.

Highlighting the conference will be a discussion on "Tomorrow's Agriculture, Six Trends You Can't Afford to Miss." The session is sponsored by the Oregon, Washington and Idaho potato commissions and supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

PHILADELPHIA -- Foodservice sales, local production, produce packaging, consumer information and transportation issues were among the hot topics of discussion in a produce industry seminar held here Dec. 6.

Produce Marketing Association President Bryan Silbermann offered a State of the Industry presentation, which was followed by four industry leaders whose panel discussion addressed some of the issues flagged by Mr. Silbermann.