For the second consecutive year, Sage Fruit Co. has used the catchy "Diamond of Fruit" tag for Northwest cherries for a diamond giveaway in the greater Kansas City area.

Sage, with growing operations in Washington state and sales and marketing offices strategically positioned across the country, is headed by Chuck Sinks, president, who was on hand July 30 for the culmination of the promotion, which was held at 21 Kansas City-area Price Chopper stores.

W. Newell & Co. announced Aug. 1 that Keith Frosceno has joined the company as regional vice president of sales, and Charlie Nealis as area sales director. Both Messrs. Frosceno and Nealis have nearly 20 years' experience in the produce industry.

This summer, ENZA has tuned up the apple category with the "Pure Apple Groove" of Jazz.

The popular Royal Gala/Braeburn cross, now grown in New Zealand and in Washington, is appearing at jazz festivals, concerts and in retail produce departments throughout the United States and Canada. The Oppenheimer Group, ENZA's North American marketing arm, has even brought jazz musicians into stores to serenade shoppers as they sample the tangy-sweet apple.

WASHINGTON  The U.S. apple industry said that President Bush signed the landmark Central America Free Trade Agreement just in time to create a duty-free market for a bumper crop of fall-harvested apples.

The vote in the U.S. House of Representatives matched every prediction that it would be a close one, passing 217-215 in the early hours of July 28. The Senate passed it last month by a 54-45 margin.

Atkins Nutritionals Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection in New York July 31 following one of the stronger  and longer  consumer-driven diet trends ever to surface in the United States.

In its filing, the company listed assets of $301 million and liabilities of $325 million. Atkins stated that it owes UBS Securities LLC and other lenders roughly $301 million under a 2003 loan.

MOSES LAKE, WA -- From the southeastern corner to the Skagit Valley, farmland planted in fresh-market and process potatoes has decreased by 5,000 acres, and most members of the Washington potato industry are looking at the coming season with renewed optimism.