The Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee has partnered with OSI Restaurant Partners, the Tampa, FL-based owner of Outback Steakhouse, on a new promotion on the Facebook social media web site that includes a program to give away a blooming onion appetizer to participants. Coupons are currently being distributed to the first 500,000 people who sign up as fans on Outback's Facebook page.

Michele Peterson joined the sales team at Aspen Produce LLC, headquartered in Center, CO, Nov. 10. "This is just a wonderful environment," Ms. Peterson told The Produce News Nov. 23. The family-owned company has been growing and shipping potatoes from its state-of-the-art facility in Colorado's San Luis Valley since 1971.

Prior to joining Aspen Produce, Ms. Peterson worked at Harvest Select in Monte Vista, CO, for 10 years. Her husband is a third-generation potato farmer in the valley.

Nichole Towell has been selected to receive the Produce Marketing Association Foundation for Industry Talent's second Tip Murphy Scholarship for Leadership Excellence. Ms. Towell, marketing development manager for Duda Farm Fresh Foods in Wellington, FL, will use the award to participate in PMA FIT's Leadership Symposium in January.

APTOS, CA -- With the close of 2009 bringing abundant, high-quality Chilean Hass avocados, U.S. retailers across the country are using the Chilean Avocado Importers Association's eye-catching, in-store promotional materials and comprehensive marketing program to drive increased sales in the produce department.

The United Fresh Research & Education Foundation is now accepting nominations for the 2010 United Fresh Retail Produce Manager Awards Program.

Established in 2005 by founding sponsor Ready Pac Foods Inc., the program will honor 25 retail produce managers at the store level and include their corporate produce directors in a formal recognition at the United Fresh 2010 convention to be held April 20-23 in Las Vegas.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a study Nov. 24 indicating the level of success each state is attaining in reaching families eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly the Food Stamp Program.

The study stated that in years 2005-07, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Oregon, Tennessee and West Virginia had significantly higher participation rates for all eligible people than two-thirds of the states in the nation.