Spinach growers in and around the Salinas Valley are preparing to harvest their crops again. While some are a little wiser, all are battle-tested after the E. coli outbreak last fall that implicated fresh spinach.

Salinas, CA-based NewStar Fresh Foods LLC's spinach plantings are on a par with last year's plantings, and the company will begin harvesting in a few weeks. NewStar was not implicated in the E. coli outbreak, but like every operator in fresh spinach took a sizable hit in the fallout.

FRESNO, CA -- Crown Jewels Marketing & Distribution, here, has hired Lance Shebelut, a partner in Madera, CA-based Dell Shebelut Farms, to head grower relations and help expand the company's production base.

"Lance is a great asset to the company," John Hein, vice president of sales and marketing and a partner in the company, said in announcing the new hire.

PLEASANTON, CA -- The Fresh Produce & Floral Council held its first-ever Northern California Expo March 6, here, at the Alameda Fair Grounds.

FPFC President Linda Stine said that the expo was developed by the council's Northern California committee and was a natural progression of the expansion that the FPFC began several years ago.

Since 2002, the council has been holding regular events in Northern California, including two membership luncheon meetings per year as well as an annual golf tournament and produce tour.

California's fresh grape growers affirmed the continuation of the California Table Grape Commission and its promotional programs for another five-year period. Kathleen Nave, president of the commission, announced the results of the two-month voting period.

Former California Tree Fruit Agreement President Blair Richardson entered into a partnership with some major tree fruit grower-shippers and has founded a new company that is launching what appears to be a brand-new marketing concept.

FreshSense is initially comprised of California growers-shippers who produce and sell about one-third of the state's stone fruit crop, as well as being significant growers and/or shippers of citrus and table grapes.

Columbia Marketing International Vice President Mike Hambelton was honored in February as the 2007 Apple Citizen of the Year, an annual award presented at the Wenatchee, WA, Apple Blossom Festival.

Mr. Hambelton was formally recognized Feb. 21 by Apple Blossom Queen Laura DeCamp and her attendants, Mikel Stanaway and Courtney Roberts. The award was first presented in 1981 in recognition of the Apple Blossom Festival's roots as well as apple industry leaders who have proclaimed Wenatchee as the "Apple Capital of the World."