TRAVER, CA -- When Louis Scattaglia, managing member of Scattaglia Growers & Shippers LLC in Traver, CA, and an owner of Scattaglia Farms in Littlerock, CA, first began putting together a small group of growers to form SGS, he had in mind a "very deliberate underlying strategy" with respect to the geographical locations of the orchards, according to Dave Parker, marketing director for SGS.

Justin Guibert, sales representative for Christopher Ranch in Gilroy, CA, grew up in California's Salinas Valley. Those who know that part of the country also know that agriculture plays a major role in the community, and children there grow up with a strong sense of farming surrounding them.

One of those people is 28-year-old Justin Guibert.

Official estimates for the 2009 Sonora spring grape crop, week by week and variety by variety, will be announced Friday, April 17, during the annual Sonora Spring Summit in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. But growers and marketers of grapes from Mexico were expecting a significantly smaller crop overall than in 2008.

Total crop size for export to the United States was expected to be in the range of 10 million to 12 million boxes, vs. an unusually large export volume of about 15.5 million boxes in 2008.

How did you begin your career in produce?

Your story might be a heartwarming one of family-owned produce stands, or even the occasional "dumb luck" story.

Not so for me, as my choice of a career in produce was a deliberate, calculated move spurred by the Produce Marketing Association's Foundation for Industry Talent outreach to me as a college student. And it is a choice that I hope many more young professionals will make in the years to come, with the industry's help.

All U.S. potato-producing growing regions are set to benefit from a recently signed market access agreement between the United States and Russia, according to John Keeling, executive vice president and chief executive officer of the National Potato Council.

Watermelon consumption is at its highest level in 50 years, watermelon prices are higher than ever, and the trade has nothing but good things to say about the effectiveness of the staff of the Orlando, FL-based National Watermelon Promotion Board.

But the benefits of hiring experienced representatives will become further evidenced this summer, as a volume of watermelons will very likely be exported for the first time to Japan.