Successful branding consultant and business author Joe Calloway will be coming to southwest Florida this month to show agricultural producers how to climb out of the commodity mindset and make their products stand out from those of their competition.

He will be spreading his message of creating and sustaining success at the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association's 63rd annual convention, to be held Sept. 17-19 at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, FL.

Salinas, CA-based Markon Cooperative is making a push to boost its national account produce sales, recently hiring Melany Jolly for the position of vice president of national sales.

Ms. Jolly's primary responsibility will be to develop national account produce sales for Markon, a produce purchasing and marketing cooperative comprised of the leading independent broadline foodservice distributors in Canada and the United States. Markon purchases its produce from some 50 suppliers nationwide.

Fyffes PLC, based in Dublin, Ireland, announced Aug. 30 its acquisition of the remaining 50 percent of Brdr. Lembcke A/S ("Lembcke"), the Danish fresh produce company for DKK125 million ($16.8 million).

Fyffes has also acquired 100 percent of Interbanan A/S ("Interbanan") and 100 percent of Valby Bananimport A/S for a total consideration of DKK45 million ($6 million).

FRESNO, CA -- "As we sit here today and look at the public policy issue, and as we are moving toward an election, the number one [issue] on our radar screen ... is labor availability and the importance of having a legal and adequate work force," said Berry Bedwell, president of the California Grape & Tree Fruit League, here.

"Having said that," Mr. Bedwell told The Produce News Monday, Aug. 21, "the biggest challenge is also probably the most difficult, given the political climate we are in right now."

SALINAS, CA -- The U.S. Food & Drug Administration launched a multi-year food-safety initiative in the Salinas Valley in an effort to identify and prevent reoccurring E. coli 0157:H7 outbreaks linked to leafy greens in recent years.

FDA officials alerted local growers and agricultural trade representatives about the inspections during a day-long food-safety summit held here Aug. 29. The inspections cover local fields, coolers and packing plants.

For a produce industry that was already generally opposed to single-source produce buying for the Defense Commissary Agency, word that Carroll Allred has been a consultant to at least one company that bid on military business may not be well received.

Mr. Allred was the category manager for produce before retiring from DeCA in Fort Lee, VA, at the end of 2005. In recent weeks, DeCA has announced that a handful of companies have won military contracts worth tens of millions of dollars.