Ed Beckman, who has served as president of California Tomato Farmers since 2007, left the organization earlier this month to become chief executive officer of the Certified Greenhouse/Hothouse Vegetable Producers Association of North America, based in Clovis, CA.

More supermarkets are using independent nutritional rating systems on shelf tags, which could bode well for increased consumption of fresh produce.

The Florida Citrus Commission wanted a leader with a more extensive marketing background than former Executive Director Ken Keck, ousted last summer in a political putsch that also reduced the number of seats on the commission to nine from 12. The commission found its man in Douglas Ackerman, recently named head of the Florida Department of Citrus after spending the last seven years as category marketing manager for Lakeland, FL-based Publix Super Markets Inc.

It’s the winter, which means there is potential for cold weather even in sunny California and limited strawberry supplies when that weather hits.

California’s winter strawberry-producing districts had virtually no rain from Thanksgiving until the middle of January, but they were hit with several cold snaps that dipped temperatures down and retarded the growth of the plants.

As January comes to a close, strawberry shipments are inconsistent but running quite a bit ahead of the rain-plagued 2011 season to date.