Produce industry leaders met Sept. 19 in Miami to discuss the newest developments in PTI and food safety.

Ed Treacy of the Produce Marketing Association and Dan Vaché of the United Fresh Produce Association spoke to over 130 produce professionals during this one-day event, which drew attendees from all segments of the industry, from growers to importers to retailers.

When it came time to select roses befitting a beauty queen and her court, the Miss America Pageant turned to Passion Growers for the fourth year in a row.

Eight out of 10 adults surveyed don’t plan to buy flowers in the next 12 months. That’s the unsettling finding of a study funded by the American Floral Endowment and released at the recent annual convention of the Society of American Florists in Phoenix.

Renamed the Seeley Summit, the Seeley Conference series will resume after a two-year gap, Cornell University announced Sept. 14. The 2014 invitational event, billed as the floral industry’s think tank, will be held June 22-24 in Lisle, IL, rather than on campus at Ithaca, NY, the conference board had decided. The topic will be water scarcity, according to a news release.

The Chain of Life Network is back in a streamlined, updated format with new university partners. The network is an online resource of floral production, post-harvest care and handling, and marketing information designed for every stage of the supply chain from breeders and growers to retailers. It was initiated in 2002 by George Staby, a former Ohio State University professor and researcher who heads the Perishables Research Organization in Elk Grove, CA.

The Kenya Flower Council flower announced that it will have a certification program in place for all players in the industry by the end of 2015. Jane Ngige, the council’s chief executive officer, told a news conference in Nairobi that the move will help the Kenyan flowers to meet the stringent rules of the importing nations.

All exporters of flowers in Kenya should demonstrate compliance to international standards by the end of 2015, Ngige said, as reported in a business newsletter. She said the Dutch government has provided $400,000 for implementation of the program.