Continuing in its direct-to-consumer marketing campaign, the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee will again dovetail with the U.S. Potato Board’s promotional efforts.

Linda Weyers, assistant director of CPAC, said, “Our goal is to educate consumers on the fact potatoes are very nutritious and also non-fattening, and we will be coordinating our message with the USPB’s ‘Hungry Girl’ campaign starting this fall.”

Attendance and sponsorships soared by more than 20 percent over recent years at the 70th annual Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association convention, Sept. 22-25 at the Amelia Island (FL) Ritz-Carlton. State and industry leaders gathered to discuss topics like labor, pending healthcare reform, new varieties coming from the University of Florida research pipeline and the overall state of the industry.

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AMELIA ISLAND, FL — With the Florida citrus market decimated by HLB, also known as citrus greening disease, to the tune of more than $4.5 billion in crops and some 8,300 jobs lost, a new private-public partnership announced at the 70th annual Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association convention at the Ritz-Carlton resort, here, will provide a significant boost for research.

When the Idaho Potato Commission first unveiled its plans for a Big Idaho Potato Truck that would tour across the country, the industry could have scarcely imagined how successful the truck and its crew would be at garnering media attention as well as attracting crowds wherever it went.

Although Colorado’s ongoing water shortage has resulted in fewer acres of potatoes in the San Luis Valley this year, Jed Ellithorpe, farm and operations manager for Aspen Produce’s sister company, Ponderosa Partnership, said he was optimistic going into the 2013 harvest.

“Our acreage is down,” Ellithorpe said in late August, confirming what he had predicted in early 2013.

Oxnard, CA-based Gills Onions announced Sept. 12 the addition of TERI TROST to its sales team.

Trost brings over 30 years of experience in foodservice sales management, customer service and marketing, as well as key account management to Gills Onions.