With a primary objective of building awareness for the nutritional value and versatility of traditional, no-sugar-added dried fruit, and with the specific immediate goal of keeping dried fruits in government food assistance programs, the California raisin, dried plum, dried fig and date industries came together in late 2008 to form the California Dried Fruit Coalition.

For the 74th consecutive year, the Grower-Shipper Association will host a three-day jubilee of events to celebrate the induction of a new chairwoman of the board, Margaret D'Arrigo-Martin, and the Central Coast Agricultural industry.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — By an overwhelming 90-8 vote, the U.S. Senate pushed away the last procedural hurdle this morning to begin the debate on the 2012 Farm Bill.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), the Committee's ranking member, will manage the debate on the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 (S. 3240). The measure, which is estimated to save $23 billion over 10 years, is likely to become a lightning rod for scores of amendments on farm policy.

Bill Nardelli, president of Nardelli Bros. Inc., in Cedarville, NJ, told The Produce News that truckers have been at the bottom of the totem pole in importance for years. But today they’re in the driver’s seat.

“We have been in transportation since my father started this business in 1941,” said Mr. Nardelli. “If you have the ability to deliver your own product and get it to your customers in the freshest possible condition, you have a huge advantage.”

Mr. Nardelli said that wholesalers and retailers don’t want to buy full loads today, and they’re buying close to the chest.

Yakima, WA-based Kwik Lok Corporation is providing the fresh produce industry with technology that stores large-scale information on a small-scale item.

Regional Sales Manager Gary Ellington said the revolutionary 901C Auto Printer will be introduced this summer. Aspen Produce LLC, a grower-packer-shipper of premium fresh potatoes in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, will be the first company to use the printer for its bag closures. “They will be the first ones to get this new printer,” Regional Sales Manager Gary Ellington told The Produce News on May 14.

Onion producers in New Mexico, some of whom sustained heavy losses during the 2011 production season, are anticipating a return to normalcy in 2012. "There was a hailstorm earlier this month that caused, as one shed estimated, 6 percent to 10 percent crop losses in at least one area where onions are grown," Katie Goetz, public information officer for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, said May 29. "Otherwise, the weather has been good for onions."