As many as 25 growers have already been certified under the commodity- specific Mushroom Good Agricultural Practices program, according to Laura Phelps, president of the American Mushroom Institute, which is based in Washington, DC.

Ms. Phelps met with The Produce News Aug. 4 in the AMI's Avondale, PA, satellite office to discuss MGAP and other industry topics.

Meijer, the Michigan-based supermarket chain widely credited with inventing the supercenter concept almost 50 years ago, has expanded the locally grown produce program that it launched 75 years ago.

The company was founded in Greenville, MI, in 1934 by Dutch immigrant Hendrik Meijer. His son, Frederik Meijer, was chairman of the board for many years, and now the privately owned company is run by the founder's grandsons, Hank and Doug Meijer.

Kevin Moffitt, president and chief executive officer of the Pear Bureau Northwest in Milwaukie, OR, said that the industry is preparing to market one of its better crops during 2009-10.

"We are expecting a large crop ranking in the top three," he told The Produce News in late July. "It will be a balanced manifest. I think we're going to see a big crop with a beautiful finish."

CORVALLIS, OR -- Klamath Basin Fresh Direct, an association of potato farmers along the Oregon-California border, has been awarded exclusive rights to grow and market a new purple fingerling developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and three Northwest universities.

Helped by both prudent growers and Mother Nature, the California summer fruit industry is experiencing a profitable summer for the first time in several years.

In mid-August, the Federal State Market News Service was reporting an $18- $20 market on plums and $16-$17 f.o.b. on nectarines. Peaches were lagging behind in the $10-$11 range, which is still much better than the single digits that characterized the market for peaches, as well as the other two categories, for most of the last several summers.

HURON, CA -- The plight of farmers and farmworkers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, where hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural land have been taken out of production due to federal water cuts, received national media attention Tuesday, Aug. 11, when Fox News Channel aired a live interview with Latino comedian Paul Rodriguez in a dead almond orchard, here.

Fox's Sean Hannity interviewed Mr. Rodriguez, as well as U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) live via satellite from New York.