A national fruit and vegetable promotion program that would utilize mandatory industry assessments is being explored by industry leaders with the Produce for Better Health Foundation taking the lead role.

The concept was scheduled to be presented to the full PBH board on the afternoon of Friday, April 3, but prior to that meeting, PBH President Elizabeth Pivonka shared it with some industry leaders, and The Produce News.

This is the year that New Jersey's agricultural community planned to celebrate 25 years of Jersey Fresh, what has become one of the nation's better agricultural branding programs. Instead, the Garden State's farmers and fishermen are watching Gov. Jon Corzine abandon the popular branding program by severing the state's funding.

With sales and account presence all over the United States, Russet Potato Exchange decided its offices no longer needed to be confined only within the borders of Wisconsin. The organization opened its first satellite office in Chicago, which will be staffed by Mike Shamberg and John (Jay) Martini Jr., formerly of the Art Kramer Co.

RPE said that its interest in expanding its locations is based on its desire to be a category leader and offer its customers expanded services.

The Washington Apple Commission has launched a new program designed to increase apple sales in the Indian cities of Chennai, Coimbatore and Bangalore. The program, "Washington Apples Banaye Aapko Maalamal Weekly," promotes the consumption of fresh apples in southern India.

"The goal of the campaign is to try to create excitement around Washington apples," Rebecca Baerveldt, export marketing manager for the commission, told The Produce News March 31. "One of the challenges we face in India is that 90 percent of apple sales are through small roadside vendors."

When the Florida Sweet Corn Exchange learned that the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services approved a request for a grant to support fresh sweet corn promotions this spring, the corn exchange began to reconsider how to spend its regular assessment for marketing activities. That's when exchange President Paul Allen started to think about charities.

Industry veteran Tristan Kieva has joined Delano, CA-based Pandol Bros. Inc. as its director of business development and marketing.

Ms. Kieva comes to Pandol Bros. from Consumer Effects International, where she was senior director of branding and marketing. She has spent more than 15 years in consumer marketing, with much of that time in the perishables industry. She has worked in Los Angeles for Paramount Farms Inc. and Sun Pacific Marketing Cooperative Inc. and was with Frieda's Inc. from 1999 to 2006.