Doug Stoiber has been named vice president of produce transportation operations for L&M Transportation Services Inc., headquartered in Raleigh, NC. Mike Devine, president of LMTS, announced the appointment Feb. 5. LMTS is a division of L&M Cos.

Mr. Stoiber, a 25-year veteran of the produce industry, joined LMTS in November 2004 as director of business development.

LMTS is a third-party logistics company that manages refrigerated and dry freight logistics across the United States.

Easter falls on March 23 this year, the earliest date for the holiday since 1913. But despite its earliness, California asparagus growers are confident of having good supplies of asparagus available for the Easter pull, according to Cherie Watte Angulo, executive director of the California Asparagus Commission in Stockton, CA.

The nation's largest retailer has announced that its suppliers of produce, other perishables and private-label products must be certified against the international Global Food Safety Initiative standards by July 2009.

In a press release, Wal-Mart declared that it would require suppliers to complete "initial certification between July and December of 2008, with full certification required by July 2009." The press release added that "audits will be completed by approved third-party auditing companies."

Since its inception five years ago, Monterey, CA-based U.S. Fruit & Veg has been marketing broccoli. At first the company procured broccoli, but then turned to growing its own. The company's "Eat Me" logo with a broccoli head forming the letter "T" in the word "Eat" appears on T-shirts and baseball caps and has been popular, said Ash Shoukry, president of U.S. Fruit & Veg.

Now the logo's visibility is ratcheting up with its appearance on the gym trunks of fighters in Ultimate Fighting Championships and World Extreme Cage Fighting.

The California Centers for International Trade Development, in cooperation with the California Department of Food & Agriculture, is hosting a California Agricultural Export Training Certificate Program for farmers, ranchers and food processors.

Most retailers who had hopes for California strawberry promotions for Valentine's Day were probably disappointed as late plantings and late January rains made supplies tight and prices high coming into the Valentine's Day pull.

But as of Sunday, Feb. 3, the Accuweather 15-day forecast showed no further rain for the next two weeks, and growers were optimistic that fields would quickly dry out and plants would start putting out lots of beautiful fruit by mid-February or shortly thereafter.