NAPLES, FL -- Naturipe Farms has announced an expanded role for Robert Verloop as the new senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Effective immediately, the former vice president of marketing will step into the new role with an eye on long-term strategic sales and marketing developments. His responsibilities at Naturipe Farms will continue to include all marketing programs, consumer research, sales promotions communications, advertising and public relations as well as government relations.

WASHINGTON -- In his weekly address Saturday, March 14, President Obama announced the appointments of Margaret Hamburg as commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration and Joshua Sharfstein as the principal deputy commissioner, as well as the creation of a new Food Safety Working Group.

Cherie Watte Angulo, executive director of the California Asparagus Commission in Stockton, CA, said that March through May "should be the highest-quality [asparagus] product available."

There's no time better than the present to consume California asparagus, Ms. Angulo said. California asparagus is one of the "few featured commodities" on store shelves in its relatively narrow time window.

Mike Klackle, a well-known figure in the blueberry industry, has joined the sales force at Townsend Farms, where he will be involved with fresh berry sales.

"I am 56 years young and feel like a kid in a candy store," he told The Produce News in early March.

Townsend Farms, located in Fairview, OR, which handles a full berry manifest, is the state's largest grower and processor of red raspberries and strawberries.

Borrowing the line once used by a famous Arkansas resident, former Arkansas retailer Bruce Peterson said, "It's the economy, stupid!" when asked to comment on the recent trend of value pricing that is proliferating in retail produce departments these days.

Mr. Peterson, who currently is on the board of directors of Naturipe Farms, launched Walmart's fresh produce division and ran that operation for the better part of two decades. He said that value pricing is not new, but it is a trend.

TAMPA, FL -- The Southeast Produce Council's sixth annual conference and trade show drew more attendees and more expo booths than ever before, while keeping the small, friendly and casual atmosphere that has made the event so popular in the past among attendees and exhibitors alike.

"The council will be putting together a post-conference survey within the next week or so," SPC Executive Director Terry Vorhees told The Produce News Monday, March 9. "But overall, it looked pretty good."