Although much of my produce career was spent in New York, I was born and raised in Cleveland. I can remember the time my father took me to my first Major League Baseball game when I was 8. Not only was it the most exciting and thrilling time of my life, it was also the most impressive.

As of the start of June, several employees of Salinas, CA-based Growers Express LLC are no longer with the company.

Gone are Randolph Breschini, president; Barry Eisenberg, vice president of technical services, and Marty Metcalf, director of logistics. Woody Johnson, vice president of sales and marketing for Growers Express, declined to specify the nature of the departures other than to confirm that the three are no longer employed with the company.

On April 25 of this year, Indiana Lt. Governor Becky Skillman and Indiana Agriculture Director Andy Miller released the Indiana State Department of Agriculture's first annual report -- it was the one- year anniversary of the department's official creation.

James Margiotta of J. Margiotta Co. in the Bronx, NY, is the newly elected member of the board of directors of the New York Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Association Inc. The announcement was made during the organization's June 13 meeting, according to Myra Gordon, deputy assistant director of the market.

Greater merchandising flexibility and more efficiency at retail are the two key reasons that retailers will continue to favor random- weight bags as their cherry package of choice, according to marketers with Wenatchee, WA-based Stemilt Growers.

Stemilt Marketing Director Roger Pepperl said that bagged cherries continue to dominate the retailing landscape, and new styles of bags are giving retailers choices and making bags even more attractive.