Salinas, CA-based Fresh Express Inc. will hold a one-day conference Thursday, Sept. 11, in nearby Monterey, CA. The purpose of the conference is to share findings of nine E. coli 0157:H7 research projects that focus on contamination of leafy greens.

Fresh Express funded the projects, all launched and completed in a 12- month time frame that wrapped up a few months ago.

As of 1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 19, Fay was categorized a tropical storm by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service, but despite that, hurricane warnings were posted in most south Florida counties before the storm came ashore late Monday. The postings were removed Tuesday morning when it failed to reach the 74 mph threshold that would have pushed it to hurricane status.

Tanimura Distributing Inc. in Irwindale, CA, has filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California, citing assets in the neighborhood of $4.8 million and liabilities of around $10.6 million, according to Chuck Curl, director of ratings for rating analysts at The Produce Reporter Co., publisher of The Blue Book.

The filing (case number 08-BK-22644-TD) took place Aug. 12.

For the past decade, Brazil has made a concerted effort to increase its exports, with the United States set as one of its prime targets.

And while the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar and the United States' restrictive import requirements often hamper Brazilian exporters, great inroads have been made into cultivating the U.S. market.

Recently, I toured Honduras at the invitation of the country's Foundation for Investment & Export Development, better known by its acronym, FIDE. The tour included visits to a wide array of agricultural interests, including a banana-processing facility, two Oriental vegetable packinghouses, a melon- growing operation, an impressive private international university that focuses on agriculture, two aquaculture farms, a cocoa processing facility and a crocodile farm.

Yes, a crocodile farm.

"Growers in Palmetto, Ruskin and some in the Immokalee areas are underway" with the initial tomato planting process, said Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange in Maitland, FL. "They could be in for some major losses if Fay delivers strong winds."