CALGARY, AB -- While final numbers were being calculated in the days following the 83rd annual Canadian Produce Marketing Association convention and trade show, held here May 14-16, the general consensus among attendees left little doubt that the show was an overall success.

Frank Spingola & Sons Ltd., one of Canada's larger vegetable grower-packer- shippers that is renowned for its green onions, filed an assignment in bankruptcy May 8 under Canada's Bankruptcy & Insolvency Act.

According to documents provided to The Produce News by the Fruit & Vegetable Dispute Resolution Corp., Aberback Lapointe & Associates Inc. was appointed as the trustee of the estate and will hold the first meeting of creditors May 28 at 10 a.m. in Montreal at the Superintendent Office of Bankruptcy.

It is a tall order, but the principals at AgriWorld Exchange believe their on- line trading platform will change the way the fresh fruit and vegetable industry does business.

They know this has been tried before -- and has failed fairly magnificently. But they say that times have changed and so has the industry.

Deliveries of New Zealand apple and pear varieties were already underway on both coasts in early May, and David Nelley, Oppenheimer's category director for pipfruit and pineapples, predicts a season of relatively short supply of fruit from the island nation overall compared to the past five years.

"Supplies are down considerably across the industry, but Oppenheimer will have strong volumes this year with category favorites like Royal Gala and Braeburn and rising stars like Jazz already in the market," he said.

The New York Apple Association in Fishers, NY, saw great success in the 2008 Defense Commissary Agency display contest, sponsored by the association and T. Marzetti Co.

"This contest has allowed our apples to be promoted, displayed in a big way and opened up new markets," David McClurg, vice president of marketing for the association, said in a press release.

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday, May 21, to override President Bush's veto of the farm bill, but a procedural mixup apparently made that vote meaningless, according to published reports.