Maggie Bezart, vice president of marketing and sales for Castroville, CA-based Ocean Mist Farms since 1999, left the company April 15 with an eye toward pursuing other employment. She will consult for Ocean Mist through June.

The Oregon Senate in Milwaukie voted to designate pears the official state fruit of Oregon, bringing to a close a fruitful endeavor initiated by the Pear Bureau Northwest on behalf of Oregon's 370 pear growers.

A mid-April freeze in the Yakima and Chelan growing regions of Washington state prompted many growers to utilize smudge pots for heat and crank up their propane or gas-powered wind machines to blow warm air across their in-bloom fruit trees.

However, while overnight temperatures reached a record low of 20 degrees in the Yakima area, only minimal damage has been assessed.

SHERMAN OAKS, CA  Sunkist Growers Inc., in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, CA, hosted the fourth annual Sunkist Citrus C?l?bre, an event that brings together culinary innovators from North America to explore creative cooking with citrus.

The event, held Feb. 1-4, gave chefs, marketers, educators and distributors an opportunity to explore world citrus trends and get an in-depth look at citrus varieties.

On April 6, the Ft. Pierce (FL) Tribune published a guest column about the state's Citrus Canker Eradication Program. In it, Jack Haire, a Broward County resident who was a participant in the original anti-canker eradication lawsuits that delayed the process for several years, made some statements that officials from the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services adamantly state are untrue.

To paraphrase a quote I read recently, "Why change? Survival is not a requirement."

For many companies in the produce industry, that choice is not theoretical. Either they change the way they're doing business, or they won't likely survive.

As United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association heads into our second century of service to the produce industry, our members are coming together to share a vision, construct their own individual plans, and then go out into the marketplace to not only survive but thrive.