The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the availability of nearly $8 million to support the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program Produce Prescription Program. The funding is part of USDA’s American Rescue Plan efforts and will be administered by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

GusNIP Produce Prescription projects provide financial and non-financial incentives to income-eligible individuals and families to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables to improve dietary health through increased consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Crystal Valley Foods welcomed Philip Rodriguez back to its team. Rodriguez began his career in produce with Crystal Valley Foods in 2017 as a sales and procurement liaison and has rejoined the company as business development manager.

The Fresh Market and shoppable video platform Firework marked a milestone in their ongoing partnership, which brings next-generation customer experiences to the online grocery shopping space. Earlier this quarter, The Fresh Market surpassed 365 days of total watch time for its Firework-enabled video content —  including all short-form, shoppable video and live commerce content across the company's owned media channels.

Calavo Growers Inc. named Helen Kurtz as its senior vice president and general manager of Calavo Prepared, the company’s prepared foods segment.

The spending bill recently passed by the Senate includes $4 billion in drought-relief funding for the Colorado River Basin.

“We appreciate the determination of Senator Kyrsten Sinema and her colleagues to secure substantial new funding for drought-related priorities in the Colorado River Basin, which supports 5.7 million acres of irrigated agriculture including most of the nation’s winter vegetables as well as other high-value foods such as citrus and melons," said Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia.

If you’re like most people, eating carbs can cause instant regret because many people have been programmed to think that they are bad for you or that they are the main problem in an unhealthy diet. If you want to eat healthy and to fuel your body with energy throughout the day, salads made with healthy carbs like quinoa, whole grain pasta, or brown rice are the way to go.