What is your most important objective in your produce department? Is it to offer the best service to your customers, be the marketplace leader, have the lowest prices or offer the best-quality produce?

I often ask individuals about their chief objective and receive many different answers. Usually a produce director will respond with, “To achieve our gross margin.” A shipper will say, “To give our customers the best product.” The general manager of a produce distribution center may answer, “To deliver the product on time.”

Jeff Warkentin

On Oct.

David Beecher

Bland Farms LLC has named David Beecher the firm’s new director of operations, replacing Michael Hively, who left the firm

The always-heavy demand prior to the Thanksgiving holiday caused a number of items to spike in price in mid- to late November, including some vegetable crops that saw f.o.b. markets in excess of $20. While the early-December lull will bring some markets down, several other items, including the cole crops, are expected to remain in short supply possibly through the end of December.

WASHINGTON -- President Obama signed a fiscal 2012 spending bill Nov. 18 that not only funds the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the current year but directs USDA to change how vegetables are counted in its proposed school meal rule.

The House passed the budget bill Nov. 17, followed by the Senate hours later, which includes funding for the Food & Drug Administration and USDA, among other government agencies.