Early indications are that volumes were down for the Idaho-Eastern Oregon onion region, but recent numbers provided by the Idaho-Oregon Fruit & Vegetable Association show that even those initial findings were higher than what is actually in storage.

Candi Fitch, executive director of the association, said that a Nov. 1 storage survey "puts numbers to the talk that the Idaho-Eastern Oregon onion crop is down considerably."

Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) and Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) hosted a "Spinach Is Back" congressional luncheon Nov. 16 in Washington, DC, with a number of administration and public health officials to raise awareness that fresh, safe spinach has returned to store shelves and is an important part of a healthy diet.

Sausalito, CA-based Barbara Adams has toiled away building her food web site BeyondWonderful.com since launching it in September 2004. Only recently has it started reaching critical mass, growing dramatically with a broader audience.

BeyondWonderful.com delivers information and perspective largely from the San Francisco Bay area on farms, markets, vineyards and beyond, all leading finally to the kitchen.

Another cantaloupe wholesaler is recalling cantaloupes after the Food & Drug Administration detected Salmonella during routine sampling.

Arizona-based Rio Vista Ltd. is recalling 62,640 cartons of "Llano" and "Nature's Partners" cantaloupes shipped throughout the United States and Canada from Oct. 31 to Nov. 6. FDA detected Salmonella during sampling Oct. 30 and Nov. 10. The firm began withdrawing the products from the market on Nov. 6, then issued a press release Nov. 17.

Did you ever have a lemonade stand when you were a kid? Most of us had one, and it was a lot of fun selling that lemonade, especially earning the money.

This past summer I saw something that sent me back to my childhood days. It was my neighbor's little girl, Micaela, from across the street sitting at a lemonade stand in front of her house. Her mother was overseeing her as she sold paper cups of lemonade. Being a hot summer day and because I was quite impressed with her sales ambition, I just had to buy a cup.

WASHINGTON -- Retailers and produce suppliers will be meeting next month to review the industry's leafy greens action plan as buyers push to gain confidence in next spring's leafy green crops.

The Food Marketing Institute is holding a meeting Dec. 5 in Phoenix to hear an update on the cpntaminated spinach investigation, review the produce industry's new action plan and develop new purchasing guidelines for leafy greens.