A major snowstorm that hit the Northeast Jan. 22-23 caused some disruption in the produce trade in Philadelphia, New York and Boston, the latter being particularly affected as up to three feet of snow fell in areas north and east of the city.

Ferdinand S. Duda, chief executive officer of the agribusiness A. Duda & Sons Inc., based in Oviedo, FL, has announced his retirement from full-time employment with the family-owned business, effective Jan. 1.

Mr. Duda has been elected to serve as chairman of the board of directors and will continue to work on special projects for the company on a consulting basis.

Joseph A. Duda will succeed his brother as chief executive officer and continue to serve as president.

At least four Costa Ricans were killed, 16,000 people were evacuated and thousands of acres of bananas were destroyed when record-breaking rains struck the Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica and northern Panama Jan. 8. While the worst rainfall was on Jan. 8, the downpour didn?t end until Jan. 13.

When Wal-Mart asked its 100 top suppliers to be moving aggressively toward RFID-readiness by Jan. 1, 2005, many in the chip industry doubted it was possible.

And it was somewhat of a foregone conclusion that no produce industry firms would be able to comply " nor were they asked to.

But just as the giant chain?s general merchandise suppliers began to move toward radio frequency identification, so did some of Wal-Mart?s top produce suppliers. And in the first week of January, some produce shipments did go to the chain with an RFID attached.

When Sun World International Inc., in Bakersfield, CA, went on the auction block Thursday, Jan. 13, the bidding opened at $95 million, with Black Diamond Capital Management LLC, a Lake Forest, IL-based investment group and a major Sun World bond holder, as the stalking horse bidder.

But other investors were also very eager to add Sun World to their portfolio " so eager that at the end of the day, the winning bid " from Black Diamond " came in at $127,750,000.

Maui Pineapple Co. Ltd., a leading supplier of high-quality, fresh Hawaiian pineapple based in Kahului, Maui, announced that Nancy Betancourt has been named director of fresh fruit sales. The appointment was effective Jan. 3.

?Nancy has terrific experience in the fresh produce industry and more specifically in developing business for fresh Hawaiian Pineapple," said Howard Nager, vice president of fresh sales and marketing. "We are looking for Nancy to build new relationships and seek out new business opportunities in support of our projected growth."