A May 4 winner of a Republican primary election for a North Carolina Senate seat, watermelon grower-shipper Brent Jackson has learned a lot about politics in his first campaign for political office.

Representatives of the three major trade associations that co-launched the Produce Traceability Initiative announced that the steering committee has reaffirmed its commitment to whole chain traceability in the produce industry by 2012 but has relaxed some of the interim timelines to achieve the goal.

TAMPA, FL -- In a worst-case scenario, Florida tomato growers who lost most of their winter crop now find they have no market for recovered spring plantings.

With a mammoth glut coming on at once, tomatoes that cost at least $8 a box to produce were selling for $4 per box on May 25. To make matters worse, drenching rains have muddied fields and made harvesting even more costly.

Ray Roch, a longtime figure in fresh produce in Rhode Island, died Thursday, May 20, at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence following a stroke. He was 75.

Mr. Roch's foray into fresh produce began when his father gave him a room in his West Warwick, RI, grocery store to sell fresh produce. Mr. Roch eventually ran the business, and today there remains the store in West Warwick — now called Roch’s Fruit & Produce Inc. — and Roch’s Produce store in nearby Narragansett, RI.

At its annual meeting May 20 at Corral de Tierra Country Club in Salinas, CA, the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California installed Steve Church of Church Bros., also based in Salinas, as chairman of the board.

Sun World International LLC is expanding the company's line of branded produce offerings with the reintroduction of the "Le Rouge Royale" sweet red pepper brand and “Le Jaune Royale,” its yellow pepper counterpart, just in time for the California pepper season.