The Salinas, CA-based Grower-Shipper Association of Central California has hired Joann Greathead as its first-ever director of membership in its nearly 80-year history.

For Ms. Greathead, the role means a change of venue within the GSA building: For the past five years, she was manager of the Central California Lettuce Producers Cooperative. She stepped into her new role Jan. 5.

Annie Cheatham has been selected to lead the New England Farmers Union. Formed in 2006, the union represents farming and fishing families in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

A proposed rule by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service would lift a ban on the shipment of Hass avocados from Peru into the continental United States, subject to the implementation of a phytosanitary protocol similar to that required for other imported fruit.

APHIS issued a notice of the proposed rule Jan. 6 and published the notice in the Federal Register Jan. 7. The proposal is now in a comment period, and APHIS will "consider all comments received on or before March 9," according to the notice.

When the U.S. Apple Association's annual Market Outlook Conference, held Aug. 21-22 in Chicago, drew to a close, apple professionals from around the world returned home thinking that the U.S. apple crop, which helps to dictate projected seasonal movement and prices internationally, would be short on volume.

When the new president and new Congress take their oaths of office this month, they will be confronted by an economic crisis unrivaled since the Great Depression as well as high-priority issues including war, health-care reform and global warming.

Given the gravity of these enormous issues that cut through all sectors, what can we expect on produce industry issues such as food safety, nutrition and immigration?