Although early-season hail hit some growers particularly hard in the Wenatchee Valley of Washington state, Northwest Pear Bureau Executive Director Kevin Moffitt said that losses to this year's pear crop will not be as great as originally thought.

"The original [crop] estimate from June called for 17.8 million boxes," Mr. Moffitt said. "The new estimate is a reduction of about 1.4 million boxes with about 1.1 million reduction due to weather and the rest due to the usual June drop."

Demand for avocados in the United States has increased dramatically over the last two decades. Twenty years ago, the notion that the market could absorb as much as 22 million pounds of avocados in a single week would have been almost beyond comprehension. But that has been happening this year. And, according to industry sources, demand still outstripped supply.

When W. Newell & Co. opened its doors one year ago this week in Champaign, IL, its principals did not believe its Supervalu affiliation would hinder the company in its efforts to attract independent retailers as customers. And it hasn't, according to John Aune, vice president of national operations for the specialty produce company.

"We never thought that being a part of Supervalu would be a problem," he said. "And I'd have to say that not one customer has brought that up in the past year."

The MushRoom, a portable eatery, will highlight the Dublin, CA- based Mushroom Council's September promotion of National Mushroom Month. This is the first major promotion in the Mushroom Council's return to such efforts since 2000, when a grower sued the council for using funds he contributed for a promotion and won, ceasing the council's authority to run promotions. Subsequent complex legal events reversed that decision in 2005. The suing grower went out of business in the interim.

Randy Breschini, former president of Salinas-based Growers Express LLC, has moved with his family to Bangkok, Thailand.

After many years in the produce industry, Mr. Breschini has moved to the value-added food coatings, marinades and seasoning systems business as group managing director for Newly Weds Foods Asia-Pacific.

He said that he and his wife, Denise, and daughters, Tracy and Elise, are "very happy to be back in the part of the world which we love and enjoy."


Culinary Center of Monterey feeds dignitaries

The Washington storage onion season was moving into high gear the second week of August, with demand said to be particularly good for single-center sweet reds.

Shippers were nearly unanimous in describing the season as a few days late because of rains during planting season, but optimism was prevalent as volume started to ramp up. Handlers said pricing was steady.

Indicative of the later start were truck shipments behind those of last year's out of both the Walla Walla district and the Columbia Basin. However, piggyback shipments were ahead by nearly double.