Wow, where did the year go?

Once again, it's time for another Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit. This is the biggest and best produce industry event of its kind anywhere in the world.

There are more than 780 exhibitors covering over 600,000 square feet of space at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

Salinas, CA-based NewStar Fresh Foods LLC will introduce several new items at the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit in Atlanta.

NewStar's sleeved asparagus, which has been under development for a year, is set for a Jan. 1 national rollout, said John Killeen, the company's vice president of sales and marketing.

From both handling and food-safety standpoints, the sleeve is a plus, Mr. Killeen said.

"The bag keeps [asparagus] hydrated," Mr. Killeen said. "People handle the bag, not the product."

Chef de cuisine Andrew LeTourneau of 26 brix restaurant in Walla Walla, WA, will be on hand Sunday, Nov. 6, at Walla Walla Sweet Onion Marketing Committee's booth (No. 1643) at the Produce Marketing Association's convention in Atlanta.

Chef LeTourneau, who is filling in at the Atlanta event for chef-owner Mike Davis, will be dishing up a variety of Walla Walla sweet onion samples and providing recipes for booth visitors. Chef Davis, in the meantime, will be at home in Walla Walla, where he and his wife, Krista, are awaiting the birth of their first child.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate is expected to approve a final agriculture spending bill that would delay country-of- origin labeling for two more years, raise the profile of specialty crops and give organic producers the fix they needed to allow the organic program to go forward.

RIDGEFIELD, CT -- Gina Ancona was born July 26, 1976, in Ridgefield, CT, where she still lives. She went to Ridgefield High School. Her parents live in Ridgefield. She works in Ridgefield.

She really is a local girl.

She is also a key part of Ancona's Market, a family-owned supermarket that has been serving the people of Ridgefield, in southwestern Connecticut, since the 1920s.

With the launch of its "Fresh Mountain Farms" brand cabbage, Boone, NC-based Hollar & Greene Produce is hoping to combat declining sales that bulk cabbage has experienced in recent years.

"Earlier this year we hired Golden Sun Marketing and challenged them to come up with a consumer-driven solution that will drive sales," Tim Greene, director of marketing for Hollar & Greene, said in a statement.