Corporate commitment to sustainable agriculture and the highest food-safety standards are hallmarks at H. Brooks and Co., based in New Brighton, MN. The family-owned business has been in operation for more than a century.

President Phillip Brooks said the company sells more than 800 fresh, fresh-cut fruits and vegetables and specialty products.

Product is sourced domestically and internationally, and Mr. Brooks said its customers are located in Minnesota, neighboring states and the Lake Michigan region.

Special to The Produce News by Dixondale Farms

Bruce Frasier may know more about growing onion plants than any man in America. As the fourth-generation president of Dixondale Farms in Carrizo Springs, Mr. Frasier oversees the largest and oldest onion plant farm in the country. Dixondale Farms started growing onion plants in 1913 and the family-owned company has done so every year for the past century.

WASHINGTON — Advocates for a 2012 farm bill are questioning whether Congress has enough time or the political will to pass massive farm policy legislation, suggesting that lawmakers may agree to a short extension instead, which could be bad news for the specialty crop industry.

The 2012 presidential election did not go the way most Florida farmers would have preferred. The future of the Farm Bill is cloudy and workable immigration reform seems years away. Foreign competition is increasing and the Sunshine State faces challenges ranging from diseases like the citrus-destroying HLB to the ongoing tangle of water-quality restrictions imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But Adam Putnam, commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, is optimistic about the future of Florida produce.

WASHINGTON — Food shipments may be refused at U.S. ports if registered foreign food facilities do not renew their registrations with the Food & Drug Administration by Dec. 31, Amy Barringer, a director in FDA's Office of Compliance, warned during a Nov. 19 webcast.

The United Fresh Produce Association sponsored the more than an hour-long webcast on the looming facility registration requirements with David Gombas, vice president of food safety and technology at United Fresh, to keep the industry abreast of the change.

Gourmet Trading, a North American distributor of fresh asparagus, blueberries and blackberries, announced the beginning of its Chile blueberry season.