Mariani Nut Co. in Winters, CA, which specializes in California walnuts, California almonds and pecans from various parts of the United States, has seen broader use of its products for a variety of applications throughout the year in recent years than in times past. Still, they remain “a core item for the holiday season,” according to Matt Mariani, who oversees the company’s sales and marketing activities.

“We are fortunate now that our items do sell year round,” he said, “but the holidays are still a very important time, and it is definitely our peak selling season.”

Long before he became a television and radio personality, before he set seven National Football League records that still stand, before he was a three-time All-Pro, before he helped Washington win Super Bowl XXVI, before he was drafted into the league, before he set records in the NCAA — even before he entered the hallowed halls of the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette — Brian Mitchell was a kid at the family dinner table.

And on that table every day were homecooked meals with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Ready Pac has launched a new ready-to-serve fresh-cut fruit products. The new items feature seasonal fruits rarely — if ever — seen in the fresh-cut produce category, including pears, oranges and kumquats.

ANAHEIM, CA — In August, Bayer CropScience completed its purchase of AgraQuest, Inc., a global supplier of innovative biological pest management solutions, and four months later the integration of that company is progressing well, which should result in more crop-protection tools in the not-so-distant future for the specialty crop industry.

Rabobank, which is a major player in agricultural lending, has forecast that the current booming trend for berry sales in the United States will continue at a 7 percent annual growth rate over the next three years. And that view has support within the industry.

On Nov. 1, Rabobank’s Food and Agribusiness Research and Advisory group released a report, titled “The U.S. Fresh Berry Boom — Who Will Profit from the Growth?”

Edward C. Sisler, a professor of biochemistry at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC, whose research is credited with revolutionizing the handling and distribution of fresh-cut flowers, was honored Sept. 22 by the Society of American Florists with its Alex Laurie Award for floriculture research and education.