WASHINGTON, D.C. — By an overwhelming 90-8 vote, the U.S. Senate pushed away the last procedural hurdle this morning to begin the debate on the 2012 Farm Bill.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), the Committee's ranking member, will manage the debate on the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 (S. 3240). The measure, which is estimated to save $23 billion over 10 years, is likely to become a lightning rod for scores of amendments on farm policy.

Bill Nardelli, president of Nardelli Bros. Inc., in Cedarville, NJ, told The Produce News that truckers have been at the bottom of the totem pole in importance for years. But today they’re in the driver’s seat.

“We have been in transportation since my father started this business in 1941,” said Mr. Nardelli. “If you have the ability to deliver your own product and get it to your customers in the freshest possible condition, you have a huge advantage.”

Mr. Nardelli said that wholesalers and retailers don’t want to buy full loads today, and they’re buying close to the chest.

Yakima, WA-based Kwik Lok Corporation is providing the fresh produce industry with technology that stores large-scale information on a small-scale item.

Regional Sales Manager Gary Ellington said the revolutionary 901C Auto Printer will be introduced this summer. Aspen Produce LLC, a grower-packer-shipper of premium fresh potatoes in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, will be the first company to use the printer for its bag closures. “They will be the first ones to get this new printer,” Regional Sales Manager Gary Ellington told The Produce News on May 14.

Onion producers in New Mexico, some of whom sustained heavy losses during the 2011 production season, are anticipating a return to normalcy in 2012. "There was a hailstorm earlier this month that caused, as one shed estimated, 6 percent to 10 percent crop losses in at least one area where onions are grown," Katie Goetz, public information officer for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, said May 29. "Otherwise, the weather has been good for onions."

A bipartisan group of former cabinet secretaries released a comprehensive and actionable plan to improve America's physical and fiscal crises, driven by the alarming rates of obesity and chronic disease such as Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

Organic grower Wholesum Family Farms hired produce industry professional Dennis Moleta as an account manager. Mr. Moleta, whose territory will cover the Eastern United States, will operate from Hampton, NJ. Mr. Moleta joins Wholesum Family Farms as it nears completion of a state-of-the-art glass greenhouse operation in Amado, AZ, that will dramatically increase the company's growing capacity and offer products grown in the United States.