The California citrus industry has been one of the more vocal skeptics of the Produce Traceability Initiative, yet that sector is moving ahead with the concept on a much faster pace than other industries.

Decades ago a retailer could tell an ethnic area by the consumption of avocados. Long a staple in Mexico, if a store, in say Florida, registered an unusual amount of avocado sales, it was a good indicator there was a high percentage of Hispanics in that store’s marketing region. Avocados went mainstream many years ago and they no longer foretell the ethnicity of a store’s customers.

ICEBERG LETTUCE

The Iceberg lettuce transition from Salinas to Huron was not seamless initially, and the market advanced the week of Oct. 17 because several shippers were not able to begin their Huron harvest until Monday, Oct. 24.

Initial quality from Huron has largely improved over the last fields from the Salinas Valley. Quality reports indicate that several Huron lettuce fields have puffy, misshaped lettuce and below-normal carton weights. Despite the light weight, Huron lettuce should offer good shelf life after arrival.

Jose Luis Obregon

As Jose Luis Obregon, managing director of the Hass Avocado Board, cleared out his desk and prepared for

WASHINGTON — Leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees are drafting the tenets of a farm bill they plan to submit by Nov. 1 to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, condensing into weeks a process that usually takes months to complete.