APTOS, CA -- Unpredictable and inclement weather has led the Chilean Avocado Importers Association to forecast a smaller avocado crop for the 2010-11 season than originally projected. New estimates indicate 100 million to 120 million pounds of Chilean Hass avocados to be shipped to the United States this season.

Due to the alternating fruit bearing of the avocado trees, the new projections are on par with those of the 2008-09 season. Comparatively to that season, the acreage is approximately the same and also experienced the effects of a freeze that year.

ORLANDO, FL — That the industry has only itself to blame for stagnant per- capita consumption growth was the overarching message delivered by Produce Marketing Association President Bryan Silbermann in his annual state-of-the-industry address at the association's 2010 Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition, held here Oct. 15-18.

Speaking during the breakfast general session Oct. 16, Mr. Silbermann took shots at unfair reports in the media, but said that the media are not to blame. "The responsibility for our lost brand rests with us," he said.

ORLANDO, FL -- Produce Marketing Association's 2010 Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition drew a record-breaking audience from the global supply chain when it convened Oct. 15-18, attracting 18,284 attendees from 58 countries to Orlando's Orange County Convention Center.

Begun 61 years ago primarily as a networking event, Fresh Summit has expanded to include industry-leading education and information today.

Gordon Hunt has promoted watermelon in several unique locations over the years for the National Watermelon Promotion Board, including Japan and the furthest eastern point in North America.

However, his most recent promotion has taken watermelons to new heights — 8,800 feet to be exact.

VISALIA, CA — They're big. They’re beautiful. They’re crunchy. They’re sweet. "What else can I say?" said Darrel Fulmer, managing partner at Sun Fresh International LLC, here, when asked what characteristics, besides their lateness, make the proprietary Blanc seedless table grape variety special.

One bite into one of the big, beautiful, sweet, crisp berries from a bunch in a clamshell that had been sitting on Mr. Fulmer’s desk for two days validated his claim.