WASHINGTON — Through the United Fresh Foundation's A Salad Bar in Every School campaign, two additional schools in the District of Columbia — Friendship Public Charter School and the Imagine Southeast Public Charter School — have recently received new salad bars.

Officials from both charter schools received their salad bars at a ceremony at the Fresh Festival on Capitol Hill during the United Fresh Produce Association’s Washington Public Policy Conference last month.

After a four-year marketing affiliation with L&M Cos. Inc., Pleasant Valley Potato Inc. in Aberdeen, ID, has again brought the company's sales and marketing activities in house.

"Pleasant Valley and L&M are no longer affiliated in any way," said Ryan Wahlen, sales manager for Pleasant Valley. “We still sell some potatoes to L&M, but they don’t do our marketing or sales.”

Charles Walker, executive secretary of the U.S. Sweet Potato Council, told The Produce News Oct. 1 that although sweet potato harvesting is underway across the country, it will be some time before official crop figures are available.

Plain Jane Produce, a leading North American greenhouse vegetable grower and supplier, has begun a new greenhouse operation in Nayarit, Mexico, with plans to expand acreage tenfold in the next two years.

According to an Oct. 5 press release, the company will open 25 covered acres in Nayarit this month with plans to expand the facility to 250 covered acres over the next two years. New operations in Nayarit will allow Plain Jane to offer freshly harvested tomatoes to the market during the fall growing season, September through January.