TRENTON, NJ — A severe winter, record snowfall, a normal, wet spring and slightly higher temperatures have blueberry growers throughout New Jersey seeing the blues — as in blueberries.

Some growers were expecting to begin picking the Duke variety as early as the weekend of June 5-6. Others said that the season is four to five days earlier than last year, and are advising retailers that there will be plenty of volume in time for the Fourth of July holiday.

The first Ohio Food Summit will be held June 23. Heading the summit is Lori Panda, the Ohio Proud liaison in the division of markets of the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

On June 2, Ms. Panda told The Produce News that the summit involves a meeting in Columbus that will bring retail, restaurant and distributor buyers to meet with Ohio suppliers. The suppliers will have tabletop product displays and prescheduled one-on-one meetings with buyers.

Last year's West Side melon deal in California came in at 19.3 million 40- pound cartons, a slight decline from 2008 totals.

Jerry Munson, manager of the Cantaloupe Advisory Board, said that the board anticipates 20 million 40-pound cartons in 2010.

In 2009, West Side growers were short of product toward the end of the year. Most crop is in by mid-September. The final total ratchets upwards of the projection as the harvest continues to Oct. 1 or later.

Tapping into consumer interest in celebrity chefs, the California Avocado Commission put together an innovative public relations program combining new social media tactics and the organization's ongoing relationship with chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, known together as the Too Hot Tamales, to spread new ideas that encourage demand for California avocados. Ms. Feniger also has received national attention as a finalist on Bravo’s hit reality series, "Top Chef Masters."

A provision that allows sellers to extend payment terms beyond 30 days without jeopardizing their PACA Trust rights has been proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with comments due by Aug. 9.

Matthew McInerney, executive vice president of Western Growers Association in Newport Beach, CA, applauded the proposal, which he said came from the USDA's Fruit & Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee.

While it was not enough to salvage a disastrous season, Florida tomato growers were happy to find a market for at least another $6 million worth of product in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which announced plans June 4 to spend up to that amount to immediately purchase fresh Florida tomatoes for federal food nutrition assistance programs.