LAS VEGAS -- The United Fresh Produce Association's Research & Education Foundation announced April 22 that it will form a new Center for Global Produce Sustainability, designed to help companies across the fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain enhance their businesses through sustainability. The center will initially be funded through a $1.1 million endowment grant over four years from Bayer CropScience.

Eurofresh Farms in Wilcox, AZ, and its subsidiary, Eurofresh Produce LTD, announced April 21 that they had reached an agreement with a group of investors to recapitalize the company. As part of the negotiated settlement, Eurofresh filed a voluntary petition for protection under chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code that will allow the company to implement a plan of reorganization, according to a company press release.

For the past 21 years, one member of the Delaware River port community is selected every spring by a jury of his or her peers to receive the prestigious Spirit of the Port Award. This year was notable on several fronts.

Barbara Hunter, director of imported commodities for Western Fumigation, is the first woman to receive the honor, and it happened on the historic day -- April 18 -- that the crew of the Maersk Alabama took back their ship from pirates off the coast of Somalia.

Following a November 2008 appointment by former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, Roger Christensen, a Center, CO, potato grower, was formally seated as a board member on the U.S. Potato Board during the board's annual meeting in Denver.

The March 10-13 gathering, which was the board's 37th annual, saw representatives from the nation's potato-growing states seated and new leadership elected.

Like many in the retail business, Heather Shavey's career at Costco grew from loyalty and opportunity rather than a predetermined plan.

"With the ever-declining economy" and the financial struggles that many consumers are experiencing due to unemployment or other factors, the Idaho Potato Commission in Eagle, ID, is putting a strong focus on the value potatoes offer consumers in the retail produce department, according to Seth Pemsler, the commission's vice president of retail.