WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL), a leading voice for the specialty crop industry, will run for Florida agriculture commissioner when his congressional term runs out in two years.

For the eighth consecutive year, Vancouver, BC-based The Oppenheimer Group has been named among Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies, and 2009 also marks the second consecutive year the produce marketer has been awarded Platinum Club member status by the judging panel.

Overseen by sponsors Deloitte, CIBC Commercial Banking, The National Post and Queen's School of Business, the award selection entails a detailed assessment process, and each year's recognition reflects the previous year's performance.

Ben Parker, who operated a produce wholesale brokerage operation in Dallas named Ben Parker Inc., died last month leaving behind $5 million to $6 million in produce debt, according to Kate Ellis of the law firm of McCarron & Diess in Washington, DC.

Robert Cochran II, a third-generation member of Robert T. Cochran & Co. Inc. on the Hunts Point Terminal Market and father of current President Richard Cochran, died Jan. 7 of natural causes. He was 87.

PLEASANTON, CA -- A panel of retailers declined to formally shed the produce industry's "recession-proof" label, but it did say that the downturn in the economy is definitely affecting what consumers buy in each of their stores.

The predicted freeze was "not as bad as forecast last night," Ted Campbell, executive director of the Florida Strawberry Association in Dover, FL, told The Produce News Thursday, Feb. 5. He was referring to the cold front that passed through Florida Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

"We feel like we dodged the proverbial bullet," said Michael W. Sparks, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Florida Citrus Mutual in Lakeland, FL. "There will probably be spot damage here and there, but in terms of large scale problems, we came through OK."