NEWPORT BEACH, CA -- By design, the Produce Marketing Association lined up guest speakers for its Consumer Trends '08 conference, held here April 3-5, who are good at punching holes in people's perceptions.

What the industry thinks it knows isn't necessarily so, the speakers said. That's not to say that the sky is falling, just that not enough is being done to hold it up forever.

BOSTON -- The old clich? of good things coming in small packages was certainly an appropriate description of the New England Produce Council's Expo, held here April 9 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

Now in its eighth year, the expo's 230 booths drew approximately 700 attendees and was "one of the biggest and best yet," Robert McGowan, president of the council, told The Produce News.

A grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture facilitated a collaborative effort among the potato commissions of Washington, Oregon and Idaho to help open potato markets in Central America.

Wada Farms Marketing Group LLC in Idaho Falls, ID, and Farm Fresh Direct LLC in Monte Vista, CO, have announced the formation of a new joint venture marketing organization called Category Partners LLC.

The announcement was made in a jointly issued written statement April 7. According to the statement, the new entity is designed to better enable these two major potato suppliers to support the changing needs of retailers, foodservice operators, wholesalers and, equally important, today's new consumer.

PEBBLE BEACH, CA -- More than 3,000 aficionados of fine wine and gourmet food attended the inaugural four-day Pebble Beach Food & Wine festival that ran here March 27-30.

Ticket purchasers sampled wares at the Lexus Grand Tasting held both Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Purveyors of wine and food were at the festival by invitation only.

The festival was heavily weighted toward wine, with some 250 wineries represented and some 70 sommeliers and 10 master sommeliers in attendance. There also were 53 chefs on hand.

Eight months after a Category 5 hurricane devastated its papaya groves in Belize, Brooks Tropicals is gearing up for the return of the fruit to its product line.