Former California Tree Fruit Agreement President Blair Richardson entered into a partnership with some major tree fruit grower-shippers and has founded a new company that is launching what appears to be a brand-new marketing concept.

FreshSense is initially comprised of California growers-shippers who produce and sell about one-third of the state's stone fruit crop, as well as being significant growers and/or shippers of citrus and table grapes.

Columbia Marketing International Vice President Mike Hambelton was honored in February as the 2007 Apple Citizen of the Year, an annual award presented at the Wenatchee, WA, Apple Blossom Festival.

Mr. Hambelton was formally recognized Feb. 21 by Apple Blossom Queen Laura DeCamp and her attendants, Mikel Stanaway and Courtney Roberts. The award was first presented in 1981 in recognition of the Apple Blossom Festival's roots as well as apple industry leaders who have proclaimed Wenatchee as the "Apple Capital of the World."

With the San Joaquin Valley grape season just a few months away, the Vancouver, BC-based Oppenheimer Group has strengthened its link with one of the region's top growers.

Oppenheimer will market a full range of grape varieties produced by Garcia Family Farms Inc. in Arvin, CA, starting in mid-June, according to Josh Leichter, Oppenheimer's grape category director.

The Vancouver, BC-based Oppenheimer Group announced that Simone Naggiar has joined the company as a business development representative serving retail, wholesale and foodservice clients in western Canada.

Ms. Naggiar, who joined the company in late January, is responsible for implementing effective promotions for Oppenheimer products in partnership with customers in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

The California Department of Food & Agriculture announced the results of the continuation referendum for the California Pistachio Commission and confirmed that California pistachio producers did not achieve the required threshold vote to continue the commission.

At least one day a week, Brandon Gritters, a produce salesman at Interfresh in Fullerton, CA, takes the train to work specifically so he can ride his bike 25 miles back home.

When one is trying to combine 20 hours of bike riding a week with a full-time job of selling produce, creativity is key. "I ride pretty much every afternoon when I get home until the evening," he said. "I like it when the days start getting longer so I don't have to ride in the dark."