After a 42-year career in agriculture marketing order management, Jerry Munson was surprised with a Jan. 6 retirement dinner attended by his former clients, colleagues, family and friends. Mr. Munson has been a principle in Dinuba, CA-based Monfort Management Services Inc. since 1969, when he founded the business with partner Gordon Monfort.

Produce consultancy FreshXperts announced Jan. 18 that George Seifert, founder and president of Produce QA Consultants LLC, is the new quality assurance expert for the group.

For years the Texas citrus industry has managed to keep citrus greening at bay. But the Texas Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed Jan. 18 the first detection of the disease in the Lone Star State, discovered in a single tree in a commercial orange grove near San Juan, TX, in the Rio Grande Valley.

Tom Lange Co. International Inc. announced the renaming of its Bonita Springs, FL, sales office from Global Fresh Import & Export Inc. to Seven Seas.

Del Monte Fresh Produce and the Miami Heat announced Jan. 17 that they have entered into a sponsorship agreement and Del Monte will be the official fresh fruit of the Miami Heat for the next three years.

Navel oranges in California's San Joaquin Valley generally appear to have survived the coldest night of the winter to date, although the cost of frost protection was high, according to Shirley Batchman, director of government affairs for California Citrus Mutual in Exeter, CA.

Mandarins are more susceptible to frost and more extensively grown in the northern part of the valley, where temperatures got coldest, dropping into the low 20s Jan. 16-17 for several hours overnight in some places.