ORLANDO, FL -- In late March next year, a new produce conference will be held in McAllen, TX, focusing on the issues and opportunities involved in fresh fruit and vegetable trade between the United States and Mexico.

Titled "America Trades Produce Conference," the three-day event will be sponsored by the Texas Produce Association, which is headquartered in Mission, TX, and the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, which served its constituency from its offices in Nogales, AZ.

The board of directors of the Produce Marketing Association's Foundation for Industry Talent took office at the close of PMA's 2010 Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition in Orlando, FL.

Chairman of the Board John Anderson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of The Oppenheimer Group in Coquitlam, BC, is joined on the 2010-11 board by three other officers and 16 directors to lead next year's foundation activities.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its initial citrus crop forecast for the 2010-11 season Oct. 8, estimating that Florida will produce 146 million boxes of oranges — a 9 percent increase over last season.

In November 1960, Nibaldo Capote, then in his early 30s, was mayor of the town of Alquízar, a southwestern municipality in the province of Havana, Cuba. He was also involved in several businesses, including farming.

Cuba was politically tumultuous in the 1950s, with the revolution ending in Fidel Castro’s regime taking over the government. Mr. Capote’s opposition resulted in his imprisonment. 

A group of long-time growers of Mexican produce will sell their products through a new marketing entity called Eleven Rivers Growers, which will make its debut at the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit convention in Orlando, FL.

It was a tailgating touchdown for Denise LaRoche of Hudson, NH, whose recipe for spicy cranberry chicken sidekick sliders with spicy cranberry aioli won bragging rights to the title Official Tailgate Recipe of the New England Patriots.

Ms. LaRoche won over the judges with her creative use of cranberries using "Ocean Spray" fresh cranberries and “Ocean Spray” whole berry cranberry sauce.

Ms. LaRoche was among three finalists who participated in Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc.'s Tailgating Recipe Contest at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA.