For growers who forego the four- or five-week Iceberg lettuce deal in Huron, CA, and harvest longer in Salinas, CA, the tail end of this season was not a strong one. Then, too, the short harvest in Huron was no picnic, either. Both avenues lead to a transition to desert harvests in areas such as the Imperial and Coachella valleys in California, and Yuma, AZ.

Sales manager-partner Steve Church of Salinas, CA-based Church Bros. LLC told The Produce News Nov. 9 that the company's Iceberg lettuce harvest in Huron was slated to wrap up around Nov. 13.

PHILADELPHIA -- On Nov. 10, as an emerging sun lit the sky to a grayish- pink over the east side of the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market, John Vena and Dan Kane closed the doors of a refrigerated container. It was the Philadelphia market's payment on a World Series wager with the New York Hunts Point Terminal Market.

Mr. Vena is the Philadelphia terminal's marketing committee manager and owns John Vena Inc. Mr. Kane is the assistant manager of the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market.

The Associated Press called it a "historic water deal." California Assembly member Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) called it a miracle. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called it "the most comprehensive water infrastructure package & in the history of California."

WASHINGTON -- A new survey has found that some state health investigators miss asking questions about fruit and vegetable consumption during initial interviews with people suffering from foodborne illnesses.

State and local health departments play a key role in investigating foodborne illness outbreaks by contacting people with laboratory-confirmed illnesses, recording possible exposures to pathogens, conducting inspections of food establishments and performing DNA analyses.

Mike Aiton, who served for many years as senior vice president of sales and marketing at Sun World International LLC, has left Sun World to take a post as director of marketing for Prime Time International in Coachella, CA.

"The Prime Time family is thrilled to have Mike join our sales and marketing team," Mark Nickerson, managing partner of Prime Time, said in a Nov. 9 press release, the day Mr. Aiton started his new job.

Mr. Aiton will be responsible for new business development and new product development at Prime Time.

Liberty Fruit Co. Inc. in Kansas City, KS, is expanding its facility by 30,000 square feet, enabling it to consolidate its repacking division for better productivity and efficiency. The expansion is expected to be complete in March 2010 and will allow the produce distributor to increase its warehouse capacity by 50 percent and add to its produce storage capability and workforce.