FOREST PARK, GA -- Often called "the world's largest roadside fruit and vegetable stand," the Atlanta State Farmers Market is actually a sprawling 150-acre hub of commerce and transportation so busy that it has its own supermarket, restaurant, visitors center, gift shop and police force.

When John Pandos packed up his bags and left Boston for the Rio Grande Valley four years ago, it was on the proverbial "wing and a prayer," he admitted.

"My cousins thought I was nuts," he said of the executives at Peter Condakes Co. Inc. in Boston, where he previously worked and has a family connection. "But I was coming down here and buying tomatoes from Texas [for Condakes] during their short two-month deal, and I saw an opportunity."

Persistent rain in parts of the South has hampered sweet potato harvesting in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas, with growers in those states as of Oct. 9 seeing 20-30 percent of their harvest complete compared to 50-70 percent by this time in a normal year.

Researchers, members of the fresh fruit industry and governmental officials have created a task force whose focus is to take proactive measures to stave off the impact of the newest pest found in Oregon and Washington.

Bruce Pokarney, director of communications for the Oregon Department of Agriculture, said that drosophila suzukii - commonly known as the vinegar fruit fly - reared its head this past September in the Willamette Valley.

Jesse Driskill, who in March 2008 was named president for the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas in Nogales, AZ, announced his resignation in order to take a position with Meyer LLC in Nogales, effective Nov. 16, immediately following the FPAA convention.

"We wish him well. It is a great opportunity for him," Chris Ciruli, FPAA chairman and chief operating officer of Ciruli Bros. Inc. in Nogales, told The Produce News Oct. 16.

Mr. Driskill was out of the office and was not immediately available for comment.

The produce industry has long complained about competing Good Agricultural Practice audits, and now a new working group will meet next month to start hammering out a single standard for all third-party GAP audits by October 2010.

"We've created a monster allowing different standards to propagate," said David Gombas, project coordinator for the GAP harmonization effort and senior vice president for food safety and technology at the United Fresh Produce Association.