EAST GRAND FORKS, MN -- The Northern Plains Potato Growers Association based in East Grand Forks, MN, has elected Gregg Halverson of Grand Forks, ND, as its new chairman.

Mr. Halverson is president and chief executive officer of Grand Forks, ND- based Black Gold Farms, which raises potatoes on 15,000 acres located in 10 different states.

WASHINGTON -- With the U.S. Senate yet to take up a food safety bill, the Produce Safety Project is hoping a new report that finds foodborne illness costs to be $152 billion annually, including $39 billion attributed to produce- related outbreaks, will get lawmakers' attention.

The new study, Health-Related Costs from Foodborne Illness in the United States, attributes more than a quarter of the $152 billion total costs of foodborne illnesses to fresh, canned and processed produce.

With above normal precipitation in California this winter after three years of drought, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation made an announcement Feb. 26 that on its surface seemed to say that farmers on the West Side of California's San Joaquin Valley, who had their federal water deliveries slashed to almost nothing last year, could expect as much as 30-40 percent of their normal water this year.

Three industry trade associations released a new voluntary food-safety guidance document March 2 in an effort to strengthen the safety of the green onion supply chain.

Western Growers Association, the Produce Marketing Association and the United Fresh Produce Association, with the support of other industry associations, academics, regulatory agencies and the green onion industry, released the Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Production, Harvest, Post-Harvest, and Value-Added Operations of Green Onions.

ARVIN, CA -- Kern Ridge Growers LLC in Arvin, CA, has been in the carrot growing, packing and marketing business since 1973 and processes "well over 100 million pounds of carrots a year," consisting of both conventionally grown and organic product, according to General Manager Bob Giragosian, one of the company's owners.

PHILADELPHIA - While the Chilean fruit industry has been seriously disrupted by the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Feb. 27, some fruit exporters were loading fruit onto ships as soon as the afternoon of Feb. 28.

In a March 1 e-mail to The Produce News, Mark Greenberg, chief executive officer of Fisher Capespan, said, "Communication out of Chile is hit-and- miss. Telephone and Internet lines are coming back to normal. Cell phone service as well."