Former DeCA official consulted with contract winner
For a produce industry that was already generally opposed to single-source produce buying for the Defense Commissary Agency, word that Carroll Allred has been a consultant to at least one company that bid on military business may not be well received.
Mr. Allred was the category manager for produce before retiring from DeCA in Fort Lee, VA, at the end of 2005. In recent weeks, DeCA has announced that a handful of companies have won military contracts worth tens of millions of dollars.
Beckman and tomato commission defend actions; continue plan to downsize
Amid a lawsuit claiming that its operations are unconstitutional (see story on page 1 of the Aug. 28 issue of The Produce News), the California Tomato Commission and its president, Ed Beckman, defended their actions in separate statements released the week of Aug. 28.
In addition, Mr. Beckman said that the board continues to march forward to a Sept. 19 meeting in which the downsizing of the commission's programs and a refocusing of its message are expected to be approved.
United and allied groups to hold immigration rally at U.S. capitol
The United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association, the National Council of Agricultural Employers and the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform are organizing an Immigration Rally on Capitol Hill, scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13, concurrent with United's annual Washington Public Policy Conference. The event will be the second Capitol Hill rally these organizations have coordinated this year to highlight to Congress the need for comprehensive immigration reform.
'Pure Catskills' growers ready for great fall season
"Pure Catskills," a branding and buy-local campaign developed to promote agriculture from New York's Catskill Mountain region, continues its strong momentum as growers enter into their late- summer and early-fall crops. Given the current media and public attention being paid to organically grown produce, sustainable agriculture and ecologically healthy farming practices, the timing could not be better for the group.
Ottawa announces $1.5M to help sell wild blueberries
Canada's federal government will spend as much as $1.5 million over two years to help develop international markets for the country's wild blueberries.
The money will be given to the Canadian component of the New Brunswick-based Wild Blueberry Association of North America, which represents growers and processors from Quebec and Atlantic Canada. The association acts as a promotional arm for the industry.
Mayoral candidate Dennis Donohue has great hopes for Salinas
SALINAS, CA In Dennis Donohue's way of thinking, it defies logic that the top fresh produce city in the nation is not a player in biofuels and a whole array of emerging ag tech industries.
"Salinas is to fresh what Detroit is to cars," said Salinas native Mr. Donohue, president of Salinas-based European Vegetable Specialties Farms Inc. We are the center of the fresh world.
Ryan McKenna comes home to McKenna Bros.
It wasn't a simple choice, but it's one Ryan McKenna is happy to have made. The 23-year-old gave up his study of medicine at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, to come home this summer to Prince Edward Island, Canada, and join the business founded by his grandfather and great-uncle. McKenna Bros. Ltd. in Cardigan, Prince Edward Island, is a distributor-shipper of potatoes and seed potatoes. Mr. McKenna became an official, full-time member of the company's sales department in July.
Trade mission to Japan nets opportunities for California tomatoes
FRESNO, CA -- Ed Beckman, president of the California Tomato Commission, and a delegation of several growers and shippers of California tomatoes recently went on a trade mission to Japan, the second one this year. The mission proved to be productive in expanding opportunities for California tomatoes in the Japanese marketplace, according to Mr. Beckman.
Zespri powers up New Zealand kiwifruit sales with marketing tour
What do the Atlanta Zoo, an all-female triathlon in Boston, the NASA campus in Houston and Seattle's Microsoft cafeteria have in common? These diverse locales, and about 400 grocery stores in between, all enjoyed energizing visits from the Zespri kiwifruit Power UP team in July and August.
"Power UP," Zespri's 10-city promotional campaign, brought branded vehicles, local marketing experts, New Zealand kiwifruit growers, retailers and thousands of consumers together in a mobile celebration of Zespri kiwifruit's excellent taste and nutrition merits.
USDA confirms mushroom misery
It's official. Mushroom prices are down and so are mushroom supplies.
The National Statistics Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Statistics Board released its annual study Aug. 16 on U.S. mushroom production and prices.