Naples, FL-based Oakes Farms Inc. recently added ANTHONY HIGH to its team.

High joined the company last year and is the director of operations, handling a full line of products. Prior to joining Oakes Farms, High owned Old Naples Produce Co., also based in Naples.

Lisa A. Fetterhoff, sales associate for Keystone Fruit Marketing Inc. in Greencastle, PA, said that the company was blessed with an excellent crop this past fall that should supply its customers with apples throughout the spring.

“Our grower-shipping partners did an excellent job during the harvest season,” said Fetterhoff. “They managed quality going into storage, and since then there have been no noticeable issues as we move into controlled atmosphere storage.”

Kaari Stannard is the president of New York Apple Sales Inc., headquartered in Castleton, NY. She is also a partner in Lake Ontario Fruit Inc. in Albion, NY, and a partner in Pomona Packing in Wolcott, NY.

“New York Apple Sales is the exclusive marketer for Empire Fruit Growers,” said Stannard. “I also own Fish Creek Orchards, and orchard operation in Western New York.”

She said that the New York crop is in very good shape this year in both volume and quality, adding that there are no storage issues.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture's crop production predictions, average potato yield per acre increased during the 2013 season. In an effort to propel this upward trend into the new year, Bayer CropScience launched its Potato Perspectives Survey during Potato Expo in San Antonio Jan. 8-10, 2014.

Bayer CropScience collected insights from tradeshow attendees across the food chain to identify potato trends, opportunities and challenges as the industry prepares for the 2014 season.

WASHINGTON -- A catch-all spending bill for the federal government includes one-time funding of $20 million to fight citrus greening, one of the many provisions tucked in a bill expected to be signed by President Obama.

The massive fiscal 2014 Omnibus bill includes funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food & Drug Administration, two government agencies that oversee a range of food-related policies that affect the produce industry.

To date, three judicial districts have issued orders of dismissal of lawsuits filed against Santa Maria, CA-based PrimusLabs stemming from the 2011 distribution of tainted cantaloupes produced at Jensen Farms in Holly, CO. Motions to dismiss have been filed in a range of 10 to 15 cases.