The reconstituted Floral Council will make its presence known at the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit with a record number of floral exhibitors, most on display in a new floral pavilion, the hub for floral at PMA. The council also boosted PMA floral membership over the past year and will welcome a new chairman at the show, Oct. 18-20 in New Orleans.

Registration a month in advance was on track to break the record set last year at the Floral Distribution Conference in Miami, Patricia A. (Trish) Lilly, executive vice president of the Wholesale Florist & Florist Supplier Association, told The Produce News.

Display space for 96 table top exhibits sold out a month ago, she added. The show runs Oct. 23-25 at the Doral Trump Resort in Miami. (See schedule, page 113.)

Fall has fallen, and like a wedding this issue brings news of “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.”

The something old is the seven-year effort to develop a national sustainable agriculture standard. The project at the Leonardo Institute has suffered committee resignations, funding shortages and copyright disputes. But like a hardy flower, the effort survives. This fall draft standards will be issued for public comment.

California Giant Berry Farms and Stemilt Growers teamed up in Seattle to host a fresh fruit-inspired cocktail party exclusively for food bloggers. Tom Douglas, a star chef, Seattle restaurateur and two-time James Beard Award winner, and Jody Hall, owner of the popular Cupcake Royale in Seattle, inspired the crowd of 125 food bloggers during the event.
 

Salinas, CA-based Markon announced the promotion of JOE ANGE to purchasing director.

When Continental Fresh’s managing member, Albert Perez, was in high school, a trip to the Dominican Republic altered the direction of his life, but most importantly, it has improved the lives of thousands of people in that Caribbean country.

“While I was in college I started a foundation to help the people in the Dominican Republic,” he said. “Every year for the past 30 years, we have gone down there and built a project — typically an aqueduct or a school.”