Meg Miller has been promoted from manager to director of Produce Marketing Association's public relations activities, according to an Aug. 6 press release issued by the association.

Food bloggers are hungry for Idaho potatoes.

These passionate home cooks have been whipping up spud-centered creations in an assortment of videos and recipes spanning the web. The Idaho Potato Commission is collecting these original Idaho potato posts and serving them up in a new section on its website, The Potato Blog Squad.

Picture, if you will, a clear plastic container, similar to a clamshell but in the approximate shape and size of a 12-ouce drink, can or water bottle, filled with grapes or other fruit, and offered for sale in a vending machine. That describes an innovative new package concept being offered by F-D-S Manufacturing Co. in Pomona, CA.

Green Tree International, which has offices in Wenatchee, WA, is already moving onions into the pipeline. “We’re harvesting over-winters right now,” Sales Associate Shea Nanto told The Produce News.

It's summertime, which means baseball, fireworks and barbecues as well as the time of the year when everyone's inner farmer is released as they put in a few tomato plants in their backyard gardens and pretend they know what they are doing.

In aggregate, these millions of tomato plants produce tens of millions of tomatoes and affect commercial production. In addition, legitimate seasonal growers throughout the country — challenged by terrain and weather most of the year — see the summertime as their chance to put their thumbprint on the fresh produce industry.

The Peruvian Asparagus Importers Association has announced that Matt DeCarlo, president of Altar Produce Inc. in Calexico, CA, has been named West Coast chairman for the association.

Mr. DeCarlo assumes the position formerly occupied by Chris Martin, president of Gourmet Trading Co., who died suddenly July 23. The association joins the industry in grieving the loss of Mr. Martin.