Marysville, OH-based Community Market took home top honors from the Idaho Potato Commission’s 2012 retail display contest, placing first among stores with one to five cash registers and winning $1,500 for its “Fuel Up with the World Famous Idaho Potatoes” display, which featured a giant potato truck cutout getting fueled up by Mrs. Dash and Molly McButter gas pumps.

Lipman, one of North America's larger field tomato growers — a company that has been known as a B2B supplier — recently launched Lipman Kitchen, a new consumer-focused website.

At the United Fresh 2012 convention in Dallas the United Fresh Produce Association awarded the Best New Fruit Product Award to Ready Pac Foods Inc. for its new line of fresh fruit and yogurt parfaits. The five-item line of parfaits, which will begin shipping this summer, targets consumer interest in healthy snacking and quality fresh foods, as well as growth in the yogurt category.

Less is more, the saying goes, but when it comes to having retail staff available (in the floral department, for example), less is just less. In other words, being stingy with staffing hurts retail sales. Leanness is in these days, but too much cost-cutting can backfire.

Registration for the 2012 International Floriculture Expo is on track to exceed last year’s totals of 1,750 attendees, 200 high-volume retail buyers and 190 exhibitors, show officials said.

EcoTulips in Brightwood, VA, has become a supplier of certified organic flower bulbs in the United States, it announced in a March 23 news release. The import firm, owned by Jeroen and Keriann Koeman, has been granted organic certification from California Certified Organic Farmers, confirming that the company’s import, warehousing, and sales processes meet the standards of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program.