WASHINGTON -- After nearly five years at the United Fresh Produce Association, here, Amy Philpott, United's vice president of communications, is leaving to pursue a career more focused on crisis communications and issue management.

A new, lower-cost "Snoopy" watermelon bin will be exhibited at this month's National Watermelon Association convention in Charleston, SC.

Dan Hinkle, the owner of Hinkle Produce, based in Cissna Park, IL, which owns the license to brand all nuts, fruit and vegetables with Peanuts characters, said that the product costs the same as any other printed bin. Previously Hinkle Produce sold a preprinted bin "which made it cost a little more," he said. The new bin is a direct-print two-color (red and green) on white.

Fruit Logistica 2009 underlined its role as a leading global trade event for the fresh produce industry as exhibitors and trade visitors alike praised the international character of the event and the fact that it attracted a large number of top decision makers, according to the organizer of the event, which was held Feb. 4-6 in Berlin.

Garry Rowe recently joined the sales team at Vero Beach, FL-based Seald Sweet International.

Mr. Rowe will specialize primarily in deciduous commodity sales but will also offer Seald Sweet's fresh citrus and other fresh produce commodities. He will be based at Seald Sweet's Swedesboro, NJ, office.

Formerly with C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Mr. Rowe brings more than 17 years of experience in produce sales, transportation, marketing and new business development to Seald Sweet.

According to Cherie Watte Angulo, executive director of the California Asparagus Commission in Stockton, CA, the past decade has been a period of adjustment for the state's asparagus industry.

"Our supply is in line with demand during our season," Ms. Angulo told The Produce News Feb. 2. "Mexico has increased acreage in the last few years." California is in line with supply and demand not only in the United States but overseas as well, Ms. Angulo said.

At two public meetings held during the last week of January, avocado growers vented their anger at the California Avocado Commission as a result of a recent audit that revealed questionable, perhaps fraudulent, use of commission funds. (See The Produce News, Jan. 19, 2009, page 1.)