This holiday season, consumers can toast to suppertime savings with a multi- partner retail promotion offering coupons on "all the fixings," including Idaho potatoes.

Through the end of the year, Frontera Wine will feature bottleneck coupons offering $1 off Idaho potatoes, Kitchen Basics cooking stock, Bruce's Yams and Reynold's Wrap -- some of the essentials for holiday entertaining.

Two recent voluntary recall episodes involve the same customer of two separate produce companies, according to Rex Lawrence, director of sales and marketing for Davis, CA-based Timco Worldwide Inc.

Mr. Lawrence also said that findings of possible Salmonella contamination of Timco watermelons and cantaloupes from Brawley, CA-based Five Crowns Marketing were determined at the same testing lab used by the customer linked to the two produce companies.

BOUCHERVILLE, QC -- The Quebec Produce Growers Association held its 64th annual banquet Nov. 20 here at the Hotel Mortange, located just across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal.

The event, which celebrates the end of the local Quebec deal, drew approximately 525 members of the produce trade.

The association honored Sherrington, QC-based Les Fermes V. Forino Inc., a family-owned-and-operated grower-packer-shipper, with its Le Moisson d'Or, or Golden Harvest, award for the firm's contributions to growing produce in the province.

The U.S. Apple Association in Vienna, VA, applauded the Obama administration for its plan to purchase $18.6 million worth of apples in the near future. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the announcement Nov. 11 at the National Association of Farm Broadcasters' annual convention in Kansas City, MO.

Numerous new projects are currently underway to help small and mid-sized farmers get their fruits and vegetables directly into the hands of foodservice operators, farmers markets and retailers.

The projects also include initiatives that help to educate consumers on the source of their food via avenues that enable them to learn about the farmers -- and in some cases, even interact with them. Most projects are using technology to streamline the process, and growers everywhere are taking advantage of the opportunities.