Bruce Peterson, who has become synonymous with Wal-Mart in the fresh produce arena, announced that he has resigned his position as senior vice president and general merchandise manager of perishables and will leave the company at the end of this month.

Declining demand because of cold weather and higher retail prices has caused most f.o.b. prices for vegetables to drop during the first week of February except for celery, which has seen the price skyrocket.

On Feb. 7, the USDA's Federal-State Market News Service reported shipping- point prices of a two-dozen count carton celery at around $32, which is $10 to $12 more than a week earlier. This happened as f.o.b. prices on cauliflower, broccoli, leaf items and many other vegetables dropped 25-40 percent.

Yakima, WA-based Sage Fruit Co. and The Dalles, OR-based Oregon Cherry Growers have announced a joint-venture packing company, Pacific Coast Cherry Packers, to pack and ship both companies' fresh cherries.

The new packingline and facility located on Valley Fruit's site in Wapato, WA, will feature a jointly owned Van Doren cherry line and will be fully operational and equipped for fumigation for the upcoming 2007 cherry crop.

That big collective groan you heard was from produce industry trade journalists across the country reacting to the news that Bruce Peterson is leaving Wal-Mart.

There will be much written about Mr. Peterson's impact on Wal-Mart and the produce industry. He held a lofty position for more than 15 years and helped guide the perishable component of Wal-Mart's meteoric rise during his tenure there. He came aboard when there were six Wal-Mart supercenters selling fresh produce. He is leaving at the end of this month with 2,258 supercenters under his watch.

Shawn Crocker joined the Florida Strawberry Growers Association Feb. 5 as its new executive director. He steps into the position previously held by Chip Hinton.

Before joining the association, Mr. Crocker was director of procurement and field operations in the orange juice division of Cargill AG in Frostproof, FL. Cargill is an international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services that operates in 63 countries.

TRENTON, NJ -- Alfred W. Murray, a 23-year veteran of the New Jersey Department of Agriculture and the director of the department's Division of Marketing & Development for the past six years, has been named assistant secretary of agriculture for New Jersey.

Mr. Murray, a 45-year-old resident of Audubon, NJ, and a former mayor of that borough, will continue serving as marketing director while adding the duties of assistant secretary, according to New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Charles M. Kuperus.