PHILADELPHIA -- Delaware River Valley ports collectively comprise the largest fruit port in the United States and one of the larger in the world. Thus, the national firestorm over the United Arab Emirates involvement in U.S. port security has at least indirectly touched the industry here, as the ports of Philadelphia, Camden, NJ, and Wilmington, DE, are on the front lines of homeland security issues. Robert Blackburn, deputy executive director of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, here, told The Produce News Feb. 28 that the port authority joined Gov. Edward Rendell and Pennsylvania's

The second-largest agricultural market in Latin America took a significant step toward becoming a free trade partner with the United States Feb. 27 with the conclusion of free trade agreement negotiations between the United States and Colombia, although Congress must still approve the deal. In a press release, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns stated, "Colombia is our second-largest agricultural market in Latin America, currently accounting for $677 million in sales of wheat, coarse grains, cotton and soybeans, among many others. As many products from Colombia already enter the U.S

Though there have been hundreds of violations of the new wood packaging regulations regarding imported packaging materials, few have been specific to fruits and vegetables, according to Cathy Sauceda, director of the Special Enforcement Office of Field Operations/Trade Programs for U.S. Customs & Border Protection. "In anticipation of that question, I asked [the individual port directors] and was surprised to find that fresh produce violations do not represent a disproportionate amount," she told The Produce News Feb. 22. A week earlier, Ms. Sauceda said that during the first two weeks of

Sweetbay and Kash n' Karry announced the promotion of Shelley G. Broader to chief executive officer at the Tampa- based supermarket chains. Ms. Broader, formerly president and chief operating officer at the chains, has led the successful creation of Sweetbay. "This promotion recognizes Shelley's vision for Sweetbay, execution of the concept and early success," said Ron Hodge, chief executive officer of Hannaford Bros. Co., to whom Ms. Broader reports. "The creation of Sweetbay has demonstrated her ability to articulate a Sweetbay experience that is uniquely Florida, while leveraging the best

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering opening the U.S. market to mangos from India after 17 years. But the world's largest producer of mangos will still need to overcome several obstacles to seal the deal. U.S. agriculture officials have been reluctant to open the U.S. market to mangos from India because it was never assured that shipments would be pest-free. While India is the world's largest producer of mangos, it exports less than 1 percent of its crop. Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United States do not accept India's mangos. With President Bush arriving in

WASHINGTON -- Past marches on Washington evoke visions of thousands of people carrying signs and shouting slogans, but the produce sector is hoping to carry a strong message to lawmakers when it rallies March 15 on Capitol Hill to lobby on the issue of immigration reform. "I work on immigration reform every day, and we've had a good stream of people coming in for the last few months," said Robert Guenther, vice president of public policy for the United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association. "But then produce groups thought, 'why don't we focus the entire ag community who are affected by