Western Growers Association, based in Irvine, CA, will open a Washington, DC, office April 30 that will be staffed by Executive Vice President Matt McInerney on a temporary basis while a full-time federal government affairs staff is being hired. "I do not know if there has been a time in history when there have been so many important [federal] issues facing the fresh produce industry," said Tom Nassif, president of the association. "The 2007 farm bill, immigration reform and food safety, to name just three, are very important issues, and they are all on the table right now." In fact, Mr

Barry Hirsch, one of the owners of Kleiman & Hochberg Inc., a wholesale produce distributor at the Hunts Point Terminal Market in the Bronx, NY, died Tuesday evening, April 10, after suffering a massive heart attack. Mr. Hirsch, 50, had been at a local gym and was returning to his home in Old Tappan, NJ, when he felt the onset of chest pains, according to family members. He was taken to nearby Englewood (NJ) Hospital, where he died. The youngest of three children, Barry Jay Hirsch was born April 28, 1956, in the Bronx, NY, to Helen and Perry Hirsch. He was raised and educated in Yonkers, NY

On April 11, representatives from leading produce trade associations and the California Department of Food & Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura announced plans to create a Center for Produce Safety at the University of California-Davis. The center will be housed at UC Davis' Western Institute for Food Safety & Security, which has a mission is to conduct research that enhances the safety and security of the nation's food supply. The Produce Marketing Association is contributing $2 million to establish the center. Taylor Farms in Salinas, CA, has also pledged to contribute $2 million in cash as

An Easter weekend freeze devastated fruit crops from Georgia to West Virginia. There may be damage farther north, but time will probably show that growers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York state didn't sustain major crop damage. Peach grower Cline Cash of Cash Farms Inc. in Cowpens, SC, told The Produce News April 11 that for several hours on the morning of April 7, the temperature was 24 degrees at his 100-acre peach farm. "It was pretty much a 100 percent loss. We'll wait until next year and hope for better weather." Mr. Cash said that his peach trees were past petal fall, so they

Researchers from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, the University of Minnesota and the University of Oslo in Norway used the ferric reducing ability of plasma assay method to measure the antioxidant levels in 1,113 different food and beverage items. Artichokes were found to be the leading vegetables in terms of providing anti-oxidants per servings and were No. 4 overall. The results were recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Armed with the new research, Castroville, CA-based Ocean Mist Farms, which is the nation's largest producer and shipper of

SPRING HOUSE, PA -- AgroFresh Inc. has unveiled its new research laboratory in Davis, CA, holding an open house at its new facility located minutes from the University of California campus there. According to AgroFresh, the new laboratory was established to support core research and development needs of the company, which specializes in quality management systems through its expertise and understanding of ethylene management for the horticultural and agronomic crop industries. AgroFresh's new facility is located within driving distance of the major fruit, vegetable, nut and ornamental growing