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. Since the California freeze in January, f.o.b. prices have climbed, which in turn caused

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. "This joint venture is great for Sage and our customers," Steve Clement, general manager of Sage Fruit, said in a statement. "We have sought a solution to supply our

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. Mr. Peterson was obviously a very valuable

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. Mr. Crocker joins the association at its busiest time of the year and will oversee a major new promotional program with Sweetbay Supermarkets and Publix

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. "I look forward to supporting the secretary as we help New Jersey's agricultural community

California Department of Food & Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura was expected to shortly announce the 13 members of the California Leafy Greens Advisory Board, which will administer the newly enacted California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement. Lynn Morgan, chief of CDFA's marketing branch, said Feb. 6 that 19 handlers representing almost 61 percent of the volume of leafy greens in the state had signed the marketing agreement. The statute authorizing the establishment of a marketing agreement does not have a specific target number to trigger enactment of such an agreement but instead allows