Longtime California strawberry industry member and current retiree Herbert Baum has spent the last six years penning an analysis of that industry with regard to its marketing order - and he does not give it good marks. "Quest for the Perfect Strawberry" is in the process of being published as Mr. Baum's doctoral dissertation as well as what he calls a book that serves as "a descriptive model for marketing order evaluation." He has been working on the book "all day and into the night" for six years, but it is really 50 years in the making. Mr. Baum was born in Indiana in a produce industry

A substantial number of Salinas Valley lettuce shippers were expected to attend an informational meeting Thursday, Jan. 5 concerning the possibility of joining the Central California Lettuce Producers Cooperative. The co-op has a long and storied history, which includes court challenges and victories, periods of both high and low membership, and efforts to institute floor pricing. For the past decade, membership in the producers co-op has waned. The co-op is a legal entity by virtue of the Capper- Volstead Act, which was passed in 1922 to exempt agricultural producers from federal antitrust

Albertsons put itself on the block. Marsh Supermarkets has announced it is looking for a buyer after posting large third-quarter losses. The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. has once again shrunk, going from over 1,000 stores to 350. Many Food Lion and Winn Dixie stores have been offered for sale and have not reopened as supermarkets. Ahold has announced losses. The produce industry has long complained that supermarket prices are way too high and don't reflect farmgate prices. Yet even with significant markup on produce and other perishables, the majority of supermarkets chains don't seem to

Bon Campo announced the launch of Trattoria, a new line of specialties, featuring renowned chef Mathieu Frey who has created easy-to-follow recipes for normally hard-to-sell items like baby chokes, fennel, baby bok choy, baby eggplant and leeks. In the Bon Campo tradition, the new Trattoria line will create sales by educating the American consumer with "real recipes for real people." Bon Campo's philosophy has always been to create a line that is narrow and deep with generally fewer products than its competitors. "We have hired a celebrated European chef who has created simple yet delicious

Following several years of potato and onion inspection and buying duties for a major retail operation in Los Angeles, Steve Long has joined Progressive Marketing Group as its sales manager at Jones Produce in Quincy, WA. Progressive President Jim Leimkuhler told The Produce News Jan. 4 that Mr. Long's first day in the Quincy office was Jan. 3, and the company head said, "We think by adding Steve and bringing his retail experience, it's a good move for us and the industry." Mr. Long had left his six-year position with Kroger-Wesco Foods in November and said Jan. 4 that he and his family had

WASHINGTON -- As the federal government considers taking the program nationwide, congressional staffers packed into a U.S. Capitol room Dec. 6 to hear the experiences of the only two pilot programs that have allowed low-income women and children to use vouchers to purchase fresh produce in neighborhood stores. After 30 years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is expected this month to propose that participants of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants & Children will be able to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at local stores with government-issued vouchers. This