PHILADELPHIA - At an April 18 breakfast meeting in the grand Racquet Club of Philadelphia, the Chilean & American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia convened to discuss exporting goods from the Delaware Valley to Brazil and Chile. A number of speakers addressed the opportunities in these South American markets, although no mention was made of southbound perishable exports. Tens of millions of boxes of refrigerated Chilean and Brazilian produce arrive each winter into the seaports of the Delaware Valley. When The Produce News asked Fabio Yukio Yamada and Sergio Kalm about export

Frieda's Inc. in Los Angeles has announced its exclusive marketing agreement with BC Hot House Foods Inc. in Vancouver, BC, producers of premium products grown indoors in a hydroponic, climate-controlled environment. Born in greenhouses resembling exclusive high-tech spas for plants, Friedas newest crop of produce receives natural sunlight, ventilation, plant nutrition and carbon dioxide exactly when it wants it. Dawn Gray, vice president of sales and marketing for BC Hot House, said, "We approached Friedas, as they are regarded as the premier marketer of specialties and specialty commodity

WASHINGTON - The United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association announced that Jenney Tenney, produce merchandiser for The Kroger Co.'s Great Lakes Division, will be the featured speaker at the 2005 Women in Produce reception during the United Produce Show at FMI, April 30-May 3 at McCormick Place in Chicago. The annual reception honors all women working in the produce industry, and recognizes one outstanding female industry leader. Ms. Tenney began her 21-year career with Kroger in 1984 as a management trainee in the company's Cincinnati-Dayton division. Since then she has held a variety of

California new potato growers and handlers from the Kern County district hope that their potatoes - dug, packed and shipped without moving into cold storage - really are a hot potato in a true marketing sense. It is this rush to freshness that makes California new potatoes unique, since most potatoes marketed nationwide are done so out of storage. It had better be a hot market for California's new potatoes. Overall potato acreage in Kern County has dropped about 20 percent in a year's time, according to published data from the Kern County Agricultural Commissioner's Office. The county's

WASHINGTON Although the Senate voted April 19 not to debate the AgJobs bill, supporters say they were pleased with the vote tally and believe there is enough support to pass it in the Senate later this year. Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) pushed for the historic vote by offering the farmworker reform bill for the first time on the Senate floor as an amendment to an emergency spending measure. AgJobs seeks to stabilize the agricultural workforce by reforming the H2A guest worker program and providing a path to legal status for an estimated 500,000 workers already in the country, he said. The measure

Maggie Bezart, vice president of marketing and sales for Castroville, CA-based Ocean Mist Farms since 1999, left the company April 15 with an eye toward pursuing other employment. She will consult for Ocean Mist through June. Ms. Bezart's 25-year background in the produce industry includes working in grocery and dry products, specialty foods, and commodity vegetables. She said that she intends to remain in the fresh produce industry, and will look for the proper fit, adding that Ocean Mist is having a change in marketing direction. She said, "I'd like to expand my knowledge and energy in