NAPLES, FL -- Members of the Florida produce industry were afforded opportunities to improve their businesses with a combination of educational and networking events during the 63rd annual convention of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association held Sept. 17-19 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, here. The theme of the convention was "Market Smart." The convention featured a golf tournament and fishing excusion on Sept. 18, along with an opening reception that evening. A full slate of events followed Sept. 19, kicked off by the traditional Cracker Breakfast at which keynote speaker Joe Calloway, a

Watsonville, CA-based Driscoll Strawberry Associates Inc. hired Brian McLaughlin to its executive management team as senior vice president and chief financial officer. In this role, Mr. McLaughlin will be responsible for leadership of the finance, accounting and information services groups, enhancing financial and data systems, standards and reporting, according to J. Miles Reiter, chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. McLaughlin comes to Driscoll from Fresh Express, where he held the position of executive vice president and chief financial officer for the last 10 years. "Brian has a

SALINAS, CA -- Salinas native David Gattis, who launched Simplified Procurement here in July 2004 in conjunction with The Chuck Olsen Co. of Visalia, CA, moved on and started a Salinas division of Custom Produce Sales on Sept. 1. Custom Produce Sales, based in Parlier, CA, functions similarly to Simplified Procurement in offering procurement and consolidation services to the foodservice sector, but offers a wider variety of commodities, Mr. Gattis said. Custom Produce Sales offers overall efficiencies in consolidation, quality assurance, procurement and logistics to the foodservice sector. The

SALINAS, CA -- As the ripple effect of the nationwide fresh spinach recall continues, some longtime industry veterans are calling it the worst such episode they have ever witnessed. Joe Pezzini of Castroville, CA-based Ocean Mist Farms and chair of Salinas- based Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, said that the focus should be on the woman who died and those who got sick from tainted spinach. As of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's Sept. 20 update, 146 cases of illness due to E. coli O157:H7 infection had been reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

FRESNO, CA -- The decision of the California Tomato Commission to downsize and eliminate all activities except its research program that focuses on seed varieties and pest management will mean the loss of jobs for several members of the staff, including the organization's president, Ed Beckman. Mr. Beckman has been with the commission for 18 years. A press release from the commission on Wednesday, Sept. 20, stated that the commissions board of directors had voted the previous day to downsize the organization effective immediately, eliminating the marketing and government affairs programs

SALINAS, CA -- With claims of a smoking gun still ringing in the ears of spinach growers and shippers in and around the Salinas Valley, a closed meeting Wednesday, Sept. 21 with some 200 Salinas-area growers and agriculture leaders failed to lift the dark cloud that hangs over the industry. Later at a news conference at the National Steinbeck Center, Bryan Silbermann, president of Produce Marketing Association, and Tom Nassif, president and chief executive officer of Western Growers Association, spoke of the industry's need to come up with a specific plan to prevent future E. coli outbreaks