Plans for the second annual Fair Trade Month to be held in October are being finalized through Oakland, CA-based non-profit TransFair USA, the only independent third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States. Fair Trade certification is a business model that aligns the interests of growers, farmworkers, the industry and consumers. Fair Trade growers are guaranteed a minimum return designed to cover the cost of sustainable production and a decent standard of living for farmers and farmworkers. As it was last year, TransFair will focus on promotion of all Fair Trade certified

He graduated from college and went to work the very next day. That was how Jason Sardilli recalled his official start in his family's produce company, Sardilli Produce & Dairy Co. Inc., where he works alongside his father, Don, and his older brother, Devin. And although he hails from a produce family and "helped out" at the wholesale distributor in Hartford, CT, while he was growing up, his joining the company was never assumed or pre-ordained. Jason Sardilli was born Oct. 3, 1975 in New Britain, CT. He graduated from Kingswood Oxford School in 1994, then attended Nichols College in Dudley, MA

The board of directors of the newly formed Mission, TX-based Greenhouse Produce Co. LLC has announced the appointment of greenhouse pioneer Fried De Schouwer as president. Mr. De Schouwer, a greenhouse tomato industry leader, left Eurofresh, where he was vice president of sales and marketing, after 14 years in 2004. During his tenure, Mr. De Schouwer was the cornerstone of the company's rapid growth in sales from $3 million to more than $85 million by 2004. While on a one-year sabbatical, Mr. De Schouwer was able to objectively reflect on the greenhouse industry and its future direction. He

The United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association in Washington, DC, has announced the recipients of the 2005 Frieda Rapoport Caplan Family Business Scholarships. Presented by the United Research & Education Foundation, the scholarship awards the recipients -- Frederic (Fred) M. Recchiuti from Basciani Mushroom Farms in Avondale, PA, and Elizabeth (Beth) Gross from Capurro Marketing LLC in Moss Landing, CA -- with complimentary airfare, hotel and registration to attend United's Washington Public Policy Conference Sept. 13-16 in Washington at the Washington Court Hotel. "We are extremely pleased

WASHINGTON -- The produce industry is eagerly awaiting news on whether retailers -- a critical voice in the country-of-origin labeling debate -- will support a compromise country-of-origin labeling package that, in turn, would help sell the proposal on Capitol Hill. With a September 2006 deadline looming, a dozen top produce industry groups have crafted a compromise package that would allow the labeling program to remain voluntary unless the industry fell short of meeting certain agreed-upon goals. If fewer than a certain percentage of the top-selling fruits and vegetables failed to be labeled

The Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition is expected to attract over 17,000 attendees from 70 countries and 800 exhibitors when it convenes Nov. 4-8 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. "We may be an industry steeped in tradition, but we also have our attention focused on the future," said PMA President Bryan Silbermann. "PMA's Fresh Summit reflects the heart and soul of our membership through a diverse program that offers buyers and sellers value they can connect to and take home from Atlanta. Mr. Silbermann will deliver his "State of