WASHINGTON -- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack reaffirmed his commitment Feb. 23 to revamping the school lunch program to make it easier for schools to buy healthy fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products, one component of the Obama administration's proposal to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act this year. "Reauthorization must substantially improve the nutritional quality of the meals being served to our children and play a central role in the Let's Move! campaign's effort to solve childhood obesity in a generation," Mr. Vilsack said in prepared remarks delivered at the

Harvest is now underway for the 2010 California avocado crop, which is estimated at 470 million pounds -- up dramatically from just 170 million pounds in 2009 -- which promises to provide some excellent promotional opportunities for retailers, according to Jan DeLyser, vice president of marketing for the California Avocado Commission. Retail sales data show that even last year, the six-month period from April through September, when California avocados were at their peak, provided retailers with increased revenues compared to the prior six-month period, she said Feb. 23. And those

Shuman Produce comes to the Southeast Produce Council's 2010 Retail & Foodservice Conference & Expo March 4-6 in Tampa, FL, with a focus on food safety and new packaging. Last year Shuman Produce received a four-star rating from Primus labs. This year, "We are increasing our transparency by becoming a member of Primus Labs platinum program," according to John Shuman, president and director of sales for the Reidsville, GA-based company. "We want our customers to know that all the onions they buy from Shuman Produce -- whether they are from Peru, Mexico, California, Texas or Vidalia -- are

Rogers Graphics, an advertising and website design firm specializing in the produce and floral industries, is celebrating its 30th anniversary in business. "Through the years, we have been very fortunate to have maintained loyal business relationships with many fine companies," said Richard Rogers, co-owner of the company with his wife, Susan. "The world of advertising can be fickle, so I am pleased we have done consistently well." Mr. Rogers, a native Floridian, earned a degree in mass communications from Florida State University in 1970. He subsequently designed magazines for a Denver

DALLAS -- It is said that everything's bigger in Texas, and the saying was apropos for the National Watermelon Association's 96th annual convention, held here Feb. 17-21 at The Fairmont Dallas hotel. The convention set several records, including the total number of attendees (436), the total dollar amount ($533,261) that the association's watermelon auction raised, and the total number (61) of tractor-trailer loads of watermelons that were donated for the auction, NWA Executive Director Bob Morrissey told The Produce News. Mr. Morrissey said that sponsorships for the event totaled $94,000, the

GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ -- The refrigerated breakbulk ship Ivory Dawn used two onboard cranes Feb. 22 to discharge pallets of Chilean fruit onto the pier of the Gloucester Marine Fruit Terminal, here. Tom Mastromarco, director of fruit marketing and customer service for Gloucester Terminals LLC, was pleased by the activity. Chilean fruit volume was picking up in late February, but he said that the terminal's overall volume to date was down 20 percent from the previous year. "We are hoping to make some of that back," he said, as the late Chilean season push begins. But he does not expect this year