The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a study Nov. 24 indicating the level of success each state is attaining in reaching families eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly the Food Stamp Program. The study stated that in years 2005-07, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Oregon, Tennessee and West Virginia had significantly higher participation rates for all eligible people than two-thirds of the states in the nation. Information that is more recent is provided by the Food Research & Action Center, a leading national non-profit organization working to

Though one might have suspected that the hot lettuce market would cool down after the Thanksgiving weekend, that was not the case as the f.o.b. market on both Iceberg and Romaine lettuce remained above $30 Tuesday, Dec. 1. There appeared to be no letup on the immediate horizon as demand still exceeded supply. "I'm not the right person to call to find out how the lettuce market is," quipped Denny Donovan of Fresh Kist Produce LLC in Salinas, CA, though the information he provided turned out to be especially telling. "We're out of the deal for the next two weeks. But at least this week there is

Chilean blueberry volume "is less than forecast, but there will still be plenty of fruit around the marketplace for Christmas," according to Joe Barsi, vice president of business development for California Giant in Watsonville, CA. Mr. Barsi told The Produce News Dec. 2 that Chilean blueberry fields "had some colder weather this year, so the harvest is two to three weeks behind schedule. Everyone is getting fruit now," but Chilean year-to-date blueberry volume was 51 percent below volume in the fall of 2008. "The crop is delayed. People thought we would have promotional volume in weeks 51 and

TAMPA, FL -- After a decade of unrelenting bad news, the Florida citrus industry finally has reason to celebrate this holiday season. Since 2006, Florida has been unable to ship to other citrus-producing states and U.S. territories due to a virulent, once-fearsome canker that infected groves and resulted in slowly withering trees and blemished fruit. However, research proved this year that the canker cannot be spread by fruit; in October the U.S. Department of Agriculture ruled that shipments of Florida citrus could resume to California, Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, Hawaii, American Samoa

Blue Book Services Inc. has entered into a collaboration agreement with Fresno, CA-based Lotpath, a firm that enables food suppliers to share information about their products and production practices with consumers, retailers, trading partners and regulatory agencies, making Lotpath a registered developer with Blue Book Services. Under terms of the program, Lotpath users can view select Blue Book listing information when searching for information on the Lotpath web site. In specific, visitors to the Lotpath web site can perform keyword searches, queries by location, and browse for suppliers

John G. (Sonny) Heeren, president of Heeren Bros. Produce in Grand Rapids, MI, died Nov. 23 in hospice care at Spectrum Health-Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids. Mr. Heeren, who was 80, succumbed about a month after being diagnosed with cancer, according to his son James (Jim) Heeren. Born in Grand Rapids on July 13, 1929, Mr. Heeren grew up and attended school in Grand Rapids, graduating from high school in 1948. He attended Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI, where he studied history and education, with the goal of becoming a teacher. After graduating in 1952, he went into the U