Chicago's produce business "could be better for all of us, based on the economy and some on trends in Chicago," in the view of David Watson, president and chief operating officer of Chicago's Strube Celery & Vegetable Co. The trends in Chicago started "with the consolidation at the Supervalu and Albertson's level. That created opportunities for independents to get bigger," Mr. Watson said. With this, independents took over what had previously been Cub stores. Now, "the independents are starting to buy more value and more direct." Mr. Watson said that when Certified Grocers went out of business

High fuel prices and a severe transportation shortage caused some coast-to- coast truck rates to top $10,000 a year ago. That has not been the case this year; in fact, rates haven't come close. "Last year there were some five-digit rates, but the highest I've seen from California to Boston has only been $6,500 to $7,000," said Edin Saric, transportation manager for Mo-Tex transportation in St. Louis. "Rates are not as high as last year because business is down. We have hit a couple of peaks where truckers have asked for a ridiculous rate, but most of the time it has been fairly easy to secure

For the past nine years, Wilcox Marketing Group in Rexburg, ID, the marketing arm of Floyd Wilcox & Sons Inc., has been part of the Birds Eye family, shipping potatoes, onions and sweet potatoes under the "Birds Eye Fresh" label. Now the company has stepped away from Birds Eye and has introduced a new trade brand, "Mother Earth Fresh," according to Jim Richter, senior vice president of retail relations. Along with that, "we have repositioned our company under the name of Wilcox Fresh instead of Wilcox Marketing Group" and introduced a new company logo, Mr. Richter told The Produce News. "It is

Mitsuko Murakami, the wife of Murakami Produce Co. founder Shigeo (Sig) Murakami, died Aug. 11 at Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, ID. She was 88. Ms. Murakami, known to her friends as Mitzi, worked with her husband to build one of the more respected onion-producing companies in Idaho- Eastern Oregon's Treasure Valley. Ms. Murakami was born in Bellevue, WA, and married her husband in 1940. The Murakamis, who moved to Los Angeles following their marriage, chose to relocate to Ontario, OR, after the outbreak of World War II rather than be placed in an internment camp. They worked as

Domestic importers of Peruvian sweet onions are anticipating an uptick in volume during the 2009 season. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service indicated Aug. 4 that the first arrivals of Peruvian onions were expected to occur by mid-August, with initial f.o.b.s to be announced shortly thereafter. Michael Hively, chief financial officer and general manager of Bland Farms, said that the company is excited about product arrival, terming this season's crop of Peruvians as one of exceptional quality. Bland Farms is projecting strong onion volume increases compared to

Todd Hultquist, director of communications and membership for the U.S. Apple Association in Vienna, VA, told The Produce News Aug. 12 that the organization received news that morning that this season's U.S. apple crop was predicted to be 240 million bushels. "It is one of the largest ever," said Mr. Hultquist. "And all growing regions are reporting that the quality and apple sizes are on target. As of today, production across the country is normal, and everyone is looking forward to a good year." Mr. Hultquist said that last year's apple crop totaled 230 million bushels, which was considerably