The Agricultural Marketing Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture on March 17 published in the Federal Register an interim final rule with request for comments for a change in the marketing order grade standards under the California Desert Grape Administrative Committee, which growers said will facilitate packing two-pound clamshells. Officially, as stated in the Federal Register, the proposed change in the existing rule "relaxes the one-quarter-pound minimum bunch size requirement for the 2009 season for grapes packed in containers holding two pounds net weight or less. Under the

Salinas, CA-based Colorful Harvest LLC won the blue ribbon for its flat of "Green Giant" brand fresh strawberries at the 2009 Florida Strawberry Festival held Feb. 26 to March 8 in Plant City, FL. Colorful Harvest's strawberries were judged to be the best from among a field of 12 Florida strawberry growers based on the criteria of taste, uniformity, size, shape and color. Doug Ranno, chief operating officer of Colorful Harvest, said that winning the blue ribbon is just more evidence that the company is a major player in the berry realm. "Exposure is directly related to your operation," Mr

Asparagus growers in the state of Washington, which produces approximately 40 percent of all domestically grown product, are set to start cutting grass in mid-April. Alan Schreiber, administrator of the Washington Asparagus Commission in Eltopia, WA, expects production to be 28 million pounds for 2009. In all, there are 160 growers involved with fresh asparagus this year. Dr. Schreiber said that 8,000 acres are in production this season, a number comparable to 2008. Production acreage is located in the Columbia Basin, the Yakima Valley and the Walla Walla area. The acreage is characterized by

David Dozier, produce manager of GFF Foods in Moore, OK, took top honors in the third-annual Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Spanish Sweet Onion Lover's Month retail display contest. With a giant poster overhead showing the committee's "Jumbo Onion" mascot lifting weights and proclaiming Spanish Sweets "battle blandness," GFF's January display showcased bags of yellow and white onions on an island in the produce department. For his efforts, Mr. Dozier took the grand cash prize of $2,000. The contest, which was the third annual staged by the onion committee's marketing department and Director

PHILADELPHIA -- A judge ruled March 13 that assets in the name of Ellis Fleisher's wife are not available for creditors of Mr. Fleisher's defunct produce houses. But the court's decision may be appealed. Mr. Fleisher owned Ellis Fleisher Produce Co. and Dichter Bros. & Glass Inc., both in Philadelphia. Both businesses ceased operations in March 2007. During a trial held Jan. 15 in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Judge Michael Baylson found that assets of Mr. Fleisher's wife, Jacqueline Fleisher, age 76, could not be claimed by Mr. Fleisher's

While ski resorts and some farmers in Colorado rejoiced at late March snow and the moisture it brought, a number of fruit growers on the state's Western Slope were hit hard by back-to-back storms. A March 27 freeze was particularly damaging to the Palisade, CO, region just east of Grand Junction, and another freeze hit just days later. Donovan Talbott, partner in C&R Farms in Palisade, said that his apricot crop was completely wiped out, along with his cherries and nectarines. "And I had quite a bit of pear damage," he said. Those losses are not without consequence, but the area's biggest crop