Attendees at the National Watermelon Association's 94th annual convention can look forward to an action-packed schedule that will be chock full of high- profile speakers and will focus heavily on food safety and other important issues that affect the industry, as well as the many other initiatives that the organization has worked on for its members over the past year. The convention will take place in Orange Beach, AL, at the Perdido Beach Resort on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Feb. 20-24. "It's going to be a great conference," Bob Morrissey, the NWA's executive director, told The Produce

Doug Stoiber has been named vice president of produce transportation operations for L&M Transportation Services Inc., headquartered in Raleigh, NC. Mike Devine, president of LMTS, announced the appointment Feb. 5. LMTS is a division of L&M Cos. Mr. Stoiber, a 25-year veteran of the produce industry, joined LMTS in November 2004 as director of business development. LMTS is a third-party logistics company that manages refrigerated and dry freight logistics across the United States. "My goals for this year are to grow our business by marketing our services aggressively in the sector of the

Easter falls on March 23 this year, the earliest date for the holiday since 1913. But despite its earliness, California asparagus growers are confident of having good supplies of asparagus available for the Easter pull, according to Cherie Watte Angulo, executive director of the California Asparagus Commission in Stockton, CA. "The rain events of the past couple of weeks have done nothing negative to our commodity," Ms. Angulo told The Produce News Feb. 4. In the major growing districts in California, the asparagus sprouts had yet to emerge from the soil. "Everything is still underground," she

The nation's largest retailer has announced that its suppliers of produce, other perishables and private-label products must be certified against the international Global Food Safety Initiative standards by July 2009. In a press release, Wal-Mart declared that it would require suppliers to complete "initial certification between July and December of 2008, with full certification required by July 2009." The press release added that "audits will be completed by approved third-party auditing companies." The Global Food Safety Initiative, which was launched in May 2000, includes seven

Since its inception five years ago, Monterey, CA-based U.S. Fruit & Veg has been marketing broccoli. At first the company procured broccoli, but then turned to growing its own. The company's "Eat Me" logo with a broccoli head forming the letter "T" in the word "Eat" appears on T-shirts and baseball caps and has been popular, said Ash Shoukry, president of U.S. Fruit & Veg. Now the logo's visibility is ratcheting up with its appearance on the gym trunks of fighters in Ultimate Fighting Championships and World Extreme Cage Fighting. Mr. Shoukry took to being a sponsor of mixed martial artists

The California Centers for International Trade Development, in cooperation with the California Department of Food & Agriculture, is hosting a California Agricultural Export Training Certificate Program for farmers, ranchers and food processors. The California Agricultural Export Training Certificate Program is designed to meet the education needs of agricultural companies seeking to export their products worldwide. There will be a series of six classes over three months that will focus on several aspects of exporting food and agricultural products. Class topics include how to get paid