Citrus greening disease has been discovered in Florida's Hardee County, signifying a further spread of a disease that threatens one of the state's top agricultural crops. "The greening was found outside of Zolfo Springs in Hardee County," said Andrew Meadows, director of communications for Florida Citrus Mutual, a member organization representing citrus growers in the state. "Hardee County is Florida's sixth-largest citrus-producing county in terms of acreage. It is located just south of Polk County, the state's largest citrus-producing county." First discovered in Florida in Miami-Dade County

Lucky Stores was a well-known and respected name in the California supermarket industry for many generations until Albertsons bought the chain and retired the name in 1999. Many thought that Albertsons should have kept the Lucky name, which had a better reputation than the Albertsons moniker, especially in Northern California. Albertsons has since sold most of its stores to Supervalu, and the 130-store Northern California division was recently purchased by Save Mart Supermarkets, a privately owned central California chain. In late July, Save Mart began converting many of the Albertsons

The new Washington, DC, office of Irvine, CA-based Western Growers Association will be headed by Cathleen Enright, a trade negotiator who has represented American agriculture industry interests in her capacity as deputy assistant U.S. Trade Representative as well as previous positions in the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. State Department. "We conducted a wide and thorough search for the right person to lead our Washington, DC, office," Western Growers Association President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Nassif said in a July 30 press release. With so many talented professionals

ANAHEIM, CA -- More than 1,000 produce, floral and foodservice industry representatives attended the Fresh Produce & Floral Council Expo July 24 at the Disneyland Hotel, here. The oldest event of its kind in the country, the expo is designed to give front-line personnel an inside glimpse at the produce and flowers they sell to consumers each day. Dozens of supermarket and foodservice companies were represented by their employees at the one-day event that featured more than 100 exhibitors showing their products and discussing industry trends with the appreciative in-store personnel. There were

WASHINGTON -- First, Congress found $1.6 billion for specialty crop programs. Now, the same farm bill negotiators have struck a compromise on mandatory country-of-origin labeling that has earned the endorsement of the Produce Marketing Association and the United Fresh Produce Association. The House of Representatives Agriculture Committee's version of the 2007 farm bill includes new language that would lift some of the more controversial and costly recordkeeping and liability provisions that have dogged the COOL program. Debate on the bill was expected to begin July 26 on the House floor. In

Lara Grossman, director of business and marketing development for Tanimura & Antle, said that the company's Father's Day retail promotion with Iceberg lettuce in a baseball themed cello wrap was a big hit. T&A Chief Executive Officer Rick Antle had wanted a holiday associated with the company, and he chose to "own" Father's Day. So this was an "evergreen" promotion, not a one-time promotion just for this Father's Day holiday. T&A captures a baseball theme with an image of red baseball-like stitches on the wrappers of its individually wrapped Iceberg lettuce. Additionally, the wrapper includes