About six years ago, Ralph Laderoot III, a salesman and buyer for Ben B. Schwartz & Sons Inc. in Detroit, returned to where he had grown up after living in Arizona for several years. "As I was graduating from high school, my dad was moving to Arizona," said Mr. Laderoot. "I was looking for a change of scenery after spending my life in Michigan, so I moved with him. I tried my hand at several careers for a few years. I was an electrician, and for a while my brother and I had a landscaping company." As a teenager, Mr. Laderoot had worked in produce departments of grocery stores in Michigan

The state of Colorado has earned some bragging rights when one discusses current global markets for fresh potatoes and those markets in which potato exports continue to grow. Tim Larsen, senior international marketing specialist with the Colorado Department of Agriculture, said that the Centennial State enjoys national ranking with a variety of its produce. Fall potatoes rank fifth, and summer potatoes rank seventh, he said. The value of Colorado's vegetable industry from 2000 to 2008 has grown by 78 percent. According to Mr. Larsen, cash receipts for the state's crops increased to $277

Food safety is such a top-of-mind issue for San Antonio, TX-based Murphy Tomatoes that it provided the impetus for the construction of a brand new 32,400-square-foot facility off the decades-old market. Chief Operating Officer Bill Kellner said that the new facility gives the tomato repacker and distributor plenty of space to work the fruit, place it in storage and ripen it when necessary. "We have two ripening rooms where I can set the temperature for 34 degrees to whatever we need," he said. Mr. Kellner said that providing a safe product and taking all the necessary precautions are extremely

A new portable pressure cooling system designed to expand forced-air cooling capabilities has moved past the development stage and is now available for tunnel cooling fruits and vegetables. Developed by Salinas, CA-based Veg-Tech LLC, the portable cooling system -- called Cool. Anywhere. -- features a patented air-handling technology that provides exceptional cooling uniformity across all pallets. "With all growers and shippers examining costs and limited resources, the portable cooling system allows producers to move with seasons and markets, expand their current cooling capabilities during

NEWARK, DE -- Produce Marketing Association staff are hosting local tours of food safety regulators on each U.S. coast just two weeks before the global produce industry will focus on food safety at PMA's 2009 Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition. Senior Food & Drug Administration officials, including Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, visited small farms in PMA's home state of Delaware Sept. 18 as part of a fact-finding tour to learn more about produce safety, such as traceability. That tour, planned by PMA, included a town hall meeting with area growers. Later the week of Sept. 21

Ocean Mist Farms will unveil a comprehensive redesign of its packaging for the more than 25 fresh vegetable commodities the company grows and ships at this year's PMA Fresh Summit. The features of the new packaging design, which will be on display in the company's booth (No. 4138), are based on consumer research and input from retail partners, Kori Tuggle, marketing manager for Ocean Mist, said in a Sept. 14 press release. "We focused on three areas of improvement with the new packaging design: product visibility, nutrition information and consistent graphic design to enhance the product