WASHINGTON -- While food-safety recalls and third-party audits may be top issues at this year's United Fresh 2009 convention in Las Vegas, the networking opportunities still offer value for attendees during tough economic times, according to organizers. Given the prevalence of food-safety issues, United Fresh returns to Las Vegas April 21-24 with a new push to tackle the issue of harmonizing third-party audits, Patrick Delaney, communications manager for United Fresh, told The Produce News. The two-day Global Conference on Produce Food Safety Standards is a chance for industry, federal

WASHINGTON -- U.S. exporters are hoping for a quick resolution to a trucking dispute with Mexico that has resulted in retaliatory tariffs affecting $900 million in U.S. agricultural products, but they don't expect the issue to be resolved during President Obama's trip to Mexico the week of April 13. Congress ditched the two-year-old pilot program in a 2009 appropriations bill last month that would have continued to allow some Mexican truckers to operate deeper in the United States. But Mexican officials said that this latest move violates bilateral trade agreements and that their trucks have a

Arroyo Grande, CA-based Produce Careers Inc. has partnered with on-line recruitment service AgCareers.com in a move that will extend the reach of AgCareers.com's Compensation Benchmark Review, an extensive agribusiness salary survey. Produce Careers is an executive search firm for the produce, food and wine industries. The recruitment company targets "middle to senior management," said David Stornetta, a principal of the company. Eric Spell, president of AgCareers.com, said that his company serves employers and employees in North America. "Last year we had 30,000 jobs posted on our site," Mr

While onions have been grown for generations in biblical proportions by the Griggs of Quincy, WA, it's only recently that family roots have gone in a completely different -- but still faith-based -- direction. Famous red and yellow onions from the Columbia Basin, marketed by Sweet Clover Produce, are now sharing the spotlight with Holly Starr Grigg, daughter of Lorin Jr. and Gail Grigg. Eighteen-year-old Holly, who is known as Holly Starr, released "Embraced," a Christian music CD, in August 2008, and just a few months later opened for country megastar LeAnn Rimes at a January concert in

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its April orange crop forecast for the 2008-09 season, slightly reducing the total orange estimate by 400,000 boxes, to 157.6 million boxes. "This is a manageable crop, and that's important because we need to start moving out excess juice inventories," Michael W. Sparks, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Florida Citrus Mutual, said in an April 9 press release. "The USDA has taken off several million boxes since its initial estimate in October, so we are anticipating this should have a positive effect on grower returns." The

John Gary Stanger, a prominent Idaho potato shipper and marketer as well as a founding partner in Wada Farms Marketing Group in Idaho Falls, ID, died April 9 at his home in Idaho Falls from bone marrow cancer. He was 70. Born March 3, 1939, in Idaho Falls, Mr. Stanger attended the University of Idaho and graduated from Brigham Young University in 1961 with a degree in business. After graduating, Mr. Stanger joined his father in the family potato business, Idaho Bonded Produce, which by the mid-1970s had become one of the larger potato-shipping warehouses in Idaho. In 1989, Mr. Stanger sold