When the new president and new Congress take their oaths of office this month, they will be confronted by an economic crisis unrivaled since the Great Depression as well as high-priority issues including war, health-care reform and global warming. Given the gravity of these enormous issues that cut through all sectors, what can we expect on produce industry issues such as food safety, nutrition and immigration? It takes any president some time to assemble a complement of political appointees. The Senate hopes to confirm most of Barack Obama's Cabinet by the time of his swearing-in ceremony

Donald G. Scott, founder of Scotts Food Stores in Fort Wayne, IN, died Dec. 27 at the age of 91 at his home in Jacksonville, FL. Mr. Scott started his grocery career with Marsh Supermarkets after serving in World War II in the U.S. Army Air Corps. In 1954, he started his own grocery business with the opening of Scotts Foodlane in Ft. Wayne. Over the following few years, Mr. Scott opened other neighborhood markets in Ft. Wayne. In 1967, the opportunity to purchase the Eavey's market on Decatur Rd. in Ft. Wayne presented itself and Mr. Scott jumped on it. The Decatur Road location when built was

Monterey, CA-based Salyer American Fresh Foods, a fully integrated grower and shipper of top-grade vegetables, has hired Marci Bracco as its new director of marketing. Ms. Bracco has more than 15 years of marketing, brand development, strategic planning and public relations experience, and most recently she was director of marketing at Scheid Vineyards in Salinas, CA. Additionally, she has worked in marketing and public relations for Monterra Ranch LLC in Monterey; Mills Family Farms in Salinas, CA; as well as for several Los Angeles-based marketing and public relations firms. "We are excited

The California Department of Food & Agriculture has turned audit information regarding California Avocado Commission staff expenditures over to the state's Department of Justice, calling more than $1.5 million in expenditures over a three-year period "excessive," noting that some "may be deemed personal." The audit, which covered the period from July 2005 through June 2008, which was shortly after longtime CAC President Mark Affleck abruptly resigned, detailed the expenditures of "Employee A" and 17 other employees who were identified by letters of the alphabet that did not necessarily

Richard Grenard, whose produce career included more than 30 years at the retail chain Waldbaum Inc., died Tuesday, Jan. 13. He was 62 years old and a resident of Deer Park, NY. Mr. Grenard spent more than 30 years, from around 1968-69 to the early 1990s, at Waldbaum, according to Tommy Krulder, who worked with Mr. Grenard at that supermarket chain. "He was a good friend, a loyal worker and a great family man," Mr. Krulder, now director of store services at Kurt Weiss Greenhouses on Long Island, NY, told The Produce News Friday, Jan. 16. Mr. Grenard also worked at Key Food Stores Cooperative in

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released its January orange crop forecast for the 2008-09 season, reducing its earlier estimate by 3 million boxes, to 162 million boxes. "This is a manageable crop, and hopefully the reduced production will spur higher prices to growers because right now they are facing very high input costs associated with disease pressure and fertilizer prices," Michael W. Sparks, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Florida Citrus Mutual, said in a press release. "We are in the middle of a very challenging season." The USDA makes its initial