Valentino Filice, a Gilroy, CA-native and farmer whose cooking skills helped established the Gilroy Garlic Festival as the pre-eminent garlic festival in the world, died Sunday, Nov. 4 after succumbing to pancreatic cancer. He was 80. Mr. Filice had been recruited in 1978 by festival co-founders Don Christopher of Gilroy-based Christopher Ranch and the late Rudy Melone to organize the festival's primary food concession. Mr. Filice directed that concession -- called Gourmet Alley -- and had a hand in festival operations until his death. Mr. Christopher said that when he relocated in 1957 to the

Water Court Judge Roger Klein issued a decision Oct. 19 accepting a water augmentation plan submitted by the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District. More than a year ago, 215 of 400 wells located in the South Platte Basin from Commerce City to Fort Morgan were prohibited from pumping water to irrigate crops. The Central Colorado Water Conservancy District provided a plan which showed that these producers would return water to the river. Seventeen months ago, wells were ordered to shut down because 30 objectors stated that water augmentation plans were not in effect to show that water used

Hardly a day passes without a major network or newspaper reporting on the severe drought occurring in the southeastern United States. The Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services is concerned that viewers and readers -- those in the produce industry included -- might be getting the impression that Florida will not have crops to feed the nation. "The media should not be sending out messages that cause concern until they have their facts straight," said Liz Compton, spokesperson for the department. "Citrus is doing very well, even in north Florida where it has been very dry." The U

WASHINGTON -- The Senate continued work on the 2007 farm bill with hopes for a fix to agricultural worker shortages dashed and the threat of a veto looming. "I had every intention of offering legislation to create a stable, reliable agricultural worker program -- known as AgJOBS -- as an amendment on the farm bill," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said in a Nov. 5 statement. "A broad bipartisan coalition of members believes AgJOBS is a necessary solution to the crisis being faced by the agricultural industry. But in this session, unfortunately, you need more than broad support -- you need the

The Fresh Produce & Floral Council has welcomed back a former staffer to lead the organization upon the retirement of its long-time president at the end of the year. Carissa Mace will return as president of the Southern California-based council starting Dec. 10. She will replace Linda Stine, who announced her retirement earlier this year after 13 years at the helm. A search committee, headed by FPFC Chairman of the Board Raul Gallegos of Bristol Farms Supermarkets, conducted a six-month nationwide search before settling on this industry veteran. "The FPFC search committee is proud to bring

Darci Eckermann, formerly vice president of marketing and business development for The Sholl Group in Minneapolis, has been promoted to senior vice president. She will lead the company's aggressive growth plans by overseeing sales, marketing, safety and quality systems and partner relations, for both the licensed and value-added business segments. Additionally, Jason Landry has been promoted to director of sales at The Sholl Group, where he will be responsible for developing and implementing the sales and distribution expansion programs designed to support the expanding value-added business