Midwestern organic consumers say that they buy organic produce because they think it tastes fresher and because they want to avoid pesticides. "I buy [organics] because I think they are healthier - there's no pesticides. It seems that the organic product usually tastes better, too," said Susan Clear, a consumer in Cincinnati. Ms. Clear and other Ohio consumers noticed the change in organic availability in the market area as well. Another consumer, Jan Weaver, said, "There is a broader range of organic produce available now than even just three years ago. A good selection used to be available

WASHINGTON -- Viewed as a valuable program by produce businesses, PACA bars unfair and fraudulent practices in fruit and vegetable trade and provides a means of enforcing contracts. Under PACA, buyers and sellers of commercial quantities of fruit and vegetables must be licensed by USDA, and those that violate these contracts may be required to pay damages. With the program facing a budget shortfall in 2012, USDA should raise the PACA licensing fees in 2010, USDA's Fruit & Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee concluded at its two-day meeting, here. The group proposed raising licensing fees to

Emily Donohue grew up in Salinas, CA, so agriculture and produce have always been strong influences on her life. The 25-year-old marketing manager at European Vegetable Specialties Farms has worked for three years at the Salinas-based grower where her dad, Dennis Donohue, is president of the company. "My whole family is from Salinas," she said of her background. "My mom's side of the family is in farming; my dad's side is in the business end." Ms. Donohue started with EVS in sales. "Now I'm sales and marketing," she said. In sales, she focuses on domestic customers of the company's radicchio

WASHINGTON -- California's deep freeze that damaged citrus crops and the E. coli outbreak that cost the spinach industry $100 million show how quickly conditions can change in agriculture, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns said at a Jan. 23 meeting with fruit and vegetable industry representatives. "We have staff working to assess the damage" to California's citrus industry to lay the groundwork for emergency assistance, but it appears that perhaps as high as 90 percent of affected growers were covered by crop insurance, Secretary Johanns said at a meeting of the U.S. Department of

Less than a week following the week-long freeze that devastated the California citrus crop, California Citrus Mutual released an initial assessment of the extent of the damage. According to the Jan. 23 release, a total of around 86.6 million cartons of citrus in eight counties were believed lost to the freeze. The gross loss is estimated to exceed $800 million. CCM made the collective damage assessment following a conference call with producers and packers representing production areas in San Diego, Riverside, Imperial, Ventura, Kern, Tulare, Fresno and Madera counties, according to the

WASHINGTON -- Facing a crisis in consumer confidence, the United Fresh Produce Association's board of directors voted to endorse federal mandatory food-safety standards that would cover U.S. and imported fresh fruits and vegetables from the farm through the distribution chain to the consumer. United's top leaders found that there was no sustainable way to go forward without strong federal regulation, said Tom Stenzel, president of United Fresh, who presented the board's four guiding principles during the Jan. 23 meeting of the Fruit & Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee held here. First, the