A 46.6 percent tariff imposed by the Mexican government on Red Delicious and Golden Delicious apples from Washington will be lifted in late February, ending nearly 18 months of penalization against Northwest exporters for selling at prices below market. According to Jim Archer, manager of Northwest Fruit Exporters in Yakima, WA, negotiators made public the announcement on Monday, Jan. 3 that the tariff, imposed in August 2002, was to be lifted. The Mexican government published the agreement Dec. 29, and Mr. Archer said initially that his group anticipated full duty-free access would be

A series of storms during the last week of December and the first week of January dumped abnormally high amounts of rainfall across Southern California and into Arizona, disrupting planting and harvesting operations in several strawberry- and vegetable-growing districts. The widespread storm systems drenched most of California and brought much-needed snow-pack to the Sierra Mountains, which will help fill reservoirs used for irrigation. But in Southern California, where the winter-spring strawberry season was just getting underway in Oxnard and Orange County, the rain caused harvest delays and

The Northern Plains Potato Growers Association, under the marketing direction of Ted Kreis, who started in August 2004 as marketing director, is looking to form a stronger brand identity. To attract consumers, the association has created two new store-level promotions to catch the consumer?s eye before the potato-buying decision has been made. The first of these two promotions is a shopping cart ad placed on the cart displaying the healthy potato message and specific Red River Valley branding. ?This idea will be tested in a local chain here to see the response,? said association President

?We are turning the page in preparation for the future," stated David Mixon, senior vice president of Seald Sweet International LLC. "The addition of the word "International? to our name is to project to the trade and to the public what is now factual: we are a fully integrated and global organization." Seald Sweet?s name change was announced in late December. Although the company was recognized as an international rather than a regional company in past years, recent major changes within the firm have given it a steadfast foothold in its global strategies. In early December, the firm announced

The Florida Tomato Committee once again denied a petition that would have allowed interstate shipments of heirloom tomatoes that failed to meet the minimum quality standards established for Florida tomatoes. Santa Sweet Inc., headquartered in Philadelphia and a subsidiary of the well known Philadelphia wholesaler and tomato distributor Procacci Bros. Sales Corp., had filed a petition for a "certificate of privilege" from the FTC on Nov. 10. Santa Sweet developed and is the sole grower and shipper of its proprietary "UglyRipe tomatoes. In the petition, it asked the committee to basically

SALINAS, CA " To better facilitate fulfilling customers? needs, Growers Express has reorganized its sales organization into two departments: Sales & Marketing and Product Management. Reporting to Vice President of Sales & Marketing Woody Johnson will be Gary Andreasian, Merritt Bruce and Michele McNeece in the newly created positions of account managers, where they will work with current customers and identify and target potential customers. Mr. Bruce and Ms. McNeece will concentrate on domestic accounts, while Mr. Andreasian will focus on Asia-international customers. Debbie Schweiger will