Maggie Bezart, vice president of marketing and sales for Castroville, CA-based Ocean Mist Farms since 1999, left the company April 15 with an eye toward pursuing other employment. She will consult for Ocean Mist through June. Ms. Bezart's 25-year background in the produce industry includes working in grocery and dry products, specialty foods, and commodity vegetables. She said that she intends to remain in the fresh produce industry, and will look for the proper fit, adding that Ocean Mist is having a change in marketing direction. She said, "I'd like to expand my knowledge and energy in

The Oregon Senate in Milwaukie voted to designate pears the official state fruit of Oregon, bringing to a close a fruitful endeavor initiated by the Pear Bureau Northwest on behalf of Oregon's 370 pear growers. Pears are Oregon's top fruit crop and its 10th agricultural commodity overall with a value of $72 million in 2004. Using a multiplier of 1.5 supplied by Oregon State University, this $72 million in farm gate value generates an additional $108 million in income throughout the state. Hood River, Jackson, Wasco, Josephine and Marion are the top-five pear-producing counties in Oregon.

A mid-April freeze in the Yakima and Chelan growing regions of Washington state prompted many growers to utilize smudge pots for heat and crank up their propane or gas-powered wind machines to blow warm air across their in-bloom fruit trees. However, while overnight temperatures reached a record low of 20 degrees in the Yakima area, only minimal damage has been assessed. On Monday, April 18, the Washington Agricultural Statistics Services in Olympia reported that Yakima County had experienced average temperatures throughout the previous week, ranging from nine degrees below normal to three

SHERMAN OAKS, CA  Sunkist Growers Inc., in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, CA, hosted the fourth annual Sunkist Citrus C?l?bre, an event that brings together culinary innovators from North America to explore creative cooking with citrus. The event, held Feb. 1-4, gave chefs, marketers, educators and distributors an opportunity to explore world citrus trends and get an in-depth look at citrus varieties. Participants learned about "Sunkist" citrus from the tree to the table with guidance and inspiration from Chef Allen Susser, author of The Great

On April 6, the Ft. Pierce (FL) Tribune published a guest column about the state's Citrus Canker Eradication Program. In it, Jack Haire, a Broward County resident who was a participant in the original anti-canker eradication lawsuits that delayed the process for several years, made some statements that officials from the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services adamantly state are untrue. Among them, he disputed the scientific research, which supports the 1,900-foot law. The law requires that all citrus trees within a 1,900-foot area of an infected tree be removed and destroyed in

To paraphrase a quote I read recently, "Why change? Survival is not a requirement." For many companies in the produce industry, that choice is not theoretical. Either they change the way they're doing business, or they won't likely survive. As United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association heads into our second century of service to the produce industry, our members are coming together to share a vision, construct their own individual plans, and then go out into the marketplace to not only survive but thrive. While competition has never been so tough, opportunity has never been greater for those