CMI, one of Washington state’s larger grower-shippers of conventional and organic apples, pears and cherries, is expanding its "HERO" brand apple program to include a series of snack-sized apple pouch bags showcasing Red Delicious, Fuji, Gala and Granny Smith varieties.

As of Sept. 30, Wegmans Food Markets is requiring all growers who furnish fresh produce to the supermarket chain to show they’ve passed a Good Agricultural Practices inspection.

Beginning in 2008, Wegmans phased in this requirement, first for growers of crops thought to be high risk — like spinach or melons — that had been linked to past outbreaks of illness. Over the next several years, Wegmans expanded the requirement to apply to more kinds of fresh produce, and alerted farmers that the company would eventually require all of its produce partners to pass a GAP audit.

Produce industry leaders met Sept. 19 in Miami to discuss the newest developments in PTI and food safety.

Ed Treacy of the Produce Marketing Association and Dan Vaché of the United Fresh Produce Association spoke to over 130 produce professionals during this one-day event, which drew attendees from all segments of the industry, from growers to importers to retailers.

When it came time to select roses befitting a beauty queen and her court, the Miss America Pageant turned to Passion Growers for the fourth year in a row.

Eight out of 10 adults surveyed don’t plan to buy flowers in the next 12 months. That’s the unsettling finding of a study funded by the American Floral Endowment and released at the recent annual convention of the Society of American Florists in Phoenix.

Renamed the Seeley Summit, the Seeley Conference series will resume after a two-year gap, Cornell University announced Sept. 14. The 2014 invitational event, billed as the floral industry’s think tank, will be held June 22-24 in Lisle, IL, rather than on campus at Ithaca, NY, the conference board had decided. The topic will be water scarcity, according to a news release.