The National Potato Council and the U.S. Potato Board announced that the Council of Agriculture in Taiwan has granted approval for the state of Colorado to ship fresh potatoes to that country starting April 1.

The NPC and USPB credited the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including both its Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and the Foreign Agricultural Service, for its efforts to obtain this approval. Colorado joins Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Montana, and Alaska as approved states to ship to Taiwan.

The California Table Grape Commission recently expanded the responsibilities of Cindy Plummer and Jane Lytle in the areas of advertising and foodservice, respectively, and hired Jeff Cardinale as the new vice president of communications.

Jim DiMenna, chair of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association and president of JemD Farms in Leamington, ON, a leading distributor of high-quality greenhouse-grown vegetables, is stepping down from his one-year service as chair of the CPMA. The CPMA Convention & Trade Show, being held April 17-19 in Toronto, traditionally marks the end of the one-year appointment.

Newcomers to Florida who complain about the weather are often told, "Don't worry -- wait five minutes and it will change." In most years, that is a jest: Florida weather is reliably cool and dry in the fall and winter and hot and wet in late spring and summer. This year, however, Mother Nature has been schizophrenic.

Though its U.K.-based parent company, Tesco, is not showing its hand at this point, widespread reports indicate that the firm is close to selling its 220 Fresh & Easy stores, located in the West.

In December, Tesco announced that the chain was "under review" because of its substantial losses and no turnaround in sight. When the effort was launched a handful of years ago, Tesco expected that 2013 would be the year it turned a profit.

{loadposition markets_qmini}