Families in need had a merrier holiday season thanks to the diligent efforts of Haun Potato Co., potato growers in the Red River Valley and The Salvation Army.

On Dec. 13, 42,000 pounds of fresh potatoes were distributed to dozens of charities that help feed the hungry in the Kansas City area through The Salvation Army’s Christmas Food Basket project.

Luciano Fiszman, procurement manager for Gourmet Trading Co. in Los Angeles said that the company distributes blueberries that are produced from the 5th Region to the 10th Region of Chile into both coasts of the United States, Canada and to Asia.

“Our season begins in November with a perfect transition from Argentina and ends in April, right when we start with our own crop in California,” said Mr. Fiszman. We grow, pack and ship blueberries from our farm in the Central Valley of California.”

The Nogales, AZ, office of Monterey, CA-based Sun Crest-Bollinger International Inc. is basically a brokerage operation handling a full line of the produce commodities that come through Nogales.

“What is new for our company is we have really expanded our cucumber program this year by probably threefold,” said Jerry Havel, director of sales and marketing for Fresh Farms in Nogales, AZ. With a significant increase in acreage, the company now has “a very large cucumber program that includes outside pole-grown cucumbers” from the state of Sonora, Mexico, “and also shadehouse cucumbers from Sonora.”

Washington — A nine-month extension of the 2008 farm bill is in the massive tax legislation passed by the House Jan. 1 to stave off the so-called fiscal cliff. This extends the deadline by which Congress has to write a five-year bill.

The House voted 257 to 167 to extend the Bush-era tax breaks and raise tax brackets on households making more than $450,000 a year, among other changes. The vote came after the Senate overwhelmingly approved the measure during a late-night session.

Sunsweet Growers Inc., a leading marketer of prunes, specialty dried fruit products and fruit juices, promoted Jeff McLemore to the role of vice president of North America marketing.