Long before he became a television and radio personality, before he set seven National Football League records that still stand, before he was a three-time All-Pro, before he helped Washington win Super Bowl XXVI, before he was drafted into the league, before he set records in the NCAA — even before he entered the hallowed halls of the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette — Brian Mitchell was a kid at the family dinner table.

And on that table every day were homecooked meals with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Ready Pac has launched a new ready-to-serve fresh-cut fruit products. The new items feature seasonal fruits rarely — if ever — seen in the fresh-cut produce category, including pears, oranges and kumquats.

ANAHEIM, CA — In August, Bayer CropScience completed its purchase of AgraQuest, Inc., a global supplier of innovative biological pest management solutions, and four months later the integration of that company is progressing well, which should result in more crop-protection tools in the not-so-distant future for the specialty crop industry.

Rabobank, which is a major player in agricultural lending, has forecast that the current booming trend for berry sales in the United States will continue at a 7 percent annual growth rate over the next three years. And that view has support within the industry.

On Nov. 1, Rabobank’s Food and Agribusiness Research and Advisory group released a report, titled “The U.S. Fresh Berry Boom — Who Will Profit from the Growth?”

Edward C. Sisler, a professor of biochemistry at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC, whose research is credited with revolutionizing the handling and distribution of fresh-cut flowers, was honored Sept. 22 by the Society of American Florists with its Alex Laurie Award for floriculture research and education.

Roger Harkrider of H.E.B. Grocery Co.