Florida authorities announced Nov. 15 that a peach fruit fly — Bactrocera zonata — was found earlier this month during routine surveillance activities in Miami-Dade County. It is the first time the species has been found in the state.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Nov. 15 that it will delay by 15 months implementation of a new set of numeric nutrient criteria water regulations for Florida's lakes, springs and rivers that the state’s farmers claim could drown them in a sea of red tape and increased costs.

The new rules, initially intended to go into effect Oct. 15, were first delayed until Nov. 15 and have now been pushed back until February 2012.

Desert Glory Ltd. and Ag-Mart Produce Inc., doing business as Santa Sweets Inc., announced Nov. 22 an agreement to resolve their dispute over the "SweetRipes" and “Cherubs” package designs.

In September, Desert Glory filed a lawsuit alleging that the “SweetRipes” package design that Ag-Mart/Santa Sweets test marketed late this summer infringed upon Desert Glory's trademark rights to its “NatureSweet” “Cherubs” brand packaging.

Man may not be able to survive on bread alone. But Chris Voigt, executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, is living proof that potatoes can largely fill the bill.

Mr. Voigt made a bold move Oct. 1, the day he committed to eating nothing but potatoes for the next 60 days. The purpose of the diet was to illustrate in real terms the nutritional value of potatoes. Taking weight and height into account, he determined his spud allotment should be 20 each day.

"We finished the harvest in record time this year," Mark MacEwen, a partner- owner of Linkletter Farms in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada, told The Produce News Nov. 9. “We were 10 days ahead of our normal finish. The crop is in storage now. It is high-quality and yields are better than average.”

Minnesota's Twin Cities historically have had stable economies. Produce industry leaders there said that even their region has felt the national slowdown, but the effects were not severe and there are already signs of improvement. Meanwhile, competition among food retailers is increasingly fierce.