Along with other sectors of the national potato industry, Red River Valley grower-shippers will benefit from the U.S. Senate passing the $1.1 trillion Consolidated & Further Continuing Appropriations Act, which is part of the 2015 spending bill.

On Dec. 1, this year’s fresh apple holdings totaled 122.2 million bushels, a 16 percent increase from the same time last year, according to the December 2014 edition of the U.S. Apple Association’s Market News.

Apart from some recent rains that affected cherry volumes, weather conditions have been favorable for this season. “We expect to see volume increases across all commodities, even cherries,” said Karen Brux, managing director of the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association, North America, based in San Carlos, CA.

In keeping with a longstanding tradition, The Produce News office is closed from Dec. 22 through Dec. 26 to celebrate the holidays and give our staff members some down time to spend with their families.

We will resume our normal schedule for posting breaking industry news Dec. 29. Thank you for your patience, and enjoy the holidays.

Sincerely,

The Produce News staff

In its Dec. 9 edition, The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is having difficulty monitoring the more than 25,000 farms and other organizations that sell organic crops and livestock because of the tripling in the size of that sector over the past decade.

For the fifth year in a row, California Giant Berry Farms has participated in the local NBC Affiliate KSBW holiday event called ‘Share Your Holiday.’ Each year the station has a telethon-style event throughout the central coast of California over an eight-hour time period encouraging the community to donate food, clothing, toys and cash to support the local chapters of the Salvation Army.