Brampton-based WaudWare is celebrating 25 years of steady growth in the software development field. The company has two flagship products focused on the produce industry: Produce Industry Control System and Produce Industry Control System for the Web. The comprehensive software offers everything necessary to run a business and is particularly adept at handling traceability and case labeling requirements. According to company President F. Charles Waud, that expertise is paying off for the business.

Ontario Produce Marketing Association has had a busy year engaging with regulatory issues, diversifying its Produce Made Simple website, delivering Quality Assurance Training seminars and collaborating with other regional associations on its “New Fast Food” posters. All the activity paid off as the association’s membership grew again in 2014.

The Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers recently announced that Halton Healthcare Services/Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital site received the first OGVG Local Food Week award.

HHS is a multi-site healthcare organization and is comprised of three hospitals serving the communities of Milton, Oakville, Clarkson and Halton Hills in Ontario, Canada.  

The Canadian Produce Marketing Association held its semi-annual board meeting in Ottawa in mid-September, allowing participants to take a strategic look at where the organization is in terms of its current five-year plan and look ahead to the 2020 plan.

The event took place over three days and yielded some interesting results, including a change to the convention format.

Tensions between Canada and the United States are growing over the issue of Canada’s lack of protection for American suppliers in the event of buyer insolvency.

Canadian companies exporting to the U.S. currently have the same rights as U.S. companies under the U.S. Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act Trust, but according to a Fresh Produce Alliance press release, if reciprocal measures are not soon introduced in Canada, that special status may be revoked.

Produce veteran Connie Stukenberg has returned to the California Avocado Commission staff full-time as retail marketing director. Stukenberg, who had worked on CAC’s merchandising staff from 2000 to 2009, then continued her affiliation with the commission as part of her own business consultancy, CS Sales & Marketing for Results, rejoined the CAC staff effective Aug. 31.