Movement continues toward a single licensing model in Canada. Currently the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is conducting a consultation with the industry to determine if there should be a single licensing authority in Canada and if the DRC and its trading standards should be that authority.

Since the implementation of NAFTA, the number of international and domestic transactions between fresh fruit and vegetable firms operating in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. increased dramatically, and so did the potential for private commercial disputes.

Seldom, if ever, has a public relations effort by the Idaho Potato Commission garnered as much favorable publicity as the Big Idaho Potato Truck Tour, now completing its second year. “You can’t pay for the kind of coverage we’ve gotten across the country,” said IPC President Frank Muir in an interview with The Produce News.

For the first time, Prime Time International’s winter deal will include cucumbers, as the firm added that product to its mix earlier this year and is continuing it through the winter vegetable deal with production coming from Mexico.

“Most of our volume is currently still coming out of Georgia,” Calvert Cullen, president of Northampton Growers, headquartered in Cheriton, VA, told The Produce News in late October. “But we are already harvesting some cucumbers and squash now in Plant City, Florida. We will start with hot peppers in Florida during the first week of November.”

Northampton Growers follows the growing seasons north and back south each year. Its movement runs from Florida, to Georgia, the Carolinas and then to Michigan before starting its return back south again in October.

WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill is weighing in on the need to repropose food safety rules as 75 members of Congress sent a letter to the Food & Drug Administration warning that farms and processors will suffer and some businesses may close if there's no opportunity to comment on revamped food-safety rules before they become final.

If you’re a fan of NBC’s "The Voice," it should come as no surprise to you that 20-year-old gospel singer and Yardley, PA-native Matthew Schuler is the son of a minister, especially after his soulful and moving rendition of “Hallelujah,” which skyrocketed to No. 1 on iTunes shortly after he performed it live during the Nov. 11 show.

What may come as a surprise to you, however, is that Schuler’s chops have some pretty close ties to the produce industry.