WASHINGTON -- A new feature on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food web site will include real-world success stories about marketing locally grown fresh produce, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced July 14.

The Obama administration launched the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative Sept. 15, 2009, to help connect consumers with the farmers who supply their food and to increase the production, marketing and consumption of locally grown produce.

With more than three decades of experience in produce sales and distribution, George Dziak, head of GD Fresh Distribution Inc. in Clackamas, OR, knows how to move fresh product efficiently between source and receiver.

In recent years, however, Mr. Dziak has seen an increase in the number of shippers with single truckloads or carloads of produce to be handled, and he told The Produce News that moving those smaller quantities can be problematic.

Four Seasons Produce Inc., a wholesale distributor of produce, along with its subsidiaries, has donated more than $33,000 to several regional food banks.

From June 26 to July 4, the Ephrata, PA-based company donated 10 cents for every case of produce it sold and delivered in an effort to help local families and individuals having trouble putting food on their tables and feeding their families. The donation was maximized with the involvement of 13 suppliers, customers and partners.

The East Coast has been contending with a significant heat wave, and growers from north to south have been feeling the effects.

WATSONVILLE, CA -- Everyone at California Giant Berry Farms rolled up their sleeves as they hosted a community barbecue July 12 to support two local charities.

This year marks the sixth annual Skirt Steak Fundraiser BBQ, held at California Giant offices here, and the company found support to be just as strong as ever within the community.

New Mexico onion producers are well into their 2010 harvest.

"The majority of the onions produced in New Mexico come out of Doña Ana, Luna and Sierra counties in southern New Mexico," said Noreen Jaramillo, public information officer for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture. "Of the acres harvested this year, all -- except for 300 acres -- were harvested in southern New Mexico."