Jon DeVaney, executive director of the Yakima Valley Growers-Shippers Association, said that apple volume for the state of Washington for the 2010- 11 crop will be up slightly this season. During 2009-10, a total of 102.8 million 40-pound-equivalent boxes were shipped. The first estimate for the 2010-11 crop was released Aug. 11, with volume for the season expected to be 108.8 million 40-pound boxes. According to Mr. DeVaney, estimate variations fall within a 1-5 percent margin.

Mann Packing, based in Salinas, CA, is supporting its Canadian sales program this fall with multiple promotions.

Beginning the second week of October, 250,000 promotional booklets offering more than $3.50 in savings will be applied to select Mann's fresh-cut vegetable products shipped to Canadian markets.

NAPLES, FL -- As members of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association were getting ready to gather at the Ritz-Carlton Naples Sept. 18-21 for the 67th annual FFVA convention, the business end of farming was top-of-mind.

Labor shortages, new water regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, food safety and modern marketing are ever-present concerns, and for the most part dominated the convention agenda.

WASHINGTON -- Specialty crop groups have three months to develop their wish list for the next farm bill as the House Agriculture Committee is vowing to fast-track the bill next year instead of waiting until 2012, said U.S. Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), who kicked off the United Fresh Produce Association's Washington Public Policy Conference, held Sept. 14-16, here.

Terry Humfeld will join the Cranberry Institute in November and will ascend to executive director of the East Wareham, MA-based organization, effective Jan. 1, 2011, Jeff Kapell, chairman of the institute announced in a Sept. 14 press release.

Mr. Humfeld's hiring is the result of an extensive search process by the board of directors to replace the institute’s long-time executive director, Jere Downing, who will retire at the end of the year.

The 2009 Idaho potato crop may not have been the largest on record, due to acreage reductions, but it did the highest yield per acre on record, and that "resulted in a very large crop ... significantly larger than we anticipated," according to Frank Mir, president of the Idaho Potato Commission in Eagle, ID.

Other potato-producing areas in the United States also had large 2009 crops, which made moving the Idaho crop all the more challenging.