The Agricultural Marketing Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture on March 17 published in the Federal Register an interim final rule with request for comments for a change in the marketing order grade standards under the California Desert Grape Administrative Committee, which growers said will facilitate packing two-pound clamshells.

Salinas, CA-based Colorful Harvest LLC won the blue ribbon for its flat of "Green Giant" brand fresh strawberries at the 2009 Florida Strawberry Festival held Feb. 26 to March 8 in Plant City, FL.

Colorful Harvest's strawberries were judged to be the best from among a field of 12 Florida strawberry growers based on the criteria of taste, uniformity, size, shape and color.

Doug Ranno, chief operating officer of Colorful Harvest, said that winning the blue ribbon is just more evidence that the company is a major player in the berry realm.

Asparagus growers in the state of Washington, which produces approximately 40 percent of all domestically grown product, are set to start cutting grass in mid-April. Alan Schreiber, administrator of the Washington Asparagus Commission in Eltopia, WA, expects production to be 28 million pounds for 2009.

David Dozier, produce manager of GFF Foods in Moore, OK, took top honors in the third-annual Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Spanish Sweet Onion Lover's Month retail display contest.

With a giant poster overhead showing the committee's "Jumbo Onion" mascot lifting weights and proclaiming Spanish Sweets "battle blandness," GFF's January display showcased bags of yellow and white onions on an island in the produce department.

PHILADELPHIA -- A judge ruled March 13 that assets in the name of Ellis Fleisher's wife are not available for creditors of Mr. Fleisher's defunct produce houses. But the court's decision may be appealed.

Mr. Fleisher owned Ellis Fleisher Produce Co. and Dichter Bros. & Glass Inc., both in Philadelphia. Both businesses ceased operations in March 2007.

While ski resorts and some farmers in Colorado rejoiced at late March snow and the moisture it brought, a number of fruit growers on the state's Western Slope were hit hard by back-to-back storms.

A March 27 freeze was particularly damaging to the Palisade, CO, region just east of Grand Junction, and another freeze hit just days later.

Donovan Talbott, partner in C&R Farms in Palisade, said that his apricot crop was completely wiped out, along with his cherries and nectarines.

"And I had quite a bit of pear damage," he said.