For the past decade, Brazil has made a concerted effort to increase its exports, with the United States set as one of its prime targets.

And while the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar and the United States' restrictive import requirements often hamper Brazilian exporters, great inroads have been made into cultivating the U.S. market.

Recently, I toured Honduras at the invitation of the country's Foundation for Investment & Export Development, better known by its acronym, FIDE. The tour included visits to a wide array of agricultural interests, including a banana-processing facility, two Oriental vegetable packinghouses, a melon- growing operation, an impressive private international university that focuses on agriculture, two aquaculture farms, a cocoa processing facility and a crocodile farm.

Yes, a crocodile farm.

"Growers in Palmetto, Ruskin and some in the Immokalee areas are underway" with the initial tomato planting process, said Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange in Maitland, FL. "They could be in for some major losses if Fay delivers strong winds."

La Quinta, CA-based Ag Accounting LLC is rebounding with its California- grown Keitt mangos following a disastrous year with the fruit in 2007 when January freezes wiped out 50 acres of the variety.

"We had 30,000 cartons [of Keitt]" in 2007, said Ted Johnson, chief operating officer of Ag Accounting. This year, Ag Accounting should have in excess of 250,000 cartons of conventional and organic Keitt mangos, he said.

Dennis Gertmenian, chief executive officer of Ready Pac Foods in Irwindale, CA, has retired from the company he founded in 1969.

This is the second retirement for the 62-year-old Mr. Gertmenian, and this one looks like it will stick. He will, however, continue as a board member for Ready Pac Foods and remains the company's major shareholder.

Mr. Gertmenian said that the company is coming off a record year and is at the forefront of the industry again.

The Organic Trade Association announced that it will co-locate its 2009 All Things Organic conference and trade show with Expo Comida Latina and All Asia Food June 16-18 at McCormick Place in Chicago.