Recently released estimates indicate that the 2011 cranberry harvest will slightly exceed the 2010 volume, placing it among the largest cranberry crop years.

“The estimated U.S. cranberry crop production for 2011 is 7,363,000 barrels,” Tobias Stapleton, marketing director for the Cranberry Marketing Committee in Wareham, MA, told The Produce News. “The estimate was issued by the CMC at the end of August.”

During a one-week period in April of this year, Californians purchased 1.6 percent fewer pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables from supermarkets but paid 2.3 percent more dollars for it.

This was just one of the jewels excavated from a newly released market report conducted by the Fresh Produce & Floral Council.

Frank Muir, president and chief executive officer of the Idaho Potato Commission.

SUN VALLEY, ID — The 83rd annual Idaho Grower Shippers Association conve

TRANSPORTATION & FUEL

Truck availability on the West Coast is adequate. Freight rates should begin to ease as September progresses.

The price of crude oil increased $3.32 Sept. 7 to $89.34 per barrel, which is 39 percent below record levels of July 2008. The nationwide average price for a gallon of diesel the week of Sept. 5 was $3.87, 32 percent higher than one year ago. The average price in California for a gallon of diesel is $4.06, 29 percent higher than last year.

ICEBERG LETTUCE

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) decided against offering an amendment to force the U.S. Department of Agriculture to keep potatoes on school lunch menus at a Sept. 7 markup of USDA's spending bill, but warned she may offer it when the bill reaches the Senate floor.

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislation Sept. 7 to bankroll USDA and the Food & Drug Administration for Fiscal 2012, starting Oct. 1.

Abbott & Cobb, which bills itself as the largest independent breeder, producer and marketer of vegetable seed, has locations in key growing areas in the United States and Mexico. But its facility in McAllen, TX, gives it a particularly good strategic spot to serve its customers.

Rosie Aguirre, assistant vice president of sales and marketing for Mexico and the south-central United States, said, “From our Texas facility, we pride ourselves in servicing customers in Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and all of the eastern and central regions of Mexico.”