With people getting ready to fire up their grills during the summer barbecue season, mushroom producers are preparing for the spike in popularity of their already-popular products that comes during this time of year. In preparation, some of the top marketers are launching new varieties and products that they hope will help increase their own sales as well as lift the category as a whole. What is good for one competitor is good for the whole mushroom category, according to Joe Caldwell, vice president of Watsonville, CA-based Monterey Mushrooms.

CHICAGO -- Eleven retail produce managers were front and center to answer questions about what makes their departments successful and to share stories about their customers' behavior during an education session held here May 6 at the United Produce Expo & Conference. The session was moderated by Steve Lutz of the Perishables Group.

Mr. Lutz noted that the panel, all winners of United's Retail Produce Manager Awards Program, were selected from nominations submitted from across the country and are among the better produce managers in the United States.

SALINAS, CA -- The push for immigration reform has taken center stage on the U.S. national scene, and all that activity suggests a political willpower to make reform happen.

That was the message -- with qualifications and some reservations -- expressed by Howard Rosenberg, cooperative extension specialist in agricultural labor management for the Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics at the University of California at Berkeley.

The Hass Avocado Board's new marketing committee launched its campaign to strengthen promotion synergy among all suppliers at an inaugural strategy session in late April. Formed in early 2006, the committee has avocado industry representatives from California, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand and the Dominican Republic.

CHICAGO -- In the year-and-a-half since it was launched, avoHQ.com, the Hass Avocado Board's global produce intranet, continues to be a leader in global produce communications. During the United Produce Show, held here May 5-9, the board announced additions to the site that it said will add further functionality to the way data on avocado movement are used.

CHICAGO -- According to Kevin Coupe, consumers are guilty of saying one thing and meaning another, and even worse, often have no idea what they are talking about.

In a business session at the United Produce Expo & Conference, here, titled "Speaking the Language of the Consumer," Mr. Coupe, a retail industry expert and owner of the web site MorningNewsBeat.com, gave advice on how best to counter this and deliver what consumers really want.