The US Federal government was back to work after the shut down, but there was still speculation as to what the repercussions would be. Also in the US, two Colorado cantaloupe farmers pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges tied to a deadly listeria outbreak, but their attorneys insist there wasn't any intentional wrongdoing.
Retail giant Tesco started the month with a sharp drop in profits. There Pumpkins were of course in the news this month, the UK had a bumper crop and multinational Total Produce launched one into space.
The Italians were being hit again by bad weather, the Puglia region, the centre of Italian grape growing, was hit by very heavy storms. This bad weather also delayed the start of the kiwi season by 10-12 days, Giampaolo Dal Pane, CEO of Summerfruit, explained, "Ripening has been affected by the weather all over Italy, so we expect harvesting to start towards the end of October. That is, taking into account it doesn't freeze or flood, as that could complicate the situation."
The rains in late August and early September had promised a two week advance in the start of the Spanish lemon season, although the unusual heat and lack of rain that followed pushed it back to the normal period. The mandarin season was underway if not slightly late, but there was a huge problem with calibres, 70 to 80% of fruit were not large enough for their markets.
Moscow police arrested thousands of workers, at the fruit and vegetable market Stupinsky. The arrests came after the previous days riots in the district, where nearly 400 Russians were arrested. The district demonstrated against the murder of a Russian.
Frankort &Koning opened a sales office together with Brazilian partner Agricola Famosa in Hong Kong this month. Dole Fresh Fruit Europe company celebrates 150 years of fruit trading in Hamburg and Claus Hipp the man who put fruit and vegetables in jars for babies turned 75.