IPR Fresh recently celebrated its 20th year in business, and it has its eye trained on further growth with a focus on Bell peppers.

“We now have Bell peppers, watermelon and European cukes, and sweet corn will be starting in late November,” Jose Luis Obregon, president of IPR Fresh, told The Produce News in early November. “We had a bit of a delay on peppers from Sinaloa due to the hurricane in October, but only about 10 days. By early December, we should be really cranking.”

Finding a way to stand out from the competition is not always easy, but Wholesum Family Farms manages to do it consistently by keeping the focus squarely on its customers.

“We prioritize the customer experience with our tomatoes,” said Joanna Jaramillo, marketing manager for the greenhouse grower, based in Amado, AZ. “We time our harvest to provide the best possible flavor. And we offer a guaranteed minimum 10-day shelf life for our heirloom varieties.”

Grower Alliance was coming off two successful industry events in early November, emboldened about its growth plans for the future.

“We had a great IFPA Global show,” said Michelle Ramirez-Jacobson, owners representative. “It was our first time exhibiting there, and we made a lot of great contacts. We took 28 growers with us, and most of our long-time growers already registered for next year.”

It was just five years ago that Delta Fresh Sales opened an impressive new facility on Old Tucson Road just off I-19, in Nogales, AZ. But just a few years later, company principle Thanasi Panousopoulos saw a need for more space due to the growth of Delta’s business.

Things got off to a fast start this fall at Seeded Produce for product coming out of Mexico, but company President Omar Losolla was confident the market would turn in his favor soon.

“It was a wild start to the season,” said Losolla. “The weather in Mexico was perfect for growing, and with the local deals still going there was a lot of product on the market. In fact, volume on all of our items has been blockbuster. We went from zero to 100 [mph] in one week and had volume right off the bat, competing with the local deals.”

Adverse weather earlier in the fall combined with light volume out of Florida resulted in a volatile tomato market in December, according to Joe Bernardi of Bernardi & Associates.

“We’re seeing the effects of the hurricane that hit Mexico in October. Baja is normally heavy now, but it is finishing early with light volume,” he said Dec. 8. “At this point, we are usually sourcing Romas and rounds from West Mexico, but that that has been pushed back and probably won’t show up until after Christmas. It’s been a crazy tomato market so far.”