“We have always had a strong commitment to quality,” said Jim Richter, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Floyd Wilcox & Sons Inc. and its marketing arm, Wilcox Fresh, in Rexburg, ID.

In pursuit of that commitment, “this summer we invested in some new Odenberg graders,” Richter told The Produce News. “Those were installed the first of September, so as we go into the new crop year, we are going to have those Odenberg graders in place. That is going to help us take our quality from good to great in the years ahead.”

20/20 Produce, headquartered in Heyburn, ID, anticipates a reduced potato volume this season directly attributed to weather.

Tom Wason, president of 20/20 Produce, is looking for crop sizes to be down approximately 7 percent this season.

“We definitely had some heat stress,” he told The Produce News in early September.

“Yields are expected to be average. Again, the heat will have a mixed consistency on overall crop values,” he said.

L&M Cos. Inc., headquartered in Raleigh, NC, sources potatoes from various growing areas around the country, which gives customers a choice as to where their potatoes come from. But “Idaho potatoes are really important to L&M’s program in potatoes,” according to Ken Stewart, general manager.

“We have a variety of customers that request Idaho potatoes,” Stewart told The Produce News.

Dried plums, the dried fruit formerly (and still widely) known as prunes, have been touted for their health benefits, and most notably their digestive health benefits, for generations, but new research being conducted at Florida State University, San Diego State University and elsewhere at the behest of the California Dried Plum Board, is validating those venerable claims and is, moreover, giving the fruit a basis for some powerful new health messaging.

Research done in recent years is “helping to drive our new messaging,” said Donn Zea, executive director of the organization.

For its first nine years, the California Fig Fest, sponsored by the California Fig Advisory Board, a marketing order for dried figs, and its sister organization, the voluntary California Fresh Fig Growers Association, was held in Fresno, CA. This year, the 10th Annual Fig Fest was moved to San Diego and held Sept. 8 at the new San Diego Public Market.

Fresh dates in general, and Medjools in particular, are gaining in popularity. Demand is on the rise. In response to that growth, the date industry in the United States has been putting in new plantings, and production is increasing.