Al Harrison Co. Distributors in Nogales, AZ, which specializes in watermelons and hard shell squash, will be adding a new production area for winter watermelons in Mexico this season.

Beginning around December 10, the company will begin harvesting watermelons in the state of Nayarit in southern Mexico, according to President Brent Harrison. That should provide a steady supply of product for the company’s watermelon program through mid or late February.

“We offer a unique niche,” Brian Osborne, general manager of Unique Cold Storage in Pompano Beach, FL, told The Produce News. “We are uniquely qualified to handle offshore products in our facility, which can efficiently accommodate a variety of fresh produce items, each in their ideal temperature and humidity to ensure maximum shelf life and quality.”

Big Chuy Distributors & Sons Inc. in Nogales, AZ, which is in the watermelon business year round and in hard shell squash, sweet corn, Italian squash and some other items seasonally, will have “pretty much the same program as we have in past years” for “the winter deal this year,” according to Jesus (Chuy) Lopez Jr., the company’s president.

“The volume hasn’t changed,” Mr. Lopez continued. “We will maintain about the same.”

The selection committee for the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame announced five distinguished leaders will be inducted during the 51st Citrus Celebration Luncheon Feb. 27 at Florida Southern College in Lakeland.

Homer E. Hooks of Lakeland and J. Brantley Schirard of Ft. Pierce, FL, will be honored along with three others who will be inducted posthumously: Col. Francis L. Dancy, Paul L. Harding and Mathew K. Veldhuis.

Steve Tweten, chief executive officer for NoKota Packers, provided The Produce News with his comments and observations about the 2012 potato production season.

“We, at NoKota Packers, harvested the tonnage we expected to and filled our storage completely,” he stated. “The Red River Valley, as a whole, is right at the five-year average for storage volume.”

NoKota Packers is headquartered in Buxton, ND, and has more than three decades of experience storing, washing and packaging tablestock potatoes for resale. 

“We finally moved into our new facility,” said Marco Barreda, vice president of Veggies Inc. in Nogales, AZ, in an interview with The Produce News.

The new facility is 25,000 square feet in size, with a fully refrigerated warehouse and “a tremendous amount of office space compared to before.” The facility is about double the size of the company’s previous warehouse and offices, Mr. Barreda said. It is Primus-certified and includes “a special room where we have everything set up for our repack line.”