DETROIT — Impressed by their zeal, Jeffrey J. Abrash, president of Andrews Bros. Inc., here, lauded the Detroit area's produce retailers and their aggressive and successful marketing efforts, which in turn buoy his business, which supplies them.

"We have a lot of really great retail customers that are marketing the heck out of produce, and we are very happy to be supplying them," Mr. Abrash said. “The Detroit [Produce] Terminal is a great source of supply for the retailers. We have a lot of aggressive retail customers, and they want to buy more so they can sell more.”

DETROIT — Ben B. Schwartz & Sons Inc. on the Detroit Produce Terminal, here, has just completed the best year in its long history and is looking to the future as the next generation of leadership at the company is finding its footing.

Nate Stone, chief operating officer of the 105-year-old company, said that 2010 "was a blockbuster. This company has been in business over 100 years; that was the best year in the history of the company."

DETROIT — R.A.M. Produce Distributors LLC has launched a line of organic produce under its own brand, "Organic Girl." The firm is developing the line slowly, employing a strategy of crawling before walking.

“We just started it, so we are in the crawl stage before we walk,” Mike Badalament, sales representative, told The Produce News in early January. “Organics are not for everyone because of the price. It is a huge commitment [to develop an organic line], but we see growth [and potential] there. We have been handling it the right way, which has been very conservatively.”

DETROIT — Devoting more attention to foodservice business in recent years, Rocky Produce Inc. on the Detroit Produce Terminal, here, is seeing its efforts pay off as that segment of its business grows.

DETROIT — An expansion at its off-market facility and a new deal with Farmer's Best International LLC have resulted in some additions to the product offerings at Aunt Mids Produce Co., here on the Detroit Produce Terminal.

"We are now handling the 'Farmers Best’ line of Mexican vegetables," Dominic Riggio, president of Aunt Mids, told The Produce News. The deal began in November and involves items such as squashes, peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes. “Our businesses are both very quality-oriented, and it seemed like a natural fit.”

This winter and spring, the russet potato market "will continue to climb because of a lack of potatoes out there," according to Tom Lundgren. The president of Spud City Sales LLC in Stevens Point, WI, hopes the national industry's conservative potato acreages “will continue the trend this fall.” This will happen “if people don’t go too crazy on planting. It has been the same thing since I started 25 years ago. It’s all in supply and demand.”