“Our deal is pretty much the status quo as last year,” Les Alderete, director of grower relations in the Idaho Falls, ID, L&M Cos. Inc. office, told The Produce News regarding the company’s involvement in the Idaho potato deal.

L&M, a diversified produce growing, shipping and marketing organization headquartered in Raleigh, NC, markets potatoes of various types from several growing areas around the country — from Washington state to Florida.

Idaho product is an important component of that commodity mix, according to Mr. Alderete.

Wada Farms Marketing Group LLC in Idaho Falls, ID, is, according to the company’s web site, “the exclusive marketer of Wada Farms & Dole fresh potatoes, onions and sweet potatoes in North America with products available from every major growing region in the country. We also offer industry-leading retail category management analysis and support through our partner company Category Partners LLC.”

Not all packinghouses in Idaho run Russet Norkotah potatoes for as long as Pleasant Valley Potato Inc. in Aberdeen, ID. The Norkotah variety harvest starts weeks ahead of the first digs of Idaho’s longtime mainstay variety, the Russet Burbank, giving shippers a head start on the season. But for some shippers, the Burbank is still the dominant variety once it gets going.

Wilcox Fresh in Rexburg, ID, the exclusive marketing company for Floyd Wilcox & Sons Inc., will now be offering its “Potato Jazz” steam kits of fresh baby potatoes with seasoning packs in Canada, but under a different brand name.

“We are partnering with the Little Potato Co.” in Edmondton, Alberta, Canada, and have worked on the Canadian version of “Potato Jazz“ which will be called “Zingers” in Canada, said Jim Richter, executive vice president of sales and marketing.

A.J. Trucco Inc., located on the Hunts Point Terminal Market in the Bronx, NY, is an importer, wholesaler and distributor of domestic and imported nuts, dried fruit and fresh produce. While the company handles an assortment of dried fruit and nut products, particularly during the fall period leading into the holidays, fresh chestnuts imported from Italy are “most important,” according to Nick Pacia, vice president. “We do big volumes during the holidays.”

Hadley Date Gardens Inc. in Thermal, CA, which markets an assortment of date products in a variety of pack styles, rolled out the first of its square retail tubs “a couple of years ago,” and they are “starting to get a little more attraction now in the market,” Albert Keck, president of the company, said in an interview with The Produce News Aug. 31.

With the 2011 date harvest just getting underway, the square tubs “will be out there on the end caps of produce sections pretty soon,” he said. “This is a beautiful package. It really shows off the quality nicely.”