NoKota Packers Inc., headquartered in Buxton, ND, is seeing good movement with its potato crop. “We have shipped approximately 36 percent of our projected tonnage as of the end of November,” Chief Executive Officer and President Steve Tweten told The Produce News Dec. 15. “We are experiencing good holiday demand. Our color and quality are great.”

Lone Wolf Farms plans to break ground for its new facility in January. A fire of unknown origin destroyed the main offices and wash plant Sept. 25 in Minto, ND. Despite the efforts of firefighters from Minto; Grafton, ND; and Oslo, MN, the facility could not be saved.

The business has been owned and operated by the Bjorneby family since 1938. The company ships red potatoes to the domestic marketplace. Lone Wolf continued to dig potatoes despite the loss, and storage for half of the company’s crop was secured.

Gary Wishnatzki may be best known as a strawberry grower, but he owes much of his recent success to bottled water, or American consumers’ acceptance of it to be specific.

With a couple of Florida growing seasons under its belt, Watsonville, CA-based Well-Pict Berries Inc. has settled into its program, will double its Florida strawberry production this year and has quadrupled the number of retailers it is working with from its operations in the Sunshine State.

To say that the great growing weather Florida strawberry farmers have enjoyed this year is “the exact opposite of last year is an understatement,” according to Jack Cain, Westlake Produce Co. eastern division vice president of sales and marketing. “After two years of freezing temperatures in December through January, to 10-degrees-above-average temperatures has affected availability and quality dramatically. We got our plants planted in a timely manner back in October and had some cooler weather to get them set in and putting blooms on.

With a name like California Giant, one might not think the Watsonville, CA-based berry grower would be heavily vested in Florida. But with operations expanding on the East Coast and 12-month demand for product, Cal Giant is now in its third season in the Sunshine State.

After two years of atypical weather, “it’s definitely starting like a more-normal season, which is a good thing,” said Director of Marketing Cindy Jewell. “So far, it’s starting off much smoother and much more typical, and that’s what our guys like to see.”