Alsum Farms & Produce Inc. recently launched its “Fast & Fresh” value-added line, according to Rick Kantner, director of sales and marketing for the Friesland, WI-based company.

“The first item in the line is a 12-ounce microwavable bag — one or two servings — of triple-washed, ready-to-cook potatoes,” said Mr. Kantner. “The product is available in either red or gold potato varieties.

“We plan to expand the value-added line in the future,” he continued. “Additional items will be launched in the next 30 to 60 days.”

The 2011 Wisconsin potato crop looks like it will be even smaller than the 2010 crop, according to Bob Johnson, representative for Rosholt, WI-based Katz Produce Sales LLC. “And that wasn’t a very productive crop,” he said.

“Growers are a couple of weeks behind their normal schedule, so some product is still in the ground,” he continued. “At this point there’s a little gray area as to what it will end up looking like, but we do know it was a slow start.”

Tom Lundgren, president of Stephens Point, WI-based Spud City Sales LLC, said that the Wisconsin crop is about average this year.

“We hoped to have a better crop, but yields seem to be off despite the good growing conditions we have had,” he said. “I don’t know why this happened, but it may have been the cool and wet spring. Mother Nature has a lot to do with our industry. Growers have ideal conditions for harvesting, however, so that’s helpful.”

“We started harvesting in August,” Mike Carter, president and chief executive officer of Rosholt, WI-based Bushmans’ Inc. told The Produce News on Sept. 20. “We’re now in the height of our storage season, and we’re storing potatoes at a breakneck pace. The crop is looking very nice.”

Mr. Carter added that some varieties are a little smaller than normal. Some russets sized up nicely, but others did not.

Its first 2011 new-crop onions were out the door on July 12, early by Owyhee Produce’s own standards and ahead of other Idaho-Eastern Oregon onion shippers as well.

According to Shay Myers, general manager of Nyssa, OR-based Owyhee, the overwinter varieties were planted in 2010 in a microclimate in the IEO growing region.

“Because of those factors, we were five weeks earlier than normal,” Mr. Myers told The Produce News during the third week of September. “We’ve already planted for the same window next year.”

With a late start date of Sept. 6 for Treasure Valley onions, Joe Farmer, director of operations for Fort Boise Produce, said on Sept. 19 that the 2011 crop will be “a little on the smaller size with more mediums than normal.”

First onions coming in to the Parma, ID, facility were showing smaller size profiles across the variety board, although Mr. Farmer said that onions still in the fields will continue to size up a little.