DNE World Fruit Sales in Ft. Pierce, FL, particularly welcomed news from a Jan. 18 U.S. Department of Agriculture special report on this winter's freezing weather in Florida and its minimal impact on the state's citrus crop, especially grapefruit, which came out virtually unscathed. That is because DNE is one of the state's premier grapefruit producers, packing product under the world- renowned "Ocean Spray" label.

Duda Farm Fresh Foods in Oviedo, FL, has excellent supplies of high-quality Florida citrus available, according to Sam Jones, the company's citrus operation manager.

"Duda Farm Fresh is working with the Florida Department of Citrus on researching new citrus varietals for growing in the state of Florida," said Mr. Jones. "These tests have the top priority in working on citrus varietals that are consumer friendly, meaning great tasting, seedless and easy-to-peel fruit. Nothing has been released yet, but research and testing is underway."

Florida Classic Growers in Lake Hamilton, FL, made it through multiple nights of freezing weather in December and early January in good shape and is ready to roll straight from a "tremendous" first half of the season into the second.

Seald Sweet International in Vero Beach, FL, has ample fruit for promotion, but Chief Marketing Officer David Mixon does not expect that the Florida citrus season as a whole will have legs to make it much past mid-April.

While some growers hope to extend the season after four freeze events over six weeks in December and January, Mr. Mixon said in mid-January that this is probably unrealistic. He also expects the remainder of the Florida season to bring smaller-sized fruit -- same as the first half -- due to the worst drought in 15 years and the atypical cold weather.

Westlake Produce Co. in Winter Haven, FL, might not be the biggest player in the Florida citrus game, but it is large enough to provide ample volume of standard and specialty product -- and small enough to remain nimble and cater to its clients.

Launched in August with the idea to better facilitate purchasing transactions between produce buyers and sellers, freshproducelocator.com has experienced a recent surge in popularity, according to its developer.

The site has added numerous features and now lists 37 buyer members. Buyers on the site include some of the very large in the industry, such as Indianapolis Fruit Co., Pro-Act, Ben E. Keith, Save Mart Supermarkets, Stater Bros. and Supervalu.