The New Jersey Department of Agriculture premiered its new Jersey Fresh advertising campaign Feb. 7 during the annual state agricultural convention, with its sports-themed "Another Great Season."

WASHINGTON — With Congress butting up against the March 1 deadline for automatic, across-the-board budget cuts, the White House warned Feb. 8 that progress on the new food-safety law would be cut back and the Food & Drug Administration would have to conduct 2,100 fewer food inspections.

Manitoba-based Peak of the Market has opened a Calgary, AB, distribution center. The 24,000-square-foot facility was designed to handle the company’s Manitoba product. Half of the facility is being used for storage and re-grading, and the remainder is available on a fee-for-service basis for storage and cross docking.

“It’s our first time with a location in Alberta, and it’s a significant investment in growing our business and that of our growers,” said Larry McIntosh, president and chief executive officer.

W.D. Potato Ltd., which has been in business for over 40 years, supplies more than 400 million pounds of potatoes annually to major chip manufacturers in Canada and the United States.

Mark VanOostrum, field manager for the Beeton, ON-based company, oversees more than 50 growers and 15,000 acres of chip-stock potato production.

The company contracts chipping potatoes in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

“A plantlet will generally produce 1.5 to three mini tubers per production cycle under normal greenhouse production practices,” said Terence Hochstein, technical director for the Potato Growers of Alberta. “The plantlets used in our research project have the opportunity to produce up to 10 mini tubers per production cycle.”

Mr. Hochstein is responsible for government programs, the environmental farm plan, environmental footprinting and Canada Gap-OFFS, and he spearheads research for the Alberta-based potato-grower organization.

Jimmy Connell, vice president of Keith Connell Inc. in Kansas City, MO, said the company’s decision to launch Connell Texas this past November could not have been timed better. “This is the first year we’ve opened a shipping deal,” he told The Produce News Feb. 12. “So far, it’s going pretty good.”

The broker and distributor moves a full line of fresh produce to its customers throughout the nation, with a concentration in Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri.