Bob Johnson, representative for Katz Produce Sales LLC in Rosholt, WI, knows what it takes to move fresh potatoes into the pipeline. With the Wisconsin potato harvest ramping up, he said, the industry will have its own set of challenges to address this season.

“Trucks are really tight now,” he told The Produce News Aug. 29. “The situation nationwide is trucks are getting tighter, tighter, tighter.” And he added that produce is not a high priority for the nation’s trucking companies.

Monte Vista, CO — Utilizing the considerable people skills of Olympic figure skater Rachael Flatt to tout potatoes grown in Colorado's San Luis Valley, the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee is reaching out to consumers both in the Rocky Mountain region and across the entire country.

SUN VALLEY, ID — The Great Big Idaho Potato Truck will keep rolling in 2013.

Frank Muir, president and chief executive officer of the Idaho Potato Commission, announced Aug. 30 during the commission's annual marketing report, here, at the 84th annual Idaho Grower Shipper Association conference, that the wildly popular semi-truck hauling a replica of a giant Idaho russet potato will embark on another cross-country tour in 2013.

TOMRA Sorting Solutions, through the merger of Odenberg and BEST, has in the last three months been awarded contracts totaling $18.5 million. The order is for optical sorting and peeling equipment to be used at a new high-capacity food processing plant in the United States.

Delivery is estimated to start in early 2013, and the solutions will be used for the processing of both French fries and associated products at the new plant.

BrightFarms Inc. and Schnuck Markets Inc. announced a partnership to build a greenhouse for the 99-store St. Louis-based supermarket chain.

BrightFarms will finance, build and operate a greenhouse to supply Schnuck customers with fresh, local produce year-round.

BrightFarms’ greenhouse will allow Schnuck Markets, which already buys directly from growers, to offer customers even more local produce. A local farmer, in partnership with BrightFarms, will operate the greenhouse and deliver the freshest possible produce to Schnuck Markets within hours of harvest.

 Olivier Banon and Andre Friesen of Mastronardi.