McCormick & Milne on track for 2013
While noting his company is on track to provide its customers with spuds throughout the 2013-14 shipping season, John McCormick, principal in McCormick & Milne in Monte Vista, CO, said changes in the industry are taking their toll in the region.
The longtime broker-shipper-distributor said in late August that the quality of San Luis Valley potatoes was looking good, with size and yields down from 2012. He expected the company’s shipping volume to hit mid-December, and he said M&M’s sales remain primarily to retail and foodservice/process.
MountainKing Potatoes acquires Canon Potato
This past June, MountainKing Potatoes, headquartered in Houston, TX, acquired Canon Potato, located in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. John Pope, vice president of sales & marketing, said the decision facilitates continued growth and improved supply and service levels to MountainKing’s existing customer base.
“[The acquisition] improves our company’s ability to grow and expand our baseline core business while penetrating profitable business within the Intermountain regional markets such as Denver, Salt Lake and Phoenix,” he told The Produce News.
Farm Fresh Direct sees good quality, smaller profile from its Colorado farms
Farm Fresh Direct, an alliance of potato growers based in the San Luis Valley of Colorado and with farming partners in Kansas, Nebraska and Nevada, is reporting good quality with smaller sizing coming from its Colorado farms this season.
Operations Manager Lee Jackson said in late August that quality this season is better than with 2012’s crop, and the smaller sizing means less misshaping as well.
Skyline Potato continues growth curve
New equipment at two of its three sheds and additional storage keeps Skyline Potato Co. of Center, CO, in growth mode, and Chief Operations Officer Randy Bache said the focus will remain on the company’s multiple russet varieties and organic reds.
Bache said in late August that new-crop spuds from northern Colorado and Nebraska were shipping from the Center facility, and harvest on the 2013 San Luis Valley crop would begin soon. Bache, who also oversees operations at Skyview Cooling in Yuma, AZ, will remain at the Colorado operation through harvest, he said.
Giorgio Fresh says signs are that 2013 will be a record-breaking year in shipping
Bill Litvin, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Giorgio Fresh Co. in Temple, PA, said that with consumers doing their research prior to purchasing products at the grocery store today, the current industry trends have produced a positive effect on the specialty produce category.
“We have seen continued sales growth thanks in part to the trends that are consumer driven, such as organics and locally grown,” said Litvin. And that interest extends strongly to more unusual produce like exotic and wild mushrooms.”
Southern Specialties’ Peruvian asparagus hit stride in late August
“Peruvian asparagus, both green and white, are currently hitting their stride,” Charlie Eagle, vice president of business development for Southern Specialties, headquartered in Pompano Beach, FL, told The Produce News in late August. “We are looking forward to another year as ‘the’ leading grower and importer of fresh asparagus from Peru.”
The company’s asparagus programs offer customers numerous packaging choices. Its traditional one-pound bunches, packed 11 to a box is a popular pack with foodservice operators.
Jon Flora, Fry’s Food Stores president, dies
Jon C. Flora, president of Fry’s Food Stores in Arizona, passed away unexpectedly as the result of pulmonary thrombo embolism/deep vein thromposis Sept. 13. He was 58 years old.
No bottom of the barrel any time soon with specialty items
Many of our readers have shared their views about what constitutes a “specialty” fresh produce item. When those comments are compared, they condense down to about a paragraph’s worth of similar responses.
Fresh Tex Produce making big moves in the Roma and lime markets
Reputation is everything in the produce industry. Fresh Tex Produce of Alamo, TX, knows that and keeps a watchful eye on its client list.
‘Normal’ California kiwifruit crop is down from last year
“We are looking at a good total crop coming up” for the 2013 harvest of California kiwifruit, said Nick Matteis, an associate at Ag Association Management Services Inc. in Sacramento, CA, which administers the Kiwifruit Advisory Committee.
The committee is a federal marketing order that maintains industry statistics and specifies grade and size standards for all kiwifruit sold in the United States.