For Farm Fresh Produce Inc., which is based in Faison, NC, sweet potato production and sales were the basis for domestic growth and international market development. The firm has expanded its fresh produce export offerings, but sweet potatoes will remain its core business.

Farm Fresh ships between 800 and 900 40-foot containers of sweet potatoes a year. About 600 of these containers are exported. The firm has “a large network of growers” who pack the “Farm Fresh” brand, and all Farm Fresh products are GlobalGAP-certified.

As Mexico’s Baluarte Bridge nears its official opening — tentatively scheduled for later this year — and the city of San Antonio booming, Mexico’s Abasto Corp. is well-positioned to make the most of the produce industry’s next likely hotspot with the opening of the 80-acre San Antonio Wholesale Produce Market.

Whether they span a border or a mountain range, bridges are increasingly important in the Texas produce industry.

The completion of the Baluarte Bicentennial Bridge, officially the Guinness Book Record holder as the tallest cable-stayed bridge in the world at 1,322 feet above the valley below and the second highest bridge of any type, open Texas for the first time to truck traffic from western Mexico.

Construction began in 2008, was completed last year, and the bridge is expected to open to traffic before the end of 2013.

Rainier Fruit Co. in Yakima, WA, is providing retailers with the product and support necessary to stabilize dollar sales during deflationary periods. “Gala, Fuji and Granny are the new mainline variety sales in the domestic apple category,” said Director of Marketing Suzanne Wolter. “Additionally, newer apple varieties are the rock stars in the category having a significant impact stabilizing dollar sales in a deflationary period.

Product movement for Chelan Fresh Marketing, which represents more than 419 growers from its base of operations in Chelan, WA, is in full swing. “We’re selling everything right now,” said Director of Marketing Mac Riggin.

Apple and pear volume have been good, and Riggin said quality is excellent. By the end of October, Chelan Fresh had moved 12 percent of the overall crops. “The Bartlett deal has gone very well,” he noted.

Chelan Fresh moves product both domestically and to export markets. By the end of October, 26 percent of product movement was to offshore customers.

Kid Chef Eliana de Las Casas, a 13-year-old culinary prodigy, is a Taste Award honoree, a recipient of an award for Special Achievement in the Outstanding Kids category for her role as host of “Cool Kids Cook,” her weekly Web radio show on the VoiceAmerica Kids network.