Recent weather events that have decreased sweet potato inventories combined with strong demand on the domestic and export markets should bolster prices for sweet potato growers this year, according to industry members.

“We have begun shipping what will be a bountiful blueberry season out of British Columbia,” Charlie Eagle, vice president of business development for Pompano Beach, FL-based Southern Specialties, told The Produce News in mid-July. “We have been shipping blueberries from this region for over 10 years. They are available under the ‘Southern Selects’ label in full pint and 18-ounce clamshells.” 

Sales agents at longtime Colorado broker Ringer & Son are reporting mixed conditions for some of the state’s most popular produce crops. Sweet corn will come in late but should bring volume similar to past years; peaches are down considerably due to early freezes; and Rocky Ford cantaloupe is up 20 to 30 percent over 2012.

According to Ringer President Joshua Johnson, growers Mike Ahlberg and sons, Zach and Scott, will start harvesting famed Olathe-area sweet corn from 600-plus acres near Delta, CO, around July 20, and loads will continue to go out through mid-September.

Stellar Distributing will start shipping California chestnuts Sept. 1, as it have for the past 15 years, according to Kurt Cappeluti, sales manager. Stellar will ship the California chestnuts through September.

New to Stellar’s repertoire are Italian chestnuts, which will start Sept. 20. The Italian chestnuts will extend Stellar’s shipments to mid-January, which will allow for holiday promotions.

Stellar ships around 2.5 million nine-kilo boxes of kiwis a year, domestic and imported. Cappeluti said kiwi buyers have been asking about chestnuts, too.

The New Jersey Peach Promotion Council is now making it easy for buyers to find when and where to buy locally grown Jersey Fresh peaches, by means of an upgraded social media package that integrates its website, Facebook, and Twitter.

PHILADELPHIA — The infrastructure along the Delaware River is uniquely positioned to handle imports of international fruits and vegetables. With major facilities from Wilmington, DE, upriver to Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, a network of expediters, transporters, fumigators and cold storage facilities exist that tie a bow on the import package.