Richard Papen, sales manager of Papen Farms Inc. in Dover, DE, told The Produce News that prices are up across the board this year, and it’s not due to a shortage in volume or delayed movement.

“The price to produce a crop is simply too high to not raise prices somewhat,” said Papen. “We cannot grow product like we did years ago and come out profitable.”

Laurel Farms Auction Market in Laurel, DE, is getting an early start on its operation this year. Calvin Musser, market manager, told The Produce News that this is not because product is coming on early in the region. In fact, product is running a little late along the entire East Coast due to the cool and wet spring.

“We plan to start movement on June 25, about a week to 10 days later than normal,” Benny Hall Sr., owner of Benny Hall & Sons Inc. in Temperanceville, VA, told The Produce News on June 4. “We had a late planting because of the wet and cool spring. It was May before it finally started to warm up, and we’re getting plenty of heat now.”

Hall added that it’s been dry for the past month, but the storm that moved in from the middle of the country dumped a nice rain the previous weekend.

Tom Cullen, vice president of Thomas E. Moore in Dover, DE, told The Produce News that the company’s Eastern Shore potato crop is running between a week and 10 days late this year.

Kenneth Gad, vice president of Cambridge Farms Inc. in Boston, summarized his insights about the 2013 Eastern Shore potato deal this way. “I have every indication this season will be a win-win-win for everyone,” he told The Produce News. “I am thrilled to see [the growers] get a good return on their investment.”

Safeway Inc. has entered into an agreement to sell its Canadian operations through a sale of the net assets of Canada Safeway Limited to Sobeys Inc., a Canadian food retailer and wholly-owned subsidiary of Empire Company Limited, for C$5.8 billion in cash, plus the assumption of certain liabilities.