With this year’s Maine broccoli season set to begin in mid-July, Fresh From the Start LLC is eager to offer its clients high-quality product that offers advantages over that which is sourced from the West Coast.

Curry Fruit Chile SA, based in Santiago, Chile, announced Boris Manz as its new general manager on June 30.

The unusually severe and cold winter of 2013-14 set back the timing of many crops throughout a number of areas in the eastern United States, including New Jersey. Most vegetables in the state started a week or two later than usual this spring, and it looks like peaches will see a late start as well.

“We’re definitely on the later side of what we traditionally would be seeing,” David Arena, president of Frank Donio Inc. in Hammonton, NJ, told The Produce News June 30.

DELTA, CO — The recent change of ownership at Hi-Quality Packing and its marketing arm, United Marketing Exchange, brings with it an expanded direction, according to company President Joe Davis and Chief Executive Officer-Chief Operating Officer Mike Gibson.

ALAMOSA, CO — With potato acreage up 8.5 percent over 2013’s numbers, Colorado Potato Administrative Committee Executive Director Jim Ehrlich responded optimistically when asked recently about the 2014 San Luis Valley crop.

In Ventura County, north of Los Angeles, lemons and avocados often compete for the same ground, and many growers produce both crops. For a good portion of the spring and early summer, those two crops also competed as to which had the higher f.o.b. prices. But as the summer wears on, both markets are expected to come off their highs, though they should remain strong relative to previous years.