The 2014 Valentine’s Day initial sales reports from different parts of the country showed variable results, but indicated a slight increase over last year.

Paul Harris, sales and farm liaison for Tradewinds International in Boulder, CO, after polling member-wholesalers around the country, said that holiday business improved as you moved from the East Coast to the West Coast.

“People in the Northeast got hammered, but the numbers got better as you moved west. In fact, one wholesaler in Colorado reported a 24 percent sales increase over 2013,” Harris said.

One of the more popular flowering potted plants in North America is the Easter lily. These lilies are heavily marketed for the Easter holiday season, usually during the week immediately prior to Easter.

Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. This year it falls on April 20.

Administrative Professionals Week is observed the last full week of April (this year, April 20-26), with the Wednesday of that week set aside as Administrative Professionals Day (this year, April 23).

Over the years, Administrative Professionals Day has become one of the larger workplace observances and its purpose is to honor the growing and diverse contributions of secretaries, administrative assistants and other office professionals.

Weather, and its effects, have permeated most of the 2014 agricultural industry news — crops freezing in Florida and California, a drought in the West, the polar vortex pushing up heating costs for nurseries, ice storms and blizzards snarling distribution of perishable products. It has been a challenging year so far, to say the least.

The Jan. 24 opening of RLB Food Distributors’ newly acquired 40,000-square-foot refrigerated facility in Fairfield, NJ, has greatly increased the company’s warehousing capabilities.

This added space provides eight additional loading bays to the company’s 85,000-square-foot 13-bay warehouse located three miles away at the company’s headquarters in West Caldwell. Produce shippers benefit as well, as the increase in slotting capacity will allow for a stronger product foothold in RLB’s market area, which spans from northern Virginia to Boston.

RIO RICO, AZ — Veteran truck broker Leo Perez joined the staff of Unlimited Logistics, here, in mid-January. Unlimited Logistics is a truck brokerage owned by Keith Connell Inc., which has offices in Rio Rico, as well as its Kansas City headquarters.

Working with Perez on the trucking side in the Rio Rico office is Danny Sanchez, who is also involved in produce sales. Also on the Rio Rico produce sales desk is German (Junior) Gallego Jr.