Old Man Winter has had an unusually strong grip on the country this year. While northerners were dealing with snow and brutally cold weather, plant growers from around the country gathered Jan. 22-24 in warm Fort Lauderdale, FL, for the annual Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition. It was an outstanding event that brought together growers, sellers and buyers from all over the world. We have the on-the-scene report of what took place, who the players were and a pictorial tour of the event.

National sweet potato marketing conditions "are better than what it was a year ago," said Charlie Walker, executive secretary of the Columbia, SC-based U.S. Sweet Potato Council Inc. "The growers feel they ought to get more out of the market. Production is down and there is a concern there are not stronger prices."

National sweet potato production is down 6.4 percent from the 2012 crop, and prices on Jan. 23 were a dollar or two per carton above the same level of a year earlier, according to Walker.

Since its acquisition by Pacific Trellis on Jan. 1, Dulcinea Farms has turned its attention to spring and summer production for this year.

"Melon season has become a year-round business but there is such an increase in watermelon demand starting in May versus the winter months," John McGuigan, general manager of Dulcinea Farms, said in a press release. "It's important we kick off the season with strong quality and marketing promotions in place to support the largest volume year so far for Dulcinea."  

Los Angeles-based Sunrise Produce Co. recently named Lisa Andrea Marquez vice president of sales.

Marquez joined the Sunrise sales team in 2010, and one year later became the director of sales. In her new as vice president of sales, Marquez will lead the company in sales, channel sales, marketing and overall customer service organization.

From his Monte Vista-area office, David Tonso, general manager of RPE Colorado, said 2013’s San Luis Valley crop continues to ship in “steady volume and with good quality.”

Tonso, who took the GM position in July 2013, oversees RPE’s Colorado office at Hi-Land Potato Co., where spuds from Metz Potato Co. and Spud Seller are also packed and shipped.

“We’re seeing an annual volume of 2.5 million hundredweight, mostly russets,” he said, adding that the operation also ships reds, yellows and some colored specialty varieties.

“We fared OK through the storm in January,” Kevin Donovan, national sales manager for Phillips Mushroom Farms in Kennett Square, PA, told The Produce News. “We did not lose power, and our staff and our trucks were, for the most part, able to get to where they needed to be. We got some snow and cold temperatures, but it was a lot worse just north of us.”

Donovan was referring to the polar vortex that swept across North America in early January. The weather phenomenon blanketed the Northeast with record low temperatures.