Bob Von Rohr, director of customer relations for Sunny Valley International headquartered in Glassboro, NJ, told The Produce News that this year’s blueberry and peach crops are trending more towards a normal start.

“We had an early start with New Jersey’s crops last year,” said Von Rohr. “This year we’ll be moving foward on a normal time schedule. Blueberries will start by mid-June, and peaches will start the beginning of July.”

The past winter weather has been perfect for both crops. Von Rohr said there were plenty of dormant hours and moisture during the growing season.

Nelly Yunta is vice president of sales, marketing and customer care, liner and logistics business groups for Crowley Maritime Corp., headquartered in Jacksonville, FL. Customized Brokers is the Miami-based division of Crowley Maritime.

Yunta said that the company is involved with numerous New Jersey distributors because they bring a great deal of produce in from South and Central America.

“We have a buyer stationed at the Vineland Auction during New Jersey’s production season,” said Mike Maxwell, president of Philadelphia-based Procacci Bros. “We purchase just about every product from every grower who comes through the auction house. New Jersey’s season is a very important part of Procacci’s locally grown program.”

The company’s Santa Sweets subsidiary is located in Cedarville, NJ. Maxwell said it is 1,600 acres, making it one of the larger tomato growers in the state.

VINELAND, NJ — M. D’Ottavio Produce Inc., a grower-shipper headquartered here in the heart of New Jersey’s fresh produce area and well known for its extensive line of fresh vegetables, announced that it has committed to a strong, full-fledged program of Jersey Fresh blueberries.

Tom Sheppard, president of Eastern Fresh Growers Inc., in Cedarville, NJ, told The Produce News that the company is at a higher level of food safety this year.

“We sell a lot of our leaf items to bagging companies, and they have very heavy food-safety requirements,” said Sheppard. “We have GAP’s [Good Agricultural Practices] Harmonized Food Safety Standard and PrimusGFS [Global Food Safety] certification, so we are well ahead of what companies today demand, and we intend on staying ahead in the future.”

The consensus among cherry growers in the Pacific Northwest is that the 2013 crop will fall within the 16-18 million box range. Growers from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Utah met May 15 to discuss prospects for the coming season, agreeing that the crop size would not be as large as initially expected. The effects will be most directly felt in the marketplace during the early season.