Alpine Fresh Inc., a grower-packer-shipper of blueberries headquartered in Miami, announced that it has entered into a joint venture with blueberry grower Five Star Family Growers, based in Auburndale, FL.

Beginning in March, Alpine Fresh and Five Star will begin packing Florida-grown blueberries in a brand new, state-of-the-art packing facility. The new blueberry packingshed will be built from the ground up and will mark the beginning of the partnership.

The Texas International Produce Association announced that Bret Erickson has been named president and chief executive officer of the association, effective Jan. 7.

John McClung, who formerly held the top spot at TIPA, will continue to work with the organization and focus on leading the Border Issues Management Program initiative.

Wescott Agri Products, headquartered in Wenatchee, WA, markets its Washington state apples under the “Honeybear Brands” label. The company is responsible for marketing apples and pears from Crane & Crane Orchards and from Honeybear Growers Fruit, both located in Brewster, WA.

Don Roper, vice president of Wescott Agri Products, said that the “Honeybear Brands” label is the company’s national marketing label on fruit produced only in Washington.

A new storage facility constructed by Associated Potato Growers Inc. in Grand Forks, ND, became operational this past October. Manager Paul Dolan said the storage increased capacity by 60,000 hundredweight of potatoes.

RPE, a grower-shipper of potatoes and onions located in Bancroft, WI, has introduced a new name to its family of brands: "Old Oak Farms." This will be the core commodity brand for the company moving forward and will be widely available this year.

Statistics gathered by Domex Superfresh Growers provide positive trigger points for a successful season for the 2012-13 apple crop.

“The industry, through Dec. 1, has shipped over five million more boxes of apples — or 20 percent more apples — than the same period last year. Domex has a record crop with volume up over 30 percent when compared to last year’s crop,” Vice President of Marketing Howard Nager told The Produce News on Dec. 12. “From Sept. 1 through Dec. 1, Domex has sold over 25 percent of our annual crop.”