On Aug. 19, Tom Sheppard, president of Eastern Fresh Growers Inc., in Cedarville, NJ, told The Produce News that some areas of New Jersey had rough weather during the fall growing season, but that the company was spared nearly all of it.

Jeffrey Steiner, deputy director of the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station, said the San Luis Valley Research Center has proven to be an invaluable asset to the region’s potato industry.

“We support in seven of eight of the college campuses. In the San Luis Valley, the primary focus is on potatoes,” Steiner told The Produce News. “What we take pride in is a truly public-private partnership. Because of this, the industry has provided great support.”

The University of Minnesota has awarded Stemilt Growers the license to grow, pack, and market a new, early-to-ripen apple cultivar. The patent name for the cultivar is MN55, and the University of Minnesota plans to trademark a name for the fruit in conjunction with Stemilt in the near future.

Whole Foods Market and one-hour grocery delivery service Instacart announced a new partnership that enables customers to have Whole Foods products delivered in as little as one hour. Customers will soon also have the option to place orders via Instacart and pick up their order at a local participating Whole Foods store.

Ready Pac Foods Inc. announced that Jay Ellis has been named chief sales officer. Ellis will be responsible for utilizing best practices to establish and meet sales targets and ensure the best possible service and effective communications with Ready Pac customers. Along with building and developing the Ready Pac sales team, he will manage and direct the execution of sales plans and initiatives across all sales channels.

With most North Carolina farms growing diverse crops, it's hard to pinpoint a solid start date for the harvest of North Carolina sweet potatoes, according to Steven Ceccarelli, the owner of Farm Fresh Produce Inc., based in Faison, NC.

Ceccarelli said Sept. 5 that about 10-20 percent of the sweet potato harvest was complete. But many growers also harvest tobacco, and from a farm management and labor point of view, tobacco harvest would precede sweet potatoes. Farmers of peanuts or other crops would have still other harvest schedules.