“This year we plan to start on June 11, working Wednesdays and Fridays only until July 2,” Calvin Musser, market manager for Laurel Farmers’ Auction Market in Laurel, DE, told The Produce News.

“Then, on July 7, we move to a six-day-a-week operation until approximately Sept. 5. Product is running a little late along the entire East Coast due to the cool and wet spring,” Musser added.

“Our Eastern Shore potato harvesting in Cape Charles, VA, will start on about June 24 and will run for its normal month to six-week program,” Tom Cullen, vice president of Thomas E. Moore in Dover, DE, told The Produce News in late May.

The effects of delayed planting are being mitigated as growers see temperatures warming up for this year’s Eastern Shore potato deal. “Heat has caused the crop to catch up,” said Kenneth Gad, vice president of Cambridge Farms Inc. in Boston, MA. “I’m looking for it to be a high-quality crop with normal yields. The size profile will be fine.”

Cambridge markets reds, whites, yellows and russets. Production typically begins in late June and continues into August.

“We are proud to announce that our PTI [Produce Traceability Initiative] system was installed this year,” David Hickman, vice president of Dublin Farms Inc. in Horntown, VA, told The Produce News. “The barcode system gives the GPS location of the field where every potato was actually grown, improving traceability on our products and keeping us on the leading edge of food safety.”

In 2010, the company was certified Good Agriculture Practices and it has recertified every year. In 2013, it was certified under the new GAP Harmonized audit.

“We are pleased with how the year is laying out,” said Shaun Ricks, vice president of Eagle Eye Grape Guys LLC in Visalia, CA, a subsidiary of Eagle Eye Produce Co. in Idaho Falls, ID. “We feel we will be up about 25 percent from last year” in San Joaquin Valley grapes for the 2014 season.

The company will have new acreage I production this year in several varieties, including several new varieties. Much of that will be in mid and late season varieties. However, The Grape Guys will also see increases in two varieties for the early season.

With an anticipated start date the week of June 23 for the start of the company’s grape harvest in the San Joaquin Valley, Fruit Royale Inc. in Delano, CA, Louie Galvan, a partner in the company, expected a smooth transition from its Mexican grape program, with no major gaps despite the Mexican season winding down earlier than usual.