STILLWELL, KS — With industry consolidation in Kansas City and a corresponding drop in produce buyers, “we are expanding to other parts of the country,” said Jimmy Connell, a salesman and family owner of Keith Connell Inc.

“Our numbers are growing. Our business is pretty good right now,” he added.

This, despite the fact that “options in Kansas City aren’t what they used to be.” The firm operates from a spacious new office in Kansas City’s southern suburbs.

Tom Lange Co. added produce veteran Mark Krauter to its sales team. Krauter has worked with fresh fruits and vegetables in both North America and South America, most recently serving as director of international sales for Amerifresh. He will be opening a sales office in Visalia, CA, operating under Lange’s Seven Seas banner.

The office will focus on sourcing California and Arizona fruits and vegetables for customers throughout the United States and Canada, as well as select export customers.

NORTH KANSAS CITY, MO — C&C Produce Co., located here, is taking the “locally grown” produce category to new heights.

Nick Conforti, Sr., one of three C&C partners, hired Chris Shea, to lead C&C’s local product market development. “We have a lot of customers interested in the flavor profile” of locally-grown produce, Conforti said. “It is ripe and fresh. And, there is the support of the community, where it is important to the end consumer. But the most important of these is the flavor profile.”

OVERLAND PARK, KS — Filling gaps for regional wholesalers is the niche of Dennis Finucane, the owner of the produce brokerage F.G.F. Co., here.

Jim Gilson is an F.G.F. partner and works with Finucane on the sales desk.

“We put mixers together,” Finucane told The Produce News. “No order is too small, but we put together as decent of a load as we can. We’ll do a two- or three-pallet drop.”

Beyond this Kansas City area, Finucane serves wholesalers in Joplin and Springfield, MO, Pittsburg, KS, and Oklahoma City.

MANHATTAN, KS — In 1948, Britt’s Farm Market was established on a long stretch of Kansas Highway 18 connecting this college town, Manhattan, with nearby Ft. Riley, KS.

The fruit and vegetable operation has always been a well-known local landmark.

Over the years, the farm expanded to 400 acres of rich Kansas River bottomland, nestled between Kansas’ scenic Flint Hills.

As often happens when economic progress collides with agriculture, the farming side can literally be bulldozed.

In July, a feasibility study will be released on establishing a regional food hub in Kansas City.

The Greater Kansas City Food Policy Coalition website reports that last summer the Kansas City Food Hub Working Group received funding from the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City and the Kansas Health Foundation to study local food hub feasibility. It is a year-long study.

Scott Danner, the COO of Liberty Fruit Co., Inc., in Kansas City, KS, said his firm is supportive of the effort.