The pumpkin crop of Todd Greiner Farms, based in Hart, MI, “is looking very excellent,” according to the company’s owner, Todd Greiner. Shipping will begin on schedule soon after Labor Day,

On Aug. 3, Mr. Greiner said, “Our pumpkins are looking very nice. We have excellent quality.”

The company has planted 300 acres of pumpkins, which is about a 10 percent increase in volume over a year ago. The plantings of farms are staggered to extend the harvest season, Mr. Greiner indicated.

Dan D. Costa Inc., which is located near Manteca, CA, specializes in pumpkins, mini-pumpkins, gourds and other ornamental produce items for fall décor. Complementing that product line, the company now offers also a line of fresh cut hard shell or winter squash in some innovative consumer pack styles.

The Monte Vista Potato Growers Cooperative Association is deeply rooted in the history of Colorado’s San Luis Valley. “MVPG was chartered under the Caper Volstad Act in 1923 and has been in continuous operation since that time,” General Manager Steve Tillman told The Produce News on Aug. 23. “Currently we have eight active members growing approximately 2,000 acres of potatoes.”

According to Mr. Tillman, the association’s growers primarily produce russets and yellows. “We are planning on having a limited supply of reds this season,” he added.

Shannon Casey, sales manager for RPE-Colorado, predicts the company will move 500,000 hundredweight of quality potatoes for Hi-Land Potato Co., based in Monte Vista, CO. RPE, a second-generation potato and onion grower-shipper owned by the Wysocki Family of Cos., is headquartered in Bancroft, WI.

Last year, the two companies joined forces, and RPE opened its sales office at Hi-Land “RPE is the exclusive marketer of Hi-Land Potato,” Mr. Casey told The Produce News on Aug. 23.

CENTER, CO — As they awaited certification by Primus Labs as Global Food Safety Initiative-compliant, sales and logistics staffers at Skyline Potato Co. in Center, CO, were also moving potatoes out of Nebraska and looking to the start of the 2011-12 San Luis Valley season as well.

“We have three sheds in operation and are able to meet all of our customers’ needs,” said Randy Bache, general manager and chief operating officer of Skyline and chief operating officer of Fresh Innovations LLC, produce grower-shipper and Skyline sister company in Yuma, AZ.

Noting a “fluid” potato market in late August as harvest of the 2011 potato crop was getting underway in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, H.R. Bushman Corp. Sales Manager Sal Pupillo said conditions will naturally change when the spuds are out of the fields and in storage.

From his office in St. Louis, Mr. Pupillo said on Aug. 30, “As soon as we get into storage, supply and demand take over.”

He said that Bushman has started moving northern Colorado potatoes, and he said that in the fluctuating market cartons “seem to be holding their own.”