Monte Vista, CO — Monte Vista Potato Growers General Manager Steve Tillman said the cooperative’s nine-farm grower base has stayed stable in both acreage and production over the past several years, and in early January, Mr. Tillman said the shed was “basically right on track with what we usually are at this time of year” with shipments.

Center, CO — “We had good holiday sales, and our business hasn’t been bad,” David Tonso, president of Cañon Potato Co. in Center, CO, said in late December.

The season, which had gotten off to a slow start, picked up during Thanksgiving and stayed steady, Mr. Tonso added.

However, due to the San Luis Valley’s critical water shortage and lower yields, acreage had been cut back, and supplies were short.

“We’re down between 33 and 35 percent,” Mr. Tonso said of stocks. “That’s across the board, in every variety. And we will clean up in May.”

Fred Hess, co-owner of Hess Bros. Fruit in Lancaster, PA, told The Produce News that his brother, Jerry Hess, who was previously his partner in the business, has retired.

“I now have three new partners,” said Mr. Hess. “Jerry’s son, Ryan Hess; my nephew, Andy Figart; and Jerry’s son-in-law, Zack King — who are all young men — have joined me in ownership and management of the company. They have all worked for the firm for some time.”

An event totally unexpected on the Mayan calendar will take place on March 19, 2013, when Diamond Fruit Growers in Hood River, OR, hits the venerable age of 100 years.

The passage has not gone unnoticed.

This spring, retailers can look to Oppy for top-quality, B.C.-grown sweet Bell peppers in abundance thanks to a unique new alliance. But they won't have to wait for a first taste of this new greenhouse partnership, which also adds year-round volumes of long English cucumbers to the marketer's offerings.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said its estimate of the 2012-13 Florida citrus crop has decreased almost 3 percent to 142 million boxes.

The majority of the decrease occurred in Valencias, which declined 3 million boxes to 76 million from the USDA's December estimate. Early-mids decreased 1 million boxes to 66 million boxes.

The USDA makes its first estimate in October of each year and revises it monthly as the crop takes shape until the end of the season in July.