As the new year rolled into its first week, Florida strawberries were in great shape with abundant volume, excellent quality and — unlike last year — a solid market.

Oppy is ringing in the new year with the announcement of four sales promotions.

Garland Jaeger, Derek Lenko, Matthew Giddings and Leslie Germain have taken on new roles aimed at growing customer relationships and creating new business for the Vancouver-based full-service produce marketer and distributor, according to David Smith, senior vice president of sales and categories.

Alpine Fresh Inc., a grower-packer-shipper of blueberries headquartered in Miami, announced that it has entered into a joint venture with blueberry grower Five Star Family Growers, based in Auburndale, FL.

Beginning in March, Alpine Fresh and Five Star will begin packing Florida-grown blueberries in a brand new, state-of-the-art packing facility. The new blueberry packingshed will be built from the ground up and will mark the beginning of the partnership.

The Texas International Produce Association announced that Bret Erickson has been named president and chief executive officer of the association, effective Jan. 7.

John McClung, who formerly held the top spot at TIPA, will continue to work with the organization and focus on leading the Border Issues Management Program initiative.

Wescott Agri Products, headquartered in Wenatchee, WA, markets its Washington state apples under the “Honeybear Brands” label. The company is responsible for marketing apples and pears from Crane & Crane Orchards and from Honeybear Growers Fruit, both located in Brewster, WA.

Don Roper, vice president of Wescott Agri Products, said that the “Honeybear Brands” label is the company’s national marketing label on fruit produced only in Washington.

A new storage facility constructed by Associated Potato Growers Inc. in Grand Forks, ND, became operational this past October. Manager Paul Dolan said the storage increased capacity by 60,000 hundredweight of potatoes.