Big Chuy Distributors & Sons Inc. in Nogales, AZ, which is in the watermelon business year round and in hard shell squash, sweet corn, Italian squash and some other items seasonally, will have “pretty much the same program as we have in past years” for “the winter deal this year,” according to Jesus (Chuy) Lopez Jr., the company’s president.

“The volume hasn’t changed,” Mr. Lopez continued. “We will maintain about the same.”

The selection committee for the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame announced five distinguished leaders will be inducted during the 51st Citrus Celebration Luncheon Feb. 27 at Florida Southern College in Lakeland.

Homer E. Hooks of Lakeland and J. Brantley Schirard of Ft. Pierce, FL, will be honored along with three others who will be inducted posthumously: Col. Francis L. Dancy, Paul L. Harding and Mathew K. Veldhuis.

Steve Tweten, chief executive officer for NoKota Packers, provided The Produce News with his comments and observations about the 2012 potato production season.

“We, at NoKota Packers, harvested the tonnage we expected to and filled our storage completely,” he stated. “The Red River Valley, as a whole, is right at the five-year average for storage volume.”

NoKota Packers is headquartered in Buxton, ND, and has more than three decades of experience storing, washing and packaging tablestock potatoes for resale. 

“We finally moved into our new facility,” said Marco Barreda, vice president of Veggies Inc. in Nogales, AZ, in an interview with The Produce News.

The new facility is 25,000 square feet in size, with a fully refrigerated warehouse and “a tremendous amount of office space compared to before.” The facility is about double the size of the company’s previous warehouse and offices, Mr. Barreda said. It is Primus-certified and includes “a special room where we have everything set up for our repack line.”

Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. announced the promotion and appointment of Keith Benoit to vice president of global partners and developing markets. Mr. Benoit was formerly the director of international/Latin America markets and director of special markets. He will now be overseeing all business development in the Latin America and Asia Pacific regions, and will also manage Ocean Spray’s North America alliance with PepsiCo.
 

During the award presentations following the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Coach Gary Andersen said, "The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl belongs to the Aggies," as he accepted a trophy shaped as a crystal bowl loaded with Idaho potatoes.

After scoring 28 points in the fourth quarter, the Aggies won their second-ever bowl game by defeating the Toledo Rockets 41-15.