In mid-January, Okray Family Farms Inc. was packing russet potatoes only four days a week in a deliberate effort to slow shipping volume and lengthen the sales calendar for a short crop.

On Jan. 12, Mike Finnessy, a family owner (his mother was an Okray) of the grower-packer based in Plover, WI, indicated that Wisconsin's russet stocks on hand were down almost 1 million hundredweight over the previous year.

"Prices have been rising steadily, and we expect more increases as we go along," Mr. Finnessy said.

CENTER, CO — Anticipating a 25-percent hike in production costs, Jed Ellithorpe, farm and operations manager of Ponderosa Partnership, sister company and grower for Aspen Produce potato distributor, told The Produce News that the operation is maintaining a focus on "good domestic business."

Mr. Ellithorpe said in late December that Aspen Produce “is starting to see more regional sales in the Rocky Mountain area and the Southwest,” and he added that shipping costs are a primary factor in that uptick.

CENTER, CO — Well into its first full season of year-round fingerlings, Mountain Valley Produce, based here, is moving the specialty spud at a good rate, according to General Manager Ernie Myers.

The operation, which has grown and shipped Colorado fingerlings for several seasons, went year round in 2010, shipping product from California and Colorado to close the gap.

Describing post-holiday potato movement as brisk, Tonya McCormick, partner in H.R. Bushman & Son Corp. and manager of the Colorado office in Golden, told The Produce News that she continues to maximize relationships she's developed with Colorado spud grower-shippers.

Ms. McCormick, who is in her 10th year as partner in the St. Louis-based Bushman operation, works the Colorado office with her sister, Melodie Dorland. Ms. McCormick handles sales, and Ms. Dorland secures transportation.

Sales activity has ramped up for RPE, a second-generation potato and onion grower-shipper owned by the Wysocki Family of Companies in Bancroft, WI. The company markets potatoes grown in Colorado's San Luis Valley by Hi- Land Potato Co. and Metz Potato Co.

RPE Vice President of Marketing Randy Shell said that the addition of Colorado growers to its producer lineup has been beneficial. RPE is a year-round supplier of russets, also working with growers in Wisconsin and Idaho. The company has offices in Minnesota, Illinois and Georgia.

From his Atlanta office, Dave Yeager, new vice president of business development for Colorado-based Farm Fresh Direct LLC, said in early January that he sees his role with the potato distributor as a busy one.

"It's definitely in growth mode," Mr. Yeager, who came on board with Farm Fresh Direct in November 2010, said of the operation. He will continue to work from his Georgia office.