DETROIT — Ben B. Schwartz & Sons Inc. on the Detroit Produce Terminal, here, has just completed the best year in its long history and is looking to the future as the next generation of leadership at the company is finding its footing.

Nate Stone, chief operating officer of the 105-year-old company, said that 2010 "was a blockbuster. This company has been in business over 100 years; that was the best year in the history of the company."

DETROIT — R.A.M. Produce Distributors LLC has launched a line of organic produce under its own brand, "Organic Girl." The firm is developing the line slowly, employing a strategy of crawling before walking.

“We just started it, so we are in the crawl stage before we walk,” Mike Badalament, sales representative, told The Produce News in early January. “Organics are not for everyone because of the price. It is a huge commitment [to develop an organic line], but we see growth [and potential] there. We have been handling it the right way, which has been very conservatively.”

DETROIT — Devoting more attention to foodservice business in recent years, Rocky Produce Inc. on the Detroit Produce Terminal, here, is seeing its efforts pay off as that segment of its business grows.

DETROIT — An expansion at its off-market facility and a new deal with Farmer's Best International LLC have resulted in some additions to the product offerings at Aunt Mids Produce Co., here on the Detroit Produce Terminal.

"We are now handling the 'Farmers Best’ line of Mexican vegetables," Dominic Riggio, president of Aunt Mids, told The Produce News. The deal began in November and involves items such as squashes, peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes. “Our businesses are both very quality-oriented, and it seemed like a natural fit.”

This winter and spring, the russet potato market "will continue to climb because of a lack of potatoes out there," according to Tom Lundgren. The president of Spud City Sales LLC in Stevens Point, WI, hopes the national industry's conservative potato acreages “will continue the trend this fall.” This will happen “if people don’t go too crazy on planting. It has been the same thing since I started 25 years ago. It’s all in supply and demand.”

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.