The opportunity for consumers to find good promotional deals on strawberries for Easter and beyond was shaping up nicely as of early March.

Consumers ought to be able to buy "a nice-eating strawberry at retail for Easter for $2 to $2.50 for a one-pound basket," Andy Gustavson, produce manager for Ben Lomond Market in Ben Lomond, CA, and produce supervisor for sister store Scotts Valley Market, told The Produce News March 8. "In the past, the price was a little higher," and two one-pound packs for $4 "will be a hot price" this Easter.

TAMPA, FL -- While abnormal weather in Florida this winter -- including two weeks of sub-freezing temperatures -- cost the state's potato growers some plants and early-season sales opportunities, it also created a market window that bodes well for the spring crop.

With Florida's fresh crop delayed, consumers will take a bigger bite out of storage potato supplies, in theory propping up the market when Florida potatoes finally come on between April 1 and the middle of the month.

NAPLES, FL -- Dwight Ferguson, chief executive officer and president of Naturipe Farms, announced March 19 a new executive management team structure for the company.

Effective April 1, Robert Verloop, currently senior vice president of sales and marketing, will be executive vice president of marketing; Brian Bocock, currently vice president of sales, will be vice president of product management; and Jim Roberts, currently senior director of retail sales, will serve as vice president of sales.

TAMPA, FL -- While January and February are typically boom months for Florida strawberries, this year's abnormal weather patterns continually pushed back harvesting and maturation so that the bulk of the Florida crop is just coming to market in mid-March.

After 75 years as a leader in Florida agriculture and at one time considered the nation's largest pepper grower, Dubois & Son in Boynton Beach has filed for bankruptcy protection.

The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection March 10 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Florida, listing $27.3 million in liabilities against $627,616 in assets, which are mainly comprised of trucks, equipment and machinery.

"Our international promotion efforts are ongoing," said Sue Johnson- Langdon, affectionately known as "Sweet Sue," the executive director of the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission, in Smithfield, NC. "We participated at Fruit Logistica in early February in Berlin through a company in the Netherlands that imports North Carolina sweet potatoes. Through this same company, we will be conducting sweet potato samplings in one of the smaller chain retailers in Germany."