After seven years as sales manager for Atlanta-based distributor General Produce Inc., Andrew Scott is leaving, effective June 12, to explore other opportunities in the produce industry.

Scott will continue in his role as president of the Southeast Produce Council, an organization he has served in a leadership capacity since 2004.

There is often a bit of overlap between the end of the spring grape deals out of Sonora, Mexico, and Southern California's Coachella Valley and the start of the summer grape harvest in Central California's San Joaquin Valley. Sometimes the overlap is slight; sometimes there is virtually none at all, or even a gap.

Stemilt Growers, one of Washington state's larger apricot grower-shippers, is set to begin harvest of its 2013 crop June 24.

Fresh-market bulb onions are produced throughout California, with the main production areas being the low desert, the San Joaquin Valley and the southern and central coast. Planting takes place from September through May, and harvesting “begins in April or May and is usually completed in September,” according to “Fresh-Market Bulb Onion Production in California,” a publication on the subject published by the University of California Research & Information Center

Paramount Citrus, a leading U.S. citrus grower, announced the launch of a new premium California mandarin brand, Wonderful Halos, and revealed plans to spend a record $100 million over the next five years as part of an integrated, national campaign to market the "pure goodness" and uniquely delicious taste of the sweet, seedless, easy-peel fruit.

San Diego-based Coast Tropical built a couple of new packingsheds in Mexico last year, and this year the company is reaping the rewards.

“So far we have had a steady increase in volume all year,” said Isabel Freeland, vice president of the firm. “The quality has been very good. We’ve had a very good crop of Ataulfos, especially.”