The front end of the grape season in the San Joaquin Valley of California was slow to start, with early varieties, particularly Flame seedless, being not only delayed by the unusually cool, wet spring weather but beset with quality problems and packing out under estimate. Many growers said it has been a year like none they remember.

But late-summer and fall varieties appear to be returning to a more normal timing and are expected to have much better quality and packouts.

Peru's citrus export season is winding down, with better-than-expected results.

Exporter Alex Gallagher, general manager of Procesadora Laran, headquartered in Chincha, Peru, said that the season was stronger than some anticipated.

WASHINGTON -- The Mexican government has announced that more U.S. products will be added to its retaliatory tariff list, signaling negotiations in the 17-month trucking dispute between the two trading partners are no closer to being resolved.

After Congress killed a two-year-old pilot program that was allowing some Mexican truckers to haul cargo in the United States, Mexico retaliated in March 2009 by imposing tariffs on 89 U.S. products, including cherries, grapes, lettuce, almonds, apricots and pears.

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TX - As is increasingly the case these days when producers and purveyors of produce gather, food safety was a dominant topic at the 2010 Texas Produce Association Convention, held here Aug. 11-13 at the Sheraton Beach Hotel.

Although exports of Peruvian onions grew by 38 percent during the 2009 season, volumes imported by the United States are expected to remain relatively stable in the coming years.

"It is not advisable to increase export volume this year," said Miguel Ognio, president of the Onion Subcommittee of the Peruvian Exporters Association. "[The] United States, which is the main market, is consuming more, and we must maintain the volume. Therefore, we must be very careful of not swamping any market. It would be dangerous for our products."