A stock dividend payment has financial experts predicting a merger between The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc. in Montvale, NJ, and Pathmark Stores Inc. in Carteret, NJ. But retail produce industry experts don't see the possible marriage as a good fit.

A spokesman for Pathmark told The Produce News, "There is nothing I can or will say about that. We don't comment on rumors." Efforts to reach a spokesman for A&P were unsuccessful.

The California spring onion season starts around mid-April with onions out of the Imperial Valley in the state's southern desert region. That deal normally runs about six weeks, leading into the San Joaquin Valley onion harvest which starts around late May or early June. A late spring and summer deal, the San Joaquin Onion harvest begins around Bakersfield at the southern end of the valley and moving northward to the west side of the central San Joaquin Valley. The harvest generally continues into late August in the San Joaquin Valley.

The strawberry industry was among the very early segments of the produce industry to embrace the use of clear plastic clamshells for retail consumer packs. The majority of fresh strawberries now goes to market in clamshells. They are popular for many reasons: They display the product well, they protect it, they extend shelf life and reduce shrink, and they reduce labor costs at store level.

But there are downsides, one being the amount of non- biodegradable plastic waste generated by their use.

TexaSweet Citrus Marketing Inc., based in Mission, TX, announced the promotion of Eleisha Ensign to executive director. Ms. Ensign has been with the organization for two years as the marketing coordinator and replaces Lucy Garcia, who resigned to take a position with Imagination Farms LLC in Indianapolis.

Filmmakers Jamie Howell and Guy Evans are finding the Wenatchee, WA, area to be fertile ground for their upcoming documentary.

"Gee Whiz: the Story of Grady Auvil" will chronicle the legendary Washington orchardist and the unique ways in which he "forever changed the tree fruit industry."

Mr. Auvil, founder of Auvil Fruit Co., died in 1998 at the age of 93, but he passed along his sense of innovation and commitment to his descendants, who still operate the business.

Rain, hail, frost, cloud cover and below-normal temperatures have all had an impact on California stone fruit this spring. But as growers evaluated their orchards in mid-April, they were much more optimistic about what they were seeing than the general mood in the industry seemed to be a week earlier.