Apricots, being vulnerable to frost and hail, have taken a hit from inclement weather in some growing areas over the last year or so.

But the 2013 California fresh apricot crop, as of mid-April, was shaping up to be a full crop with good quality and ample promotional opportunities, according to growers in California’s San Joaquin Valley, where the majority of the nation’s fresh apricots are produced.

The Chuck Olsen Co. Inc. in Visalia, CA, is in the fresh grape business pretty much year round, with product from Chile, Mexico and California — the company’s main deal comes out of California.

In Mexico, “we are not monsters down there,” said Jeff Olsen, president. “We have about 100,000 boxes total,” consisting of about 70 percent red seedless grapes and about 30 percent green seedless, with “a few blacks mixed in there.” The red grapes are all Flames, and the greens are Sugraones. The program is the same as last year.

Grower Direct Marketing LLC in Stockton, CA, exclusive sales agent for O-G Packing Co., has “hired a marketing person that will enhance our sales staff,” according to Don Walters, a partner in Grower Direct.

Even before the trade show doors opened to anticipated record numbers, a lot went on at the CPMA Convention & Trade Show in Toronto. Whether in formal meeting rooms, in hotel lobbies or on the shuttle buses to and from the Direct Energy Centre, business relationships are being formed, renewed and strengthened.

The 2013 Mexican grape season is expected to start out a little later and a little lighter than normal, but with full crops, abundant promotional opportunities and normal timing from late May or early June through the end of June, according to most of the growers, shippers and marketers The Produce News talked to about the deal.

WASHINGTON — The Food & Drug Administration plans to extend the May 16 comment period on two food-safety rules by another 120 days, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg announced at an April 18 congressional hearing on FDA's spending plan for fiscal 2014.

Ms. Hamburg appeared before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee to defend the administration's budget proposal when she was asked by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) whether FDA would extend the comment period on the produce safety and preventive controls proposals.