The first several weeks of the 2012 grape harvest in California's San Joaquin Valley went about as perfectly as one could wish in many regards, with excellent quality, exceptionally good movement and reasonable returns, according to growers and marketers.

The season was also running considerably earlier on most varieties than it had for the two previous years, but some growers feel that an extended stretch of hot weather that began around the first of August could delay some of the later varieties.

Stevco Inc., which is headquartered in Los Angeles and has branch offices in Nogales, AZ, and in Coachella and Bakersfield, CA, has California grapes over the course of a long season, starting in June with the Coachella deal and running through the San Joaquin Valley deal from early to late. But “the biggest part of Stevco’s program is the fall deal,” said Jared Lane, vice president of sales and marketing, in an interview with The Produce News Aug. 6.

Frank Tangredi, president of Northeast Apple Sales in Newburgh, NY, concurs with reports from across the country that this year’s national apple crop will be much shorter than normal.

“Here in the Hudson Valley, we have a decent crop,” Mr. Tangredi told The Produce News Aug. 9. “The Champlain, New York, area has a nice quality crop, but it’s not very big. If they get some rain before harvesting, the apples will size up nicely and they’ll have some nice quality to offer.”

Peter Forrence, vice president of Forrence Orchards in Peru, NY, told The Produce News Aug. 10 that the company’s apple crop is sufficient this year.

“We just have to get the fruit off of the trees and assess them,” said Mr. Forrence. “We won’t know precisely what we will have to distribute until mid- to late September.”

Harvesting at Forrence Orchards typically starts Sept. 1, and once the company has packed some cases, it will be able to offer a clear determination of the condition of the apples.

With a shared commitment to protecting the integrity of the greenhouse-growing process, Nature Fresh Farms is joining Certified Greenhouse Farmers, representing the "best of the best" in quality, food safety and environmental performance.

Problematic weather in Peruvian onion growing regions may affect product volume for Sweet Onion Trading Co., headquartered in Melbourne, FL. “There have been some weather issues that could affect supplies a little later in the season,” President Barry Rogers said Aug. 10.

Although Mr. Rogers said it is hard to predict volume for the current season, he expects Sweet Onion Trading will move fewer Peruvian sweet onions. “We will only ship sweet onions that meet our quality standards,” he said.