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. Cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums and Pluots will be anywhere from a week-and-a-half to two-and-a-half weeks later than last year for most varieties. Some early varieties appear to have light sets and extended maturity, meaning the fruit in any given orchard or even on the same tree

Mann Packing Co. in Salinas, CA, has announced the promotion of Mark Plantan to the position of vice president of retail sales. Mr. Plantan was previously Mann's director of value added/retail sales for the eastern United States. He replaces Craig Enos, who left the company April 7. In a statement, Mr. Plantan, who started with Mann in 1999 as a regional sales manager, said, "It's been a pleasure to work with the Mann Packing team and growing fresh-cut vegetable sales. We've seen double-digit growth in the category over the past four years, and Mann is committed to expanding it even further

VANCOUVER, BC -- Displaying a plethora of the fresh fruits and vegetables available from Mexican growers and exporters, the MexBest pavilion at the Canadian Produce Marketing Association's convention, here, was the largest in the show's 81-year history. "They have progressively gotten bigger and bigger," said Ron Lemaire, executive vice president of the association. "They moved to the larger pavilion format three years ago with great success." Mr. Lemaire said that the association considered "a true pavilion to have one organizer, not individual companies or groups that amalgamate themselves."

Growers, packers, processors and shippers of fresh and fresh-cut produce should be hearing the distant sound of drumming from the mighty jungle that is our nation's capital. Those aren't celebratory drums you are hearing either, particularly if your business includes lettuce, spinach or tomatoes. The Food & Drug Administration has issued two letters of concern addressed to the fresh produce industry (February 2004 and November 2005), an Action Plan to Minimize Foodborne Illness in Fresh Produce (2004) and most recently, a draft guide for the industry to minimize microbial food-safety hazards

Stakeholders on the federal, state and local levels are anticipating major economic changes to the port of Quincy, WA, in 2006 with the possibility the port will be selected as a demonstration site for a new refrigerated railcar hub. In addition, technology giants Microsoft and Yahoo have each expressed interest in locating "server farms," or massive Internet server storage facilities, in Quincy. "From our standpoint, all these things are good," said Pat Boss, business and public affairs adviser for the port of Quincy, who added that while other locations are being considered for the rail hub

Bob Nielsen, senior vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel of Salinas, CA-based Tanimura & Antle, left the company April 15 after 14 years. He has taken a position as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary with Monterey, CA-based Century Aluminum, a publicly owned, major aluminum producer. The move is bittersweet for Mr. Nielsen, 61, who said he looks back fondly on the people he's worked with at T&A and met in the produce industry. He said he's proud to have helped T&A evolve and develop from "a relatively small startup" to "become a more successful