The coming 2013 California apricot crop looks good “up and down the state,” according to Jim Lucich, a salesman at Blossom Hill Packing-Lucich Santos Farms in Patterson, CA. “There should be promotable volumes, and eating quality looks good.”

Apart from cherries, for which the company is best known, Grower Direct Marketing LLC in Stockton, CA, exclusive sales agent for O-G Packing, markets only one type of stone fruit — an exceptionally large proprietary early-season apricot appropriately named “Monster Cot.”

BRS Produce Co. Inc. was among the original tenants at the new Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market when it opened in June 2011. It occupies units D-2, D-3 and D-4.

Rick Milavsky, president, secretary and treasurer of the company works along with his father, Ron Milavsky, vice president. Rick Milavsky told The Produce News that the company continues to handle a full line of fruits and vegetables, with a particularly strong focus on tomatoes, mushrooms and a tropical line.

John DiFeliciantonio, a partner-owner of Ryeco LLC, located on the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, told The Produce News that the company is happy to announce that it has joined forces with Tom Aupperle, a highly experienced logistics’ expert, to form a new company called MVP Logistics LLC.

Last October, RJO Produce Marketing in Fresno, CA, and FoodLink in Los Gatos, CA, announced the formation of a strategic partnership under which RJO inspectors would use a proprietary, patent-pending system on mobile devices to provide customers with “detailed analysis and high-resolution pictures at the time of shipment,” with the information “automatically updated to the FoodLink network and available for review by the retail buyers.”

From May through October, beginning with cherries and apricots and continuing with both white flesh and yellow flesh peaches and nectarines as well as plums, Scattaglia Growers & Shippers in Traver, CA, has “a complete program on all commodities in the stone fruit category, and all colors,” according to Managing Partner Louis Scattaglia.

Importantly, the varieties the company has in its program have been selected for flavor, Mr. Scattaglia said. “Over the last eight to 10 years, we have been transitioning out of varieties that didn’t have the best eating quality.”