Hundreds of watermelon growers, shippers and industry affiliates took over the Westin La Cantera Resort in San Antonio, TX, Feb. 20-24 for the National Watermelon Association’s Centennial Celebration and annual convention.

WASHINGTON -- Produce companies may be focusing on changes coming from the new safe-growing standards proposed by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, but another one of its regulations, preventive controls, may have broader effect throughout the produce supply chain, Kathy Means, vice president of government relations and public affairs at the Produce Marketing Association, told FDA officials March 1.

After two rough years, Texas onion growers scaled back acreage by 20 percent this season, but with Northwest storage supplies low and Mexican sweet onions slowed to a trickle, Lone Star State growers are looking at promising markets and great weather that has helped Texas get out of the gate early and make the most out of what is in the ground.

The California Avocado Commission in Irvine, CA, is getting an earlier start in its promotional programs for the 2013 season than it has done for the last several years in support of what is expected to be heavier-than-usual volume in a large crop year.

Buoyed by an increase in assessment, the National Mango Board is ramping up its promotional programs in an effort to continue growing the mango category.

"With the increased assessment that we began collecting last fall, we have a very nice program in place for 2013," said Bill Vogel, president of Vision Produce Co. in Los Angeles, who is the 2013 chairman of the National Mango Board. "We've also been able to increase our research component by tying in with the Center for Produce Safety, which is doing a project for us this year."

The California crop is bigger this year and the crop for Eco Farms Avocados Inc. in Temecula, CA, is larger as well, said Steve Taft, president of Eco Farms, in an interview with The Produce News Feb. 21.

“It is really slow to get started, though,” he said. “Here it is almost the end of February, and we haven’t done 10 million pounds of fruit total [as an industry] out of 500 million” pounds estimated for the season. “So we are kind of backing ourselves into a bit of a corner with that, unfortunately.”