WASHINGTON — The 2013 farm bill will take center stage May 14-15 when the Senate and House agriculture committees mark up different versions of the stalled five-year bill.

With the 2008 farm bill expiring Sept. 30, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has pledged to give farmers certainty and pass the bill before the next deadline.

Most but not all programs, including specialty crop research funding, are being implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through a nine-month extension.

New Zealand's Zespri announced its that its green, gold and organic kiwifruit varieties would be arriving in North America in mid-May, two weeks earlier than expected.

CMI, one of Washington state's larger grower-shippers of premium-quality conventional and organic apples, pears and cherries, announced that one of its owners and growers, McDougall & Sons, has broken ground on a new state-of-the-art facility.

CMI's expansion project will be done in two phases and is projected to be open for business by Sept. 1.

“We have been very busy building new programs and divisions,” Charlie DiMaggio, president of FresCo, located at the Hunts Point Terminal Market, told The Produce News. “This is only our second year in business, and like the first, it has been a very positive one.”

“Our family has been growing papayas in Colima, Mexico, for over 20 years,” Edgar Millan, general manager for Caraveo Papayas Inc., located on Randall Avenue in the Bronx, NY, told The Produce News. “We handle some other items, such as limes and mangos, but our primary focus is on the Maradol and the Tainung varieties of papaya.”

The company imports its products through McAllen, TX, and from there they are distributed primarily to the Northeastern United States, although a portion is shipped as far west as San Francisco and numerous areas in between.

Favorable weather in Washington state has given Walla Walla sweet onion growers there a leg up during the 2013 production season. "So far, so good," said Mike Locati, chairman of the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Marketing Committee. "Everything is in the ground, and everything is looking good."