WASHINGTON " More than two dozen produce groups are urging the Senate to approve agriculture worker reform legislation, known as AgJOBS, that may be offered on the Senate floor during the week of April 11.

A reformed H-2A worker program is absolutely critical to all labor-intensive agriculture sectors, said Craig Regelbrugge, senior director of government relations for the American Nursery & Landscape Association.

ATLANTA " Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin announced that the Vidalia Onion Advisory Panel has selected April 28 as the shipping date to begin the 2005 Vidalia onion marketing season.

The panel selected the date after examining this year?s crop and determining the best times to harvest and begin shipping.

Salinas, CA-based Epic Roots LLC, a leading grower and distributor of mache-based salads, announced that its founder, Todd Koons, and mache were featured in the Culinary Renegades article in the April 4 issue of Time magazine.

The produce industry?s top growers and suppliers have joined together once again to organize the Don Strock Diabetes Classic, one of South Florida?s longer-running celebrity/amateur charity golf tournaments, which benefits the Diabetes Research Institute.

Two years ago, Progeny Advanced Genetics of Salinas pledged to keep alive the memory of John (Delta John) Gill, one of the Salinas Valley's more respected agricultural leaders, who died from Lou Gehrig's Disease (also known as ALS) in 2001.

On Wednesday, March 30, 2005, that promise was kept for a second year with the presentation of a second $10,000 check to the Community Foundation for Monterey County to be used for the John Gill ALS Patient Support Fund. The donation represents a portion of 2004 sales of Progeny's Delta John lettuce variety.

If you didn?t notice the macron (the long mark) over the "a? on the new fresh apple product being marketed in chainstores all over America, you would probably pronounce it stressing the "apple? portion of the word.

But the new "Grapple? brand apple does have a long mark on the "a? and is pronounced with the emphasis on "grape."

In the event that one forgets the proper pronunciation, the aroma of the product quickly corrects the error. The new Grapple product has a very strong scent of the Concord grape flavor, in which it has been dipped.