As families anticipate the coming of the new school year, Produce for Kids is kicking educational opportunities into high gear with its fall campaign, “Healthy Schools, Healthy Minds.”

The nonprofit organization is partnering with DonorsChoose.org at selected grocery store chains during September and October, and shoppers are encouraged to help support local classroom projects by adding more fresh fruit and vegetables to their carts.

In mid-July, the FoodNetwork.com stated that summer produce won’t last long, and suggested that viewers “Make the most of it with our best recipes for tomatoes, corn, watermelon, zucchini, green beans and peaches.” And the website does just that by offering recipes like zucchini gratin, and cherry tomato salad with buttermilk-basil dressing, proving that even the most common and abundant fresh produce items can be given a dressed-up appearance and flavor.

WASHINGTON — Driven in part by drought relief, the House Republican leadership may schedule a vote next week on a one-year extension of the current farm bill, but advocates for a five-year measure hope a House floor vote moves them closer to a 2012 farm bill this year.

Donna Vis was driving by a ranch in Ventura County in California that was going out of business a few months back when she saw some old terra cotta pots sitting out in a field, for sale like most other items at the farm. She bought them, all 500,000 of them. When she told her husband and co-owner of River Ranch Farms in Oxnard, CA, Rudy Vis, he was a little skeptical at first.

Zespri announced the launch of its newest kiwifruit variety grown in New Zealand called SunGold, a hybrid of the Green and Gold varieties, which grows to a larger size than either variety.

Once a little-known tree, the Fraser fir is becoming America’s favorite Christmas tree. Each year, North Carolina Christmas tree growers harvest $85 million worth of Christmas trees, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and 90 percent of them are Fraser firs. They are shipped to all 50 states, Canada, Japan, Mexico and other points all over the world. North Carolina now ranks second in the nation in Christmas tree production.