WASHINGTON -- After the measure seemed hopelessly stalled, the Senate passed the 2007 farm bill Dec. 14, which will benefit fruit and vegetable growers, not in direct subsidies but in new funding for marketing, research and nutrition programs.

"After months of negotiations, we were able to work within a very strict budget allocation to complete our work and pass a farm bill that is good for agriculture, good for rural areas and good for the health of Americans," Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) said Dec. 14.

The Chilean fresh fruit season is kicking into high gear as the first ships from Valparaiso arrive in U.S. ports.

WASHINGTON -- A federal court has given the Bush administration until March 24 to revise its "no-match letter" regulation, and the Department of Homeland Security said it plans to publish a new proposal this month.

IRVINE, CA -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture appointed new members to the federal Hass Avocado Board during the board's Nov. 28 meeting. The HAB board of directors then elected the new term's officers: Len Francis as chairman, Jim Donovan as vice chairman, Don Reeder as treasurer (re-elected) and Ed Figueroa as secretary (re-elected). The officers will serve a one-year term ending November 2008.

NOGALES, AZ -- At the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas' board of directors meeting Tuesday, Dec. 4, members organized a selection committee to oversee the task of finding a candidate to fill the president's position for the association.

WASHINGTON -- Christopher Ranch Foods, based in Gilroy, CA, said that it has stopped sourcing fresh ginger from China after last summer's discovery of harmful pesticides and has switched to Brazilian varieties.

"No Chinese ginger will be brought in until they figure out what's going on" with the country's food-safety programs, said Bill Christopher, managing partner of Christopher Ranch. The company said that it now sources from Brazil half the year and Hawaii the other half, and it conducts its own tests for contaminants.