Backyard Farms LLC, one of the larger New England greenhouse growers of vine-ripened tomatoes, announced that it would begin construction of its second greenhouse in Madison, ME, this fall. Approximately 75 new workers will be hired for the facility next spring.

The California citrus industry, in cooperation with the California Department of Food & Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, SAGARPA (the Mexican ministry of agriculture) and other agencies, has gone into a full- court-press defensive posture in an effort to delay the entrance into California of a tiny insect pest called the Asian citrus psyllid after the pest was found June 26 in citrus trees in Tijuana, Mexico, just four blocks from the U.S.-Mexico border.

WASHINGTON -- Tomato growers will get a chance to tell their stories about the millions of dollars lost during what they call a botched investigation into the recent Salmonella outbreak at two congressional hearings scheduled for the last week of July.

MONTREAL -- Robert Beauregard resigned as Sobeys Ontario's senior director of produce merchandising and procurement and has joined Metro Inc. as its new director of central negotiation for produce for Ontario and Quebec.

Mr. Beauregard will report to Bernadette Hamel, Metro's senior director for produce replenishment, merchandising and central procurement. Ms. Hamel told The Produce News July 23 that he will be starting his new position July 28.

Rainmaker Media Group, a Charleston, WV-based advertising, marketing and public relations firm, has been hired by Waterford, MI-based Saven Corp., owners of the Oso Sweet onion, to promote its winter and spring sweet onions.