Farmers have been the backbone of America for a very long time. In fact, archaeologists determined that agriculture first took place around 7,000 B.C.

In 1790, the total U.S. population was 3,929,214 and farmers made up 90 percent of the labor force. Two hundred years later, in 1990, the population stood at 246,081,000, and farmers comprised just 2.6 percent of the work force.

At a meeting held Aug. 15, the board of directors of the Hass Avocado Board approved the promotion of Jose Luis Obregon to the newly created role of managing director.

Mr. Obregon most recently served as the managing director of information technology for the board, overseeing the creation of its state-of-the-art Network Marketing Center and its intranet site, avoHQ.com.

There seems to be little doubt that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables will help fight cancer, but the Food & Drug Administration continues to find no strong link between eating tomatoes, with their high levels of lycopene, and reducing cancer risks.

A drought in Florida may result in more than $1 billion in statewide economic losses over the next two years if conditions continue as they are today.

"Some agricultural industries like cattle, citrus and sugar won't feel the worst of their financial pains until 2008 and 2009," said Charles Bronson, commissioner of the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.

Eagle, ID-based Global Juices & Fruits LLC soon will add mangos to its line of cut-fruit-in-glass products. The line is all organic.

The mango item should be on store shelves nationwide by September, joining the company's other cut-fruit-in-glass products: pineapple, papaya and tropical fruit cocktail, all certified organic by the U.S. Department of Aggriculture. Tropical fruit cocktail is a mixture of pineapples, papayas, mangos and watermelons.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has toured more than 50 fields and five packinghouses in the Eastern Shore of Virginia as part of its Tomato Safety Initiative, which was launched this summer in response to repeated outbreaks.

"Our assessment was more observational," Samir Assar of FDA's Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition said in reference to the July visits, adding that some of the Virginia tomato operations were the focus of past outbreak investigations.