HARTFORD, CT -- With a display of Connecticut-grown plants and flowers as a backdrop at the regional produce market, here, the Connecticut Department of Agriculture kicked off a comprehensive, statewide advertising and public relations campaign to raise consumer awareness and support for state farmers and locally grown products.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate's immigration reform bill would help the agriculture industry's labor crisis, but the trick will be keeping the compromise language alive.

"We are deeply appreciative that the Bush administration and leaders of the Senate understood the uniqueness of the agriculture industry and embraced that in the legislative approach," said Craig Regelbrugge of the American Nursery & Landscape Association.

Increases in Florida blueberry production have been nearly phenomenal, more than doubling in the past three to four years alone. Even more impressive is that much of the growth has been south of the Tampa-Orlando regions, or what is typically referred to by Floridians as south of the Interstate 4 line, where temperatures during the eight-week (in a good year) blueberry season from mid- to late March through early May, average in the mid- to high 70- degree range.

After a two-and-a-half-year stretch as vice president of produce for Topco Associates in Skokie, IL, Rob O'Rourke is returning to RJO Produce Marketing, the company he founded in Fresno, CA, in 1993 with his brother John.

RJO President John O'Rourke said in a company statement that he is delighted to have his brother back on the RJO team.

The Sholl Group II, a pioneer in the fresh produce industry, and General Mills, a leading global manufacturer and marketer of consumer foods products, announced the launch of a new spring promotion that combines two American classics: Green Giant Fresh Iceberg lettuce and Betty Crocker Bac- Os.

The program is a 55-cent instant-redeemable coupon that will be affixed to each wrapped head of Green Giant Fresh Iceberg lettuce. The coupon will offer instant savings on Green Giant Fresh Iceberg lettuce with the purchase of any Betty Crocker Bac-Os product.

Watsonville, CA-based Monterey Mushrooms Inc. signed a five-year contract with the United Farm Workers May 14 that involves the company's 650 full- time, year-round employees at its Royal Oaks, CA, facility.

The Royal Oaks facility -- which sits between Watsonville and Prunedale -- produces in excess of 750,000 pounds of fresh mushrooms per week, 52 weeks a year. Industry leader Monterey Mushrooms grows all its mushrooms on-site.