SEASIDE, CA -- About 200 people on or near the front lines of spinach science research congregated Sept. 24 for the International Spinach Conference, which was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel Monterey Bay- Seaside, here.

Although discussion of food-safety and E. coli outbreaks in spinach were inevitable, the purpose of the conference was to give plant scientists an opportunity to interact, compare notes and share areas of study and progress.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistical Service, in cooperation with the California Department of Food & Agriculture, has released its estimate for the 2007-08 California Navel crop, and the numbers are good news for the industry.

The estimate calls for a Navel orange crop of 86 million cartons (37.5-pound equivalents), which is 26 percent above last season's freeze-shortened crop of 68 million cartons and is considered to be in the normal range.

WASHINGTON -- With the Senate yet to mark up a farm bill, the resignation of the secretary of agriculture and President Bush threatening a veto, new funding for specialty crop programs in a 2007 farm bill remains uncertain.

Reaction was mixed on the timing of former Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns' departure for the Senate seat in Nebraska vacated by retiring Republican Chuck Hagel.

The Produce Marketing Association and the United Fresh Produce Association have announced that the organizations are ending any further discussion of potential merger at this time, but will continue to cooperate in areas of mutual interest to each association's members.

Tony Bishop, who recently retired as an account manager from Yakima, WA- based Domex Superfresh Growers, said it's not often that people are able to do what they love and love what they do. But Mr. Bishop said that he has been one of the lucky ones, having invested the work of a lifetime in the field of agriculture.

Domex Superfresh Growers threw a retirement bash for Mr. Bishop on Aug. 10, and it was one he will never forget. "They threw an unbelievable party for me," he said. The company even brought in some of Mr. Bishop's clients for a final farewell.

The California Department of Food & Agriculture has established a 114- square-mile quarantine zone in California's Solano County in the Dixon area following the detection of a Mediterranean fruit fly infestation.

As of Sept. 19, 13 wild Medflies and larvae had been detected in the area. This is the first Medfly infestation in the Central Valley since the early 1980s.