HERMOSILLO, MEXICO — They now number 100 growers whose farms cover 27,000 acres in the Hermosillo and Caborca regions. They have been pooling tips and sometimes sharing infrastructure for 32 years. They now see the “Aztec Eagle” and “Producto de México” labels on a variety of exports in the world market.

Who would have thought, in 1980, that lands devoted for decades to garbanzo and other crops for Mexico’s domestic market would one day produce a U.S. No. 1 grape that has found a clientele in 30 countries and counting?

Interrupcion*, a fair trade social enterprise working to improve producer livelihoods, practice environmental sustainability and foster a global community, helps farms and cooperatives to become organic and fair trade certified, and it purchases and exports their fresh produce to the U.S. market.

Giumarra Bros. Fruit Co. Reedley, a division of Los Angeles-based The Giumarra Cos., announced in a press release dated April 9 that its stone fruit volume for the 2012 season will increase by 32 percent over the prior year.

Last spring, Georgia farmers took a roundhouse to the jaw when the state Legislature passed one of the nation’s toughest anti-immigration bills just before the start of the spring harvest. Fearful workers stayed away in droves, and the state lost $150 million in crops alone and sustained an overall economic loss of $500 million.

After its first year in operation, the Vidalia Onion Museum, located at the Vidalia Onion Committee headquarters in Vidalia, GA, is an unqualified success, drawing visitors from 40 states and seven countries to the town of 10,000.

HERMOSILLO, MEXICO — It’s a rare day when a state agricultural inspector receives a hero’s welcome, but that is exactly what happened in early April to José Puig, an Arizona field operations/training program manager, when he visited Hermosillo and Caborca, Mexico.