WASHINGTON -- House lawmakers have introduced a bill the specialty crop industry hopes will become the blueprint for Congress to follow in helping producers in the 2007 farm bill.

The Equitable Agriculture Today for a Healthy America Act, or EAT Healthy America Act, includes a lengthy list of programs for the specialty crop industry that would increase market access and place a renewed focus on nutrition, research and conservation.

Duda Farm Fresh Foods Inc., with headquarters in Oviedo, FL, is moving to a bin harvesting system this year for its Texas and Vidalia onions to help increase efficiencies and improve quality.

The mission of Imagination Farms to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables among children continues to expand with the addition of Six L's/ Custom Pak in Immokalee, FL, as a Disney Garden premium supplier of tomatoes and watermelons.

Beginning in April, Six L's/Custom Pak will provide a year-round program of tomatoes to include grape tomatoes, cherry-on-the-vine tomatoes and round tomatoes. In addition to tomatoes, Custom Pak will also be shipping watermelons in the "Disney Garden" brand beginning in June.

Long before the fields around Walla Walla, WA, showed even a hint of green in 2007, planning for the 23rd annual Sweet Onion Festival had reached a fever pitch in the administrative office of Kathy Fry, director of marketing for the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Marketing Committee.

Ms. Fry, who has overseen the festival since 2003, said that plans for this year's two-day event, slated for July 21-22 at the county fairgrounds, have been ongoing since January, when she began contacting sponsors, vendors, entertainment and volunteers.

Twenty-seven New York agricultural leaders from all segments of the industry recently embarked on a seven-day international agricultural study trip to Chile. The trip was organized by Class XI of LEAD New York, a professional leadership development program administered through Cornell University.

WASHINGTON -- The immigration debate may take center stage again in the coming weeks, as Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and John McCain (R-AZ) are expected to soon introduce a comprehensive immigration reform bill. Advocates for reform are calling on the Bush administration to convince allies to support a comprehensive bill this year.