Mr Ashton says Australia will have to open its doors to greater free trade but producers still have the right to expect protection from introduced diseases. Growers say they will raise their concerns at a Senate hearing next month. They are worried that quarantine restrictions drawn up by Biosecurity Australia will not protect their crops from diseases like fireblight. Apple growers are threatening legal action over a decision to allow New Zealand apples into Australia. The chairman of...

Hobby farmers loosely defined as those whose incomes are derived not solely from farming often bring little or no hands-on experience to their new avocation. Until they bought the farm, which includes a four-bedroom house, a 1,000-square-foot weaving studio, animal sheds, a wool shed and gift shop, Sullivan had not gardened before. They farm 150 acres of corn and beans, 10 acres of watermelons and five acres with pumpkins. Farming is not leisure-oriented, it s for people who are ambitious...

RUNGIS, France, April 17, 2007 (AFP) - In the Rungis wholesale market in southern Paris -- Europe's biggest entrepot for fresh produce -- presidential election talk is dominated by the "work crisis" and the tough measures needed to reverse France's declining economic fortunes. In Paris wholesale market, dawn election talk centres on "work crisis" RUNGIS, France, April 17, 2007 (AFP) - In the Rungis wholesale market in southern Paris -- Europe's biggest entrepot for fresh produce --...

When she was faced with another major decision via the Fruit layoff, her unemployment and benefit options could have been made more lucid, Menge said. For many former Fruit employees, college life provides a drastically different environment than the job market, she said. She was "a little worried at first not having a job, of course, and then they told us that they were gonna help us go through school, so that kind of helped me. But because of a car accident, she lost her financial aid...

Recent cold weather has damaged many fruit blossoms, but local growers say it is too early to determine how much of their harvests might be lost. And those temperatures caused some growers to experience losses in apricot, plum and peach blossoms, growers said. Baugher said that, because growers have yet to determine how much of their blossoms were killed off, no damage estimates are available. And Kuhn said after temperatures warm up, she will be able to get a better handle on what kind of...

Farm Flex would allow fruit and vegetable (FAV) production for processing on unsubsidized program acres without jeopardizing the farm s base acreage (acres eligible for enrollment in future government programs) Hanson said the railroad improvement project would provide more energy access, improve state transportation and get grain trucks off crumbling Highway 14. He added that more antitrust laws were needed for baseball and railroads so he co-authored Railroad Competition Act to allow...

When the recent cold snap hit, many apple trees in central Iowa had advanced to the green-tip stage or half-inch green-tip stage (when leaf tissue begins projecting from the bud) JEFFERSON With this year s pre-Easter cold snap biting on the heels of March s unusually spring-like weather, fruit growers across Iowa have been checking buds on their apple trees, grapevines and other fruit crops to determine the extent of the damage. While buds are usually just beginning to emerge this time of...

He could be growing oranges or other fruit that requires truckloads of seasonal workers coming in, and truckloads of fruit coming out. But Wegner said that his seven-year-old winery is zoned for agricultural use and his business should be treated the same way the mandarin grower down the road is - by allowing on-site visits and tastings. Wegner points to right-to-farm rules adopted by the county and a Placer County General Plan that encourages agricultural preservation to maintain the...

He said it would also embark on an operational excellence programme practiced by other Carlsberg operations around the world to grow its market share. On the current year's prospects, Carlsberg Malaysia managing director Soren Holm Jensen said the company expected intense competition in the market with cheaper imported beers and smuggled beers. Jensen said it would continue to develop and strengthen its portfolio of brands, and introduce new brands, and new products under existing brands...