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San Diego congressional hearing on immigration reform

Farm groups: Immigration hearings should address on-farm concerns

As Congress began a series of hearings on immigration reform, farm groups renewed their call for a comprehensive plan. Family farmers and ranchers have pressed for a plan that combines enhanced border enforcement with a reformed temporary-worker program. In San Diego, where the first House hearing was held yesterday (Wednesday), a county Farm Bureau leader says he fears the hearings will ignore farmers' and ranchers' concerns.

Report shows increase in tangerine plantings

In response to consumer demand, California farmers have planted thousands of new acres in tangerine and navel orange groves. For each crop, there are nearly 12 thousand acres of recently planted trees that have not begun to bear fruit. In the case of tangerines, the new groves would nearly double the state's acreage in the category, which includes mandarins and clementines. A government survey shows most of the new citrus acreage has been planted in the southern San Joaquin Valley.

Apple marketers foresee stable-sized harvest

In less than a month, California apple growers will begin harvesting their new crop. The California Apple Commission estimates farmers will market about the same amount of fruit as they did a year ago, roughly 144 million pounds. That production will come from fewer acres, because farmers removed about a thousand acres of apple orchards over the winter. The commission says half of those acres have been planted with new apple varieties that won't produce for a few seasons.

UCLA study shows benefit of pomegranate juice

Men suffering from prostate cancer appear to benefit from drinking pomegranate juice. A three-year study, conducted at UCLA, showed that drinking pomegranate juice may allow men who have been treated for prostate cancer to prevent or delay other therapies. Participants in the study drank one 8-ounce glass of pomegranate juice each day. UCLA researchers say they think a combination of substances in the juice produced the beneficial effect.

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