When he came home, his brother-in-law let him know an apple orchard owner needed a manager, and Charlie Johnson knew apples. He worked at the Higgs and Young apple orchard across the road from their house for a half-dozen years, then a big freeze hit. Over time he and Susie and their daughters watched the orchard die out. Then the grandson of the orchard's founder bought the property. The last owners let scrub brush and hardwoods overtake the 30 acres. He is renovating and adding on to the...

Building a $500 million-a-year program of specialty-crop bloc grants paid to states, distributed in part according to each state's level of fruit and vegetable production. Half a dozen other House members joined Cardoza in introducing the 120-page bill, drafted over many months with the significant help of farm associations. This money eventually would climb to $100 million a year and likewise flow through agricultural trade organizations; farm co-operatives such as Sunkist also would be...

Possible causes might include everything from an unknown disease-causing agent to parasitic mites to a class of insecticides called neonicotinyls used on turf grass, fruit and vegetables, said Nicholas Calderone, an assistant professor of entomology at Cornell University who is researching the problem. Possible causes might include everything from an unknown disease-causing agent to parasitic mites to a class of insecticides called neonicotinyls used on turf grass, fruit and vegetables,...

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Red fruits such as raspberries and strawberries joined the black fruits on the palate with a rich, round but slightly astringent, medium-bodied mouth feel. The cocoa leaned more toward semi-sweet chocolate in the mouth, with good ripe fruit and nice acids. Another idea is pick a high-alcohol and-or fruity wine, such as a zinfandel. One approach is to pick a very dry, acidic wine that serves in contrast to the ham's sweetness-such as a pinot noir. We asked our wine-tasting group to compare...