Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed Haig Baghdassarian as the deputy secretary and chief counsel at the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the Arizona Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement has hired Kevin Watson as a new compliance officer.

An organic fertilizer known as Agro Gold WS has been contaminated with conventional herbicides, the California Department of Food and Agriculture said in issuing a quarantine order on the product.

The number and types of organic operations in California continued to grow in recent years with an average of $1 million in sales per farm.

CDFA awarded grants for 58 projects, ranging from $50,000 to $450,000, focused on increasing sales of specialty crops.