He was also barred from further reporting on Kashmir before firing him a year later.
But state regulators, agriculture experts and the growers themselves agreed on the 3,900-acre figure, which was compiled from annual reporting by farmers.
Maggad is the main reason the outspoken Jack has been removed from real reporting.
So far, the financial challenges facing the The Times have not caused us to pull back from in-depth reporting.
The prize money would be insignificant compared with the additional revenue resulting from full compliance and reporting of sales tax.
He understood the people on his staff, he said, who had not wanted to take the risks that would have come from more aggressive reporting.
Unfortunately, some of the distrust and confusion results from sensational reporting.
One of the topics, he said, was the consequences resulting from inaccurate reporting.
The procedures cover each stage from initial reporting of a problem through to eventual correction.
This year there have been 26, but officials were not certain whether the recalls resulted from more contaminated products or better reporting.