The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Mexico’s national plant protection organization (SENASICA) announce that the United States has begun exporting potatoes beyond the 26-kilometer border zone that previously marked the limit of their export. The two countries reached an agreement late last year to expand that market access for U.S. potatoes, something that the …
Many California farms are run by families who have cultivated the land for several generations. It’s not just land, it’s not just an investment — it is part of what defines them and their mission to feed the world. Watch this brief interview with Charlotte Mitchell from the California Farmland Trust as she shares how to protect their legacy of …
The pandemic proved challenging to all in various ways, and farmworkers had unique needs that had to be met in order to keep agriculture going and food from California on dinner tables all over the world. The California Farmworker Foundation was among the great organizations that rose to the occasion to meet their needs. Pandemic aside, farmworkers are essential, they …
Pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo) are a common vegetable crop sold at local pumpkin patches and farmers markets, in addition to commercial production. In 2019, the value of harvested pumpkin was worth $180 million. In addition to the value of harvested pumpkins for commercial use (canned pumpkin, produce departments, etc.) pumpkins are also a staple crop in agritourism operations. In Kansas alone, …
Following an extensive national search, Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences has named Dr. Surendra Dara as the director of the North Willamette Research and Extension Center (NWREC). Dara joins NWREC from the University of California Cooperative Extension in San Louis Obispo. With more than 25 years of experience in research and extension, he brings expertise in IPM, microbial control, biostimulants, and …
Pre-Season ground prep work was completed in late-2021, first-turn plantings have been well under way since November, and harvesting of early Cole crops have begun in earnest. For Tri-County vegetable growers their cycle of implementing their standard cultural practices for the 2022 growing season has been under way since late-2021. The standard fundamentals of “blocking and tackling” to successful growing …
Tomatoes are big business in the United States, but an insect no bigger than a grain of rice threatens growers’ fields each season. The whitefly prefers the underside of leaves, enjoying a variety of plants and spreading a few diseases, including Tomato yellow leaf curl virus. The pests are also persistent, said Xavier Martini, an entomologist at the University of Florida Institute of Food …
The word ‘honeydew’ sounds benign, but the sugary waste product of aphids can promote growth of bacteria that are highly virulent to the pests, according to a new study. The research takes a step towards understanding how some strains of the bacteria Pseudomonas syringae that live on leaves and are pathogenic to aphids might one day be used to control …
While not exactly the stuff of sci-fi movies, scientists have developed a “ray gun” that emits a light hazardous to a pestilence that devastates many types of crops. Fumiomi Takeda, a research horticulturalist, and Wojciech Janisiewicz, retired research plant pathologist, from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection unit in Kearneysville, WV, led a team that used shortwave ultraviolent …
March is National Nutrition Month. And while we understand that the purpose is to promote enhanced nutrition and improve diets, for the Grower Shipper Association (GSA) this month is about celebrating our food supply and the farmers and farm workers who grow, nurture and harvest the nation’s fruits and vegetables. Farming is hard. There are many challenges. But farmers will tell you it …
