What is arguably the foundational ingredient in salad? Lettuce! USDA’s National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA) supports research that is leading to stronger, healthier, more disease-resistant lettuce cultivars. See what NIFA is doing to keep healthy, safe salads on the menu for consumers everywhere. Current funded projects in California and Illinois include the following: The USDA Agricultural Research Service, Pacific West Area, in …

Migrant workers in the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program provide critical seasonal labor on farms across California, spending weeks away from home doing the grueling work needed to support the state’s $49 billion agricultural industry. The H-2A program allows employers who anticipate a shortage of U.S.-based workers to bring workers here from other countries to perform agricultural labor or services …

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 …

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 …

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 …