By Karla Arboleda Precision agriculture technologies are not as widely used as they are available, and researchers want to figure out why this is the case for Florida growers. Tara Wade, assistant professor at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) in the Food and Resource Economics Department, is studying this issue. She says global positioning …
Cutting Costs With Smart Sprayers
By Yiannis Ampatzidis Traditional broadcast sprayers usually treat the entire field to control pest populations, potentially resulting in unnecessary application to areas that do not require treatment. These sprayers apply agrochemicals uniformly, even though distribution of weeds is typically patchy. This results in wastage of valuable compounds, increased costs, crop damage risk, pest resistance to chemicals, environmental pollution and contamination …
Closing the Information Gap on the Produce Safety Rule
By Karla Arboleda A study conducted by researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service showed that growers across the United States expressed uncertainty over new food safety requirements for their operations due to an information gap. Researchers compared illness outbreaks associated with tomatoes, strawberries, cantaloupes and apples between 1998 and 2016. In order to have the first …
Speaker Spotlight: Nick Dufault
By Ashley Robinson Florida watermelon growers continue to struggle with fusarium wilt. Nick Dufault, plant pathologist with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), will be discussing this disease during his seminar presentation at the Vegetable & Specialty Crop Expo. Fusarium wilt is a soilborne fungal disease that can affect watermelon plants at any point from …
Muscadine Grape Pest Problems
By Karla Arboleda Muscadine grapes are native crops to the deep Southeast and are naturally resistant to some pests. Among other pests, grapevine aphids and grape root borers tend to be the most common problems when growing muscadine grapes. Oscar Liburd, a professor at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and fruit and vegetable entomologist, says …
‘Harvesting Is Just the Beginning’
By Ernie Neff An experimental robotic strawberry harvester appears to barely creep through a field in Duette, Florida. That belies a flurry of activity occurring out of sight. “It’s walking speed as it moves through the field, but the robots are moving at a good clip inside,” says Scott Jantz. “These robots are spinning underneath … furiously picking plants.” Jantz …
Vegetable and Specialty Crop Seminars Cover Crucial Issues
By Ashley Robinson Last year, AgNet Media incorporated vegetable and specialty crop (VSC) seminars into the 28-year-old Citrus Expo. The change was met with positive feedback from both growers and industry members. Therefore, AgNet Media decided to expand that side of the program and debut the Vegetable and Specialty Crop Expo (VSC Expo) this year, being held in conjunction with …
Alfa Awards Honor Researchers, Extension Specialists For Helping Farmers
Alabama Farmers Federation – The Alabama Farmers Federation honored two Auburn University (AU) and Extension professionals for work tangibly affecting farmers and agriculture with inaugural Alfa Awards, presented before hundreds of growers at the Commodity Producers Conference in Chattanooga Aug. 1. Dr. Kim Mullenix received the Alfa Award For Production Agriculture & Forestry Research, while Dr. Ayanava Majumdar earned the …
Studying Muscadine Grapes for Sparkling Wine
By Karla Arboleda Florida sparkling wine is getting help from the scientists working with the muscadine grapes that are native to the deep Southeast. Andrew MacIntosh, assistant professor in the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department for the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences (UF/IFAS), studies carbonation methods for sparkling wine for growers to learn more on …
Traveling Hemp Workshop Attracts Potential Growers
The University of Florida (UF) Hemp Pilot Project strives to keep growers informed on everything hemp. In an effort to do just that, Zachary Brym, agronomist at the UF Tropical Research and Education Center and Hemp Pilot Project coordinator, has put together a traveling hemp workshop. The first workshop was held on July 30 in Gainesville, Florida. The workshop was …