The best time to prepare is before a crisis, not during one. In this month’s sneak peek, the January issue of Specialty Crop Grower Magazine highlights food safety and the different protocols that farming operations should have in place from top to bottom.
Maile Gradison, a partner with Hogan Lovells, a Washington DC-based law firm, has experience with the Food Safety Modernization Act. She emphasizes that civil litigation against farms has increased in recent years when a foodborne illness outbreak occurs associated with fresh produce.
In other news, North Carolina State University is ramping up ag-tech initiatives. The NC State Plant Sciences building opened in 2022 and is home to a team of scientists with various disciplines. Research is focused on increasing crop yields, creating new varieties, extending growing seasons, enhancing agricultural and environmental sustainability and producing new and improved technology.
N.C. State researchers are collaborating with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to form the Ag Image Repository. It is a growing collection of 1.5 million high-quality pictures of plants and associated data collected at different stages of growth. The repository is designed to help scientists who want to create AI-based solutions for farmers, plant breeders and others in agriculture. The images help teach new automated weeding machines what crops and weeds look like. The machines can attack the weed and avoid the crop.
There are different tools to track chill hours and chill portions for peaches. Dario Chavez, University of Georgia associate professor in peach and citrus breeding genetics and genomics, highlighted multiple tools to help producers measure chill.
Also, Vance Whitaker, leader of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Gulf Coast Research and Education Center strawberry breeding program, participated in a Q-and-A with Specialty Crop Grower.
Video Component
Don’t miss this month’s bonus video coverage in the interactive digital edition of Specialty Crop Grower magazine.
VIDEO: Citrus breeder Fred Gmitter discusses Greenie. (page 4)
VIDEO: See a video highlighting N.C. State’s ag-tech research. (page 11)
VIDEO: Watch a video demonstration of the Smartirrigation app for peaches. (page 12)
VIDEO: Learn more about growing Ember and Encore strawberry varieties in Central Florida. (page 15)
VIDEO: Receive an expert analysis of this year’s citrus crop. (page 19)
VIDEO: Peter Chaires reflects on Citrus Nursery Source over the years. (page 23)
VIDEO: Brenda Eubanks Burnette provides different reflections. (page 26)