Brad Turner has a passion for learning. His new focus: alternative means of growing Florida’s signature crop.
Old Fruit Crops Could Offer New Opportunities
By Kevin Folta Someone walking from Key West to the Carolinas 200 years ago would not likely find any of the crops found in modern produce sections. While there are a few distant cousins of blueberries, onions and tomatoes growing in the wild, the dominant commercial crops grown in the Southeast were brought here from somewhere else. Tomatoes, strawberries, citrus …
H-2A Study: Farmers Reliant on Program Now More Than Ever
By Clint Thompson With the domestic workforce almost non-existent, Southeast vegetable and specialty crop producers rely on the H-2A program now more than ever. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service outlines the growth the program has made over the past decade. Certified H-2A positions increased substantially from 2010 to 2019. The number more than tripled from …
Fried Pleas for Help from Fellow Floridians
By Clint Thompson Florida Ag Commissioner Nikki Fried is hoping to enlist Florida residents in the ongoing fight against rising imports. Fried called on Florida residents this week to buy locally grown produce after revealing devastating data that outlines the negative impact Mexican imports are having on her state’s vegetable and specialty crop farmers. She highlighted eye-popping statistics from a …
Chlopyrifos Ban to Impact Onion, Sweet Potato Farmers
By Clint Thompson The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent decision to ban the use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos on all food means onion and sweet potato producers will need to find alternatives in six months. While those options exist, they are not nearly as effective. “There’s a reason all the growers use chlorpyrifos,” said Stormy Sparks, University of Georgia Cooperative …
Increased Interest: Crop Insurance Grows for Specialty, Organic Crops
WASHINGTON – The number of specialty and organic agricultural producers who purchase insurance for their crops continues to climb. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) attributes the recent surge to its work with producers and agricultural groups to create new crop insurance options, expand and improve current options and to support local food efforts. USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) recently released …
Secret Weapon? Newest Citrus Disease Tool Could be Found in Citrus Micobiome
LAKE ALFRED, FLA — The tiny microbes that reside in citrus trees could be the key to growers’ success against citrus diseases, like citrus canker. University of Florida researchers hope to discover how microbes may benefit citrus trees, and the end result may be an environmentally friendly and sustainable way to control plant pathogens. Nian Wang, professor of microbiology …
Making Sense of Biologicals: Prolonging Resistance
By Clint Thompson Conventional chemistries are required to produce a profitable and sustainable crop in the Southeast. However, the lifespan of such chemistries is not always known. At some point, they will not be effective. At the rate vegetable and specialty crop growers use available fungicides and insecticides, resistance is a concern. A Sustainable Option A way that growers can …
Carbon Markets: Farmers Need to Know What the Process Entails
By Clint Thompson Carbon markets may provide a profitable future for farmers. But before producers think about selling carbon credits, they need to understand an extra burden of beginning the process in the first place. Shelby Myers, economist with American Farm Bureau Federation, implores growers to consider the cost of doing business, which includes sharing a lot of data with …
Sneak Peek: September 2021 VSCNews Magazine
By Clint Thompson The September issue of VSCNews Magazine highlights issues discussed at this year’s Citrus, Vegetable and Specialty Crop Expo on Aug. 18-19 in Fort Myers, Florida. Imports, H-2A improvements, carbon markets, COVID-19 impacts and an update on the current Tomato Suspension Agreement were a few of the topics discussed during the Ag issues session. Issues like whitefly management, …