By: Brad Buck, bradbuck@ufl.edu Bell peppers make for a delicious snack. Among additional choices, you can add them to sandwiches and pizzas, as they’re tasty and full of vitamin C, making them a popular vegetable. As a $235 million-a-year business in Florida, bell peppers are also an important crop, especially in the southeast and southwest parts of the state. As …
Picking Varieties With Profit Potential
By Gene McAvoy Choosing which variety to plant is one of the most critical decisions that a commercial grower must make each season. Variety selection is a dynamic process. In the past, some varieties retained favor for many years. More recently, with advances in plant breeding and the incorporation of new and improved traits for disease resistance and other horticultural …
Clemson Extension Agents Provide Updates on Various Crops
Clemson Extension agents provided updates in The South Carolina Grower this week about the status of various crops being produced throughout the state. Coastal Zack Snipes reports, “It was a warm week with some sprinkled in showers along the coast. All crops are coming in right now with heavy watermelon volume. What’s left of the tomato crop is ripening fast. …
UGA Entomologist: Whiteflies Not as Bad as 2017 But Still Bad
By Clint Thompson University of Georgia Cooperative Extension vegetable entomologist Stormy Sparks confirmed this week that whiteflies are back with a vengeance on susceptible vegetable crops and Georgia’s cotton, which is still just a few weeks old. “I’ve been holding off a long time on saying it looks bad. But about a week ago, it’s just hard to say it …
Nikki Fried: Consumer Conscience Awakening Result of COVID-19
By Clint Thompson A biproduct of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic was the positive response consumers had to supporting American farmers. Nikki Fried, Florida Ag Commissioner, calls it a “consumer conscience awakening.” “When people go to the food stores, they were seeing on one point, you’ve got Mexican strawberries inside of our food stores and then you’re seeing all of the …
Bob Hall Named Swisher Sweets Farmer of the Year for South Carolina
According to the The South Carolina Grower, Bob Hall of Bush-N-Vine Farm in York, South Carolina is this year’s Swisher Sweets Farmer of the Year for South Carolina. He was nominated by Upstate Clemson Extension Agent, Andy Rollins. Rollins said of Hall, “I am so proud of him and all his family for all they have done to make their …
Three Georgia Farmers Market Locations Could Be Spared
By Clint Thompson The revised budget cut requirements from the Georgia Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget and the State Legislature may have spared the state farmers market locations in Cordele, Thomasville and Savannah. Julie McPeake, Georgia Department of Agriculture Chief Communications officer, confirmed that as a result of the budget cut requirement from 14% to 10%, the State Legislature …
UF’s Angle: We need to have a more resilient marketing system
By Clint Thompson A second wave of the coronavirus pandemic is inevitable. Perhaps we are already in it, just a few months ahead of the fall forecasts that most projected would coincide with flu season. But you can pencil in COVID-19 as another challenge farmers will have to face this fall, especially as preparations are already underway for the fall …
Florida Vegetable Farmer: Future of American Farming Dismal
By Clint Thompson Florida vegetable farmer Sam Accursio paints a gloomy picture for the future of farming and the availability of food in the United States. “It’s dismal, unless the American consumer says we’ve had enough. We are going to support these American growers or we’re going to be hungry some day. It may not be in my lifetime. It …
San Jose Scale Problem for Peach Producers
By Clint Thompson Brett Blaauw, University of Georgia assistant professor in the Department of Entomology, says the time is now to treat San Jose scale crawlers which are peaking in peach orchards. “Right around late June, early July and then again in August, we see these real high populations of their larvae, the crawlers. Crawlers are also susceptible to insecticides. …