By Breanna Kendrick According to the recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) consumer price index report on changes to food category forecasts, prices for fresh fruits declined 1.2 percent from May to June but are up 1.9 percent compared with June 2017. Citrus prices rose 2.3 percent while prices for apples and bananas fell 0.4 percent. Prices for all other fruits fell 4 percent …
Soil Moisture Sensors Improve Irrigation
By Charles Barrett Soil moisture sensors are useful for making irrigation decisions, record keeping and monitoring plant roots. Knowing where a crop root zone is or is not helps fine-tune an irrigation schedule. Here is how: DETERMINING HOW MUCH WATER TO APPLY An irrigation schedule is a game plan for how a crop will be irrigated. Many Extension programs publish …
Advice for Managing Watermelon Diseases
By Breanna Kendrick Depending on where you are, different diseases could affect your watermelons. Phytophthora, fusarium wilt, anthracnose, downy mildew and gummy stem blight are the biggest issues that Nicholas Dufault, University of Florida associate professor and Extension plant pathologist, has seen. These are the most common diseases in Florida-grown watermelons. With phytophthora, whole plant death is associated with a …
Learn New Tools for Nematode Management
Nematodes are a key pest in vegetables and strawberries. Johan Desaeger, an assistant professor of nematology at the University of Florida’s Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, has spent years studying nematodes and how to manage them. He will be giving a presentation at the upcoming Vegetables and Specialty Crops Expo. According to Desaeger, historically, most growers used methyl bromide …
Register Today for Georgia 2018 Ag Issues Summit
The Georgia Agribusiness Council (GAC) invites those interested to attend the 2018 Ag Issues Summit, which will be held Aug. 23 in Perry. While the meeting is free, registration is required as space is limited. While the meeting is free, registration is required as space is limited. Georgia’s two Agriculture Committee Chairmen, Senator John Wilkinson and Representative Tom McCall, are hosting this year’s event. The agenda includes …
Sneak Peek: August VSCNews Magazine
Organically grown produce is climbing in popularity in the United States. The August issue of VSCNews magazine will give growers the information they need to help their organic farm thrive or to convert to organic growing. For growers looking toward growing organically, AgNet Media’s Ernie Neff and Abbey Taylor explore what it takes to become organically certified by the U.S. …
New General Session Is Tailored to Growers
Citrus Expo is excited to introduce a general session to the seminar program this year. The presentations are tailored to citrus, vegetable and specialty crop growers. This new addition will cover crucial topics impacting these industries. HURRICANE RELIEF FUNDING Mike Sparks, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Florida Citrus Mutual, will give a presentation on the status of …
Managing Scales in Peach Orchards
By Breanna Kendrick Cory Penca, a Ph.D. candidate as well as a student in the Doctor of Plant Medicine program at the University of Florida, recently presented at the Stone Fruit Field Day in Citra, Florida. His presentation covered basic pest management tactics for scales, among many other pests of peaches. Scales are difficult to manage because they have a …
Precision Application of Dry Fertilizer in Wild Blueberry Fields
By Arnold Schumann, Qamar Zaman, Hassan Chattha, Scott Read and Aitazaz Farooque The wild blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) is a perennial, shrubby, slow-growing plant that is native to northeastern North America. Commercial wild blueberry fields are developed by removing competing vegetation and debris from natural mixed forest, because they cannot be successfully planted. Establishment of a commercially productive field of wild …
Local Group Fights for the Glades in Algae Debate
As the Lake Okeechobee green algae debate continues, it can be difficult to decipher the truth from misinformation. A debate that has now become a national news story has been decades in the making. The same arguments from north and south of the lake have been made throughout the debate’s history. One local group is fighting for the Glades community …