FBGA Annual Meeting Brings Blueberry Industry Together

Web AdminBerries, innovation, Research, Top Posts

The Florida Blueberry Growers Association (FBGA) held its annual meeting and trade show on Oct. 30 in Ocala. Brittany Lee, FBGA president, says the annual meeting is a great opportunity for the blueberry industry to come together. The meeting featured an educational seminar series focusing on several different topics. University of Florida researchers Oscar Liburd and Phil Harmon kicked off …

Improving Mechanical Harvesting of Fresh-Market Blueberries

Web AdminBerries, Labor, Technology, Top Posts, VSCNews magazine

By Fumiomi Takeda The growth of the blueberry industry in the past three decades has been remarkably robust. For the blueberry industry to remain competitive and sustainable, growers are seeking solutions to ever-increasing problems with labor shortages and rising labor costs for harvesting blueberries by hand. More growers are now using over-the-row (OTR) mechanical harvesters to pick blueberries for the …

Making Headway Toward Machine Harvesting of Blueberries

Web AdminBerries, Research, Technology, Top Posts, VSCNews magazine

By Doug Phillips With rising costs and declining availability of harvesting labor, blueberry growers are increasingly interested in considering machine harvesting for their crops. Cost is a particularly important factor because of declining profit margins due to competition from lower-cost areas of production. PROS AND CONS Hand harvesting produces high-quality fruit, but can cost between $0.70/pound and $0.90/pound for local …

Citrus Root Weevil Invades Florida Blueberries

Web AdminBerries, Industry News Release, Top Posts

The Florida Blueberry Growers Association (FBGA) and the University of Florida (UF) are warning Florida blueberry growers to be on the lookout for citrus root weevil. A pest that has been an issue in citrus for years has made its way on to another crop entirely, causing significant damage in central and south central Florida. Historically, citrus root weevils are …

georgia blueberry

Georgia Blueberry Growers Suffer Second Consecutive Year of Loss

Web AdminBerries, Industry News Release

Commissioner Gary W. Black hosted a conference call to connect Georgia blueberry growers and agricultural industry representatives with U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary Bill Northey to discuss recent loss assessments for the 2018 blueberry crop. According to University of Georgia Extension, overall losses of both highbush and rabbiteye varieties could exceed 60 percent. This would mark the second consecutive …

Florida Native Plants — Tomorrow’s Fruits and Vegetables?

Web AdminProduce, Top Posts, VSCNews magazine

By Kevin M. Folta Citrus originated in Southeast Asia, not Southeast of Orlando. Strawberries came from a chance genetic mix between a plant from the Mid-Atlantic States and a plant from Chile that crossed in France. Tomatoes originated in the Andes Mountains in South America, then made their way to Europe before coming back across the Atlantic to North America. …