By Jeffrey K. Brecht and Steven A. Sargent As we approach a new packing season, now is a good time to consider your handling and cooling operations. Take the time to walk through your facilities with pad and paper in hand. This will jog your memory about issues you noticed last season so that they can be fixed this season. …
UF/IFAS Team Hopes to Fight Prevalent Tomato Disease
A University of Florida (UF) scientist will lead a team of researchers trying to help battle Fusarium wilt, a major tomato disease around the world. In doing so, investigators hope to help farmers increase their tomato production. Sam Hutton, an associate professor of horticultural sciences at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), will use a new $490,000 …
Phil Stansly to Discuss Whiteflies at Citrus Expo
Whiteflies vector diseases that can deteriorate crops and drastically reduce yield. Whiteflies have proven to be a major pest in Florida tomatoes and cucurbits. According to Stansly, whiteflies can cause severe problems in tomatoes. “You can have irregular ripening, so even if you’re using a variety that’s resistant to the viruses, you can still run into trouble if the populations …
UF/IFAS Hopes to Grow Vanilla, Meet Consumer Demand
For dessert, how about a scoop of ice cream flavored with vanilla from Florida’s farmers? Because so many consumers enjoy vanilla, University of Florida (UF) scientists hope to help Florida farmers grow the bean. Consumers have an appetite for vanilla. The United States leads the world in imported vanilla beans, said Alan Chambers, an assistant professor of horticultural sciences at …
Fusarium Wilt Attacks EAA Lettuce
Lettuce is an extremely important crop in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), and now it is facing a new disease. Richard Raid, associate center director and professor of plant pathology at the Everglades Research and Education Center (EREC), says he has been working in the EAA for 30 years and this is the first instance of fusarium to appear in …
Precautions Growers Should Take in the Rainy Season
By Breanna Kendrick The abundance of rain in Florida over the past two weeks has brought concerns about bacterial disease issues for farmers. Gary Vallad, University of Florida associate professor of plant pathology and associate center director at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, discusses some of the precautions growers can take to make it through this rainy season. …
UF/IFAS Researchers May Use Fungi to Control Deadly Crop Disease
A group of fungi might fight a disease that’s dangerous to tomatoes and specialty crops. University of Florida scientists hope to develop this biological strategy as they add to growers’ tools to help control Fusarium wilt. Tomatoes are the number one vegetable crop in Florida. In 2017, approximately 28,000 acres of tomatoes were commercially harvested, with a production value of …
Florida Native Plants — Tomorrow’s Fruits and Vegetables?
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. …
The Next Big Biotech Traits
By Anne Schwartz Conventional breeding techniques and chemical controls have long been agriculture’s central means for disease management. However, despite hundreds of crosses performed and generations of progeny evaluated, durably resistant varieties remain elusive. Today, plant breeders are armed with an alternative method when conventional breeding techniques are insufficient. Specifically designed, genetically engineered plants offer potential for the development of …
DNA Sequencing Technology for Breeding Better Crops
By Tong Geon Lee Studies in crop plants now routinely use DNA information, thanks to scientists in the 1960s who invented first-generation machines that interpret DNA information. These devices are often called DNA sequencing machines since DNA is arranged in a particular order. The DNA sequencing approach utilizes computer analysis to assemble DNA sequence from short pieces of DNA sequenced …

















