The Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association presented Sanjay Shukla with its 2023 Researcher of the Year Award during FFVA’s 79th annual convention last month at The Ritz-Carlton in Naples. The Researcher of the Year Award is given to deserving individuals who have dedicated themselves and their work to improving Florida agriculture. Shukla is a professor in the Agricultural and Biological …
U.S. Specialty Crop Coalition Endorses Legislation Addressing Nutrition and Organics
The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA), a national coalition of more than 200 specialty crop organizations representing growers of fruits, vegetables, dried fruit, tree nuts, nursery plants and other products, has endorsed nutrition and organic bills that cover key policy priorities outlined in the group’s 2023 Farm Bill recommendations: “The U.S. specialty crop industry is crucial to our national …
Clemson Extension Agents: Inspect Strawberry Plants
Weekly Field Update Clemson Extension agents provide updates in The South Carolina Grower this week about the status of various crops being produced throughout the state. Coastal Region Zack Snipes Midlands Rob Last Sarah Scott Phillip Carnley Sponsored ContentNew Syngenta Varieties Offer Grower SolutionsFebruary 1, 2026Attribute® II Technology Adds More Flexibility and Strength to Sweet Corn Pest ManagementJanuary 1, 2026Nuseed …
Farmer’s Mental Health Highlighted During Press Conference at Sunbelt Ag Expo
By Clint Thompson “It’s okay not to be okay.” That’s the mantra shared by various organizations, including the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Development Disabilities (DBHDD), Georgia Department of Agriculture and University of Georgia Extension. The three organizations united during a press conference on Wednesday at the Sunbelt Ag Expo to discuss mental health and encourage farmers to vocalize …
Chilli Thrips: Primary Pest of Florida Blueberries
By Oscar Liburd and Doug Phillips Over the past few years, chilli thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis) have become the most important insect pest of Florida blueberries, causing substantial injury to plant foliage and typically requiring significant and costly chemical control measures. Chilli thrips have been an economically important pest of vegetable, fruit and ornamental crops throughout Asia, Africa, Oceania the Caribbean …
Back in the Game: China Resurfaces as Purchaser of U.S. Pecans
By Clint Thompson Harvest season is well underway for pecan producers in the Southeast. Growers of pecans are harvesting or are about to harvest the earliest varieties like Pawnee, Elliott, Oconee, Creek and Caddo. Farmers can be encouraged that market prices should not dip below the levels they are currently at. That is due in large part to a familiar …
Pumpkin Popularity: North Georgia Farmer Reflects on Fall Crop
By Clint Thompson An increase in pumpkin acreage has netted Drew Echols income he hadn’t largely counted on prior to 2020. But as demand for the fall-based crop has increased in recent years, so has Echols’ acreage. He produced about 50 acres in 2020, 120 in ’21, 150 in ’22 and has peaked at 175 this season. “I don’t know …
Thrips Update: Populations Vary in Central, Southern Florida
Thrips pressure is low across central and southern Florida, according to the South Florida Pest and Disease Hotline. Scouts are observing low numbers in pepper in central Florida, with thrips only found in the bloom. Dak Seal, a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences entomologist at the Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead, Florida, reports low …
$3.2 M USDA Grant: CAES Leads Research to Improve Organic Onion Production
A team of researchers from the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) is partnering with colleagues from Texas A&M University to find more effective production practices for organic onion growers in the southern United States where short-day onions — those that bulb with 11 to 12 hours of sunlight each day — are primarily grown. …
Imports Battering the U.S. Blueberry Industry
By A. Malek Hammami and Zhengfei Guan The United States is a major blueberry producer. The value of production in 2021 reached $1.1 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS). USDA statistics show that total U.S. blueberry production in 2022 was 622 million pounds. The Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington lead in …