Artificial intelligence (AI) maybe the secret weapon in strawberry farmers’ fight against the twospotted spider mite. University of Florida scientists have developed a smartphone application to detect the annual pest of Florida strawberries. If farmers could detect the pest quicker, they could utilize lower levels of chemicals that could otherwise harm the environment. For Example For a 50-acre farm, every …
Capitalize on Conservation Funding and Enhance Produce Safety
By Kristin Woods Conservation funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA NRCS) can help growers implement good land stewardship practices in an economically sustainable way. While these practices may affect pathogen movement in the farm environment, they are not meant to reduce produce safety risk. Additional consideration must be given around how implementing specific practices …
Sneak Peek: May 2021 VSCNews Magazine
By Ashley Robinson The future of weed control is here. The May issue of VSCNews Magazine provides the inside scoop on all things weed control. First up, Yiannis Ampatzidis, an assistant professor at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center (SWFREC) covers the future of precision weed control. …
Georgia Farmer: It’s Just a Mess Right Now
South Georgia vegetable farmer Bill Brim had a couple of days to survey the damage following more than seven inches of rainfall on Saturday. The Tifton, Georgia producer’s response was simple: “It’s just a mess right now.” Brim was one producer impacted by the excessive rainfall, high winds and some hail damage throughout Saturday in South Georgia. What started in …
Citrus Interest Growing in North Florida, South Georgia
Interest in citrus continues to spike in North Florida and South Georgia. Georgia acres have doubled over the past year. North Florida has increased by another 300 to 400 this spring, says farmer Kim Jones, who owns a citrus packing facility in Monticello, Florida. “We’re seeing a whole lot of acres being planted. It’s hard to get trees. We’ve had …
Impact: UF Study Focuses on How Soil Health Impacts Citrus, Other Tree Crops
How can changes in soil health impact citrus and other sub-tropical tree crops? That’s a question UF/IFAS researchers hope to answer in a four-year, $500,000 project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Specifically, they will examine how quickly soil health can change in Florida’s sub-tropical sandy soils and how changes in the soil’s …
Vidalia Onion Harvests Underway
Vidalia onion harvests are underway in Georgia. It has been great harvest conditions for producers in the Southeast Georgia region. G&R Farms in Glennville, Georgia is one of the biggest Vidalia onion producers in the area. Pictured are photos from Thursday’s harvest. G&R Farms will continue harvesting through mid-May. April 19 was the pack date this year for Georgia Vidalia …
Getting Bugs to Work for You: Biodiversity in Action
By Jason Schmidt, Carmen Blubaugh and William Snyder Before large monoculture agriculture became commonplace, farms had a bit of everything — from a vegetable garden and a fruit orchard, to a chicken coop and a honeybee hive, to a natural forest and even a lake or creek. These farms had rich and vibrant plant and animal life, healthy soils and …
Second Source: Strawberry Disease Attributed to Another Nursery
The strawberry disease that has ravaged crops in Florida and Georgia has now been attributed to two nursery sources. According to the University of Georgia Extension strawberry blog, a nursery in Canada received plants from a North Carolina nursery, which is the source of the pathogen related to Neopestalotiopsis Fruit Rot. Phil Brannen, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Fruit Disease …
Quality in Question: Fried Defends State’s Produce During Hearing
The quality of Southeast produce was called into question during the U.S. International Trade Commission hearing on squash and cucumbers. Industry leaders took exception to the notion that consumers prefer Mexican produce over what’s grown in the United States and that has contributed to the domestic market decline for both commodities. Florida Ag Commissioner Nikki Fried was asked about the …