By Janine Spies Since 2014, several Florida blueberry growers have reported seeing tunneling or girdling on the canes of their blueberry bushes. Oscar Liburd at the University of Florida has been investigating the source of the damage in blueberries along with his graduate students Lindsy Iglesias and Krystal Ashman in the Fruit and Vegetable IPM Laboratory. In the summer of …
Fact Checking South Florida’s Water Politics – What Got Us Here?
by Gary Cooper Roots of Algae Debate Show Political Rhetoric Trumping the Facts Politically driven actions in recent months have undeniably brought major upheaval and confusion in South Florida’s water management circles. More than eight million people who are living in and invested in South Florida are directly impacted by these decisions in one way or another. Misinformation swirls about …
Can Pomegranates Be Grown in Florida?
Researchers at the University of Florida (UF) are exploring pomegranates as a possible cash crop for the Sunshine State. Ali Sarkhosh, assistant professor at UF, recently updated growers on some promising varieties for Florida. According to Sarkhosh, pomegranates with red or dark red skin that have red or dark red arils (the flesh inside the pomegranate) do the best in …
Watermelon Field Day to Showcase New Varieties
Florida watermelon growers will want to mark their calendars for the Enza Zaden Watermelon Field Day. The field day is set to take place May 14 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Enza Zaden Research Station in Myakka City, Florida. On May 7, Enza Zaden held a closed event to preview the varieties that will be shown during …
Tomato Suspension Agreement Officially Terminated
On May 7 the Tomato Suspension Agreement officially terminated. The Department of Commerce announced the U.S. withdrawal in the beginning of the year. The agreement, made back in 2013, was designed to prevent an anti-dumping investigation in exchange for Mexican growers agreeing to certain restrictions. Michael Schadler, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Exchange, has been very vocal about …
‘If I Take Care of the Land, the Land’s Going to Take Care of Me’
A Florida strawberry grower went above and beyond to be a steward of the land, earning the 4R Advocate Award. Agricultural producers pride themselves on being stewards of the land. Dustin Grooms, farm manager of Fancy Farms, is an excellent example of that. Grooms is a 2019 recipient of the 4R Advocate Award. This national award is given to five …
UGA Study Shows NAFTA Impact
A new study from the University of Georgia (UGA) breaks down the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the Southeast’s fruit and vegetable industries. Southeastern growers and industry groups have been very vocal about the negative impacts of NAFTA. With the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (the NAFTA rewrite) coming down the pipeline, the industry continues to speak …
Managing Nematodes in Peaches
By Alison DeLoach Nematodes are known to cause severe damage to growers’ crops in Florida. Don Dickson, a nematologist at the University of Florida (UF), has spent his career helping growers manage nematodes. At a Peach Field Day on April 30 held by the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Dickson presented nematode research. In Florida, there are four …
Controlling Bacterial Spot on Tomatoes and Peppers
Alabama Extension wants those growing tomatoes and peppers to be aware of bacterial spot, a common disease on the leaves of those two plants. There are several steps growers can take to control and prevent the disease, which involves using multiple management tactics. Controlling the disease with chemicals alone usually results in failure. Steps growers can take include rotating fields …
Turn Field Losses into Profits
By Lisa Johnson and Rebecca Dunning Nobody likes to be wasteful, but if it’s costlier to save something than to throw it away, a business owner is going to head for the garbage can. For fruit and vegetable growers, chemical destruction and tilling under are oft-used options near the tail end of a harvest. These practices occur even when product …