A La Nina weather pattern is expected to last through early spring and bring warm and dry conditions to the Southeast. According to the Climate and Agriculture in the Southeast blog, Pam Knox, University of Georgia Extension Agricultural Climatologist, said that the NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center predicts a 100% chance of a La Nina through the winter and better than …
Decision-Support Tool Using HiPerGator May Help Manage Devastating Avocado Disease
November 18, 2020 By: Brad Buck, bradbuck@ufl.edu, 352-875-2641 (cell) UF/IFAS researchers are working on a decision-support app to help policy makers and growers decide the best regional treatment options for laurel wilt disease, which is challenging Florida’s $35 million-a-year avocado crop. Laurel wilt disease is spread by several ambrosia beetle vectors. People, whether they grow avocados or not, can spread …
Organic Produce Members Team Up in Organic Trade Association’s Produce Council
WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 16, 2020) – The American organic produce sector is big and complex. It accounts for more sales than any other organic sector, and its production regions stretch across the United States reaping a dizzying array of fruits and vegetables. The issues facing organic produce growers, processors and distributors are equally wide-ranging: food safety, labor issues, labeling/packaging issues and …
Hurricane Eta Soaks Already Saturated South Florida
An already saturated South Florida was inundated with rainfall from Hurricane Eta this week. The result were fruit that were either lost or will suffer from expected disease pressure, according to Gene McAvoy, University of Florida Regional Vegetable Extension Agent IV Emeritus. “We did have quite a lot of rain. We didn’t really need it. I’m sure we’ll see more …
Alabama Pecan Producer Still Picking up Pieces Following Hurricane Sally
Hurricanes wreaked havoc on agricultural production this summer and fall. Unfortunately, pecan producers were not immune to nature’s fury. Just ask Alabama farmer Adam Bertolla. He lost ¾ of this year’s crop as a result of Hurricane Sally in mid-September. He also lost 250 trees or a third of his pecan operation. “It killed me, because I lost over a …
Florida Urban Tree Canopy Gives Oxygen, Shade – Saves $4 Billion a Year
November 12, 2020 By: Brad Buck, 352-875-2641 (cell); bradbuck@ufl.edu Trees give us shade to cool off and oxygen to breathe – and they provide Florida cities with $4 billion in benefits a year, collectively, UF/IFAS researchers say. These include savings in air pollution removal, stormwater runoff and carbon sequestration and storage, said Andrew Koeser, UF/IFAS associate professor of environmental horticulture. …
Why Citrus Variety Evaluations Are Hitting a Virtual Wall
All senses are needed to pick and choose new fruit selections for the industry. Coronavirus continues to short-circuit that process.
New Findings on Growing Hemp in Florida
By Tory Moore As the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Industrial Hemp Pilot Project research continues, growers around the state have begun growing hemp on their own farms. Researchers from the UF/IFAS Mid-Florida Research and Education Center (MREC) in Apopka have important considerations for Florida growers contemplating or currently growing hemp. Research lessons learned and …
Falling Pecan Prices Dishearten Growers Amid Bumper Crop
It’s a disheartening feeling to know you have your best pecan crop in years only to face the worst market prices in at least the last 20 years. But that’s what pecan growers in Georgia are facing this fall, according to Lenny Wells, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension pecan specialist. As states like Georgia are currently harvesting a bumper crop, …
What a Difference a Year Can Make for Vidalia Onion Producers
What a difference a year makes for Georgia’s Vidalia onion producers. Last year’s weather conditions consisted of hot temperatures when growers were planting their seedbeds. That’s not been the case this year, however. “It’s been a real quiet year. Everything’s been going very well. This time last year we were dealing with really hot temperatures, some extreme. We think the …