Specialty Crop Grower Magazine is a new publication for AgNet Media. It is a product of the merger of Florida Grower and Specialty Crop Industry magazines.
The inaugural January issue features the specialty crop tracker, a record of the crop progress based on observations from producers, Extension agents and industry stakeholders throughout the Southeast. The crops highlighted include watermelons, strawberries, tomatoes and blueberries in Florida.
Sustainability starts with people and that’s the mindset shared by Paul Allen, farm manager with R.C. Hatton Farms. He talks about his career in agriculture and time with Hatton Farms, which produces sweet corn in Florida and Georgia.
Consumers love sweet corn, but so do corn earworms in South Georgia. Multiple industry experts, including University of Georgia entomologists Stormy Sparks and Phillip Roberts, along with consultant Wes Briggs discussed the pest, which is a top concern for producers. There are concerns about potential resistance development. New insecticides are effective but expensive.
Calvin Odero, associate professor at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Everglades Research and Education Center (UF/IFAS EREC) in Belle Glade, Florida, highlights the top five weeds in sweet corn in South Florida. Julien Beuzelin, assistant professor at the UF/IFAS EREC, and Anna Meszaros, UF/IFAS vegetable Extension agent, focus on the best management practices for corn silk fly.
Sabrina Halverson also talks about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new investment in specialty crop research and trade missions.