Apples

Groups seek ban on antibiotics in organic apple production

Consumers Union, the policy arm of Consumer Reports, has announced that it, Food & Water Watch and the Center for Food Safety are urging the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to discontinue the use of... more »

Apple pest makes first appearance in North America

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has been notified by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) that it has detected apple proliferation phytoplasma (APP) in an apple orchard near Kentville, Nova Scotia. The... more »

Penn State gets new pathologist

A new tree fruit pathologist, Kari Peter, began work in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences on March 1.With a faculty appointment in the Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, she will be stationed... more »

Delaware fruit farm survives by adapting

T.S. Smith & Sons in Bridgeville, Del., is going on 106 years – one of the few surviving apple growers in the state. Seventy-five years ago, there were 92 apple growers in Delaware. Today, there... more »

Labor shortages force growers to get creative

Back in the 1990s, cherry growers in the Hood River area of Oregon could see a labor shortage looming. “Here in the Pacific Northwest, of course, we use mostly Mexican laborers, and there have been,... more »

IFTA hands out awards

The International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA) gave its 2013 Extension Award to Jon Clements and Win Cowgill during its recent conference in Boston.“We have never had a tie before when selecting the recipients of this... more »

Jim Robinette named Fruit Man of the Year

Jim Robinette was named Fruit Man of the Year by the Michigan Pomesters March 8, during the group’s spring meeting.Jim’s son, Ed Robinette, presented the award. Ed is the current president of Robinette’s Apple Haus... more »

Washington harvests record apple crop

For Washington state’s apple growers, 2012 turned out to be a record year. According to industry estimates, they harvested 129 million bushels of fresh apples last fall – smashing the previous record of 109 million... more »