Crop Protection
Grape Growers Grabbing onto Sustainability
“Sustainable” is a soft, fuzzy buzzword, but grape growers are grabbing onto it, and it’s spreading like a virus in grape-growing areas. First it was California, then Washington, Oregon and New York, and now Michigan.... more »
Earmarked for Slander
Earmarks have a bad name, only partly deserved. While they don’t represent ideal procedures for getting things in the U.S. Congress, they should not be put into the same barrel with pork. Earmarks are sort... more »
Blueberry Council Seeks Assessment Increase
In response to what it called an unprecedented increase in blueberry production, the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) board voted to recommend a doubling in the assessment growers pay for promotion. Growers currently pay 0.6... more »
Position Your Place as a Safe Food Producer
Food safety and how to assure it were top topics at grower meetings and workshops last winter – as they were in the news. The day has arrived when almost everybody in the produce business... more »
Getting Started with a Food Safety Audit
Before you decide to pay $92 an hour or more to have an auditor visit your farm or packing facility, you need to lay a lot of groundwork. Ninety-two dollars per hour is what the... more »
The Right to Farm Right
Back in the 1970s, after 20 years of urban sprawl born from a new interstate highway system, people started thinking farmers were somewhat of a nuisance, with their dust and noise and odors and such.... more »
Pheromone-Based Approaches To Managing Pests
Many fruit growers are making pheromone-based mating disruption the foundation of their pest management programs. An estimated 500,000 acres worldwide, including nearly 175,000 acres in North America, are treated with pheromone to control codling moth... more »
Having a panic
It’s hard to know what to make of all the food safety scares and product recalls these days. There are several ways to look at it. 1. Something sinister is going on within our industrial-style... more »
Control Codling Moth Without Organophosphate Sprays
Azinphos-methyl (AZM, Guthion) has been the most-used insecticide in apples since the late 1960s, primarily as a control for apple’s key pest, the codling moth (CM). However, the decision by EPA to phase out AZM... more »
Codling Moth 101: Managing the New Tools and Methods
If EPA had had its way, the insecticide Guthion would be long gone by now. But for the last decade, the fruit industry has fought to retain key uses of azinphos-methyl, that old and reliable... more »
Current Issue
On-farm AI: Water, farm, labor research guide decisions
Data collection tool expands farm management
Carmel Valley winegrapes: Parsonage Village Vineyard
IFTA Yakima Valley tour provides orchard insights
IFTA recognizes tree fruit honorees
Pennsylvania recognizes fruit industry professionals
Fresh Views 40 Under 40
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