Equipment

Kasumin Wins Section 18 Approval in Michigan

EPA has approved the use of the antibiotic Kasumin 2L on apples for the control of fire blight in nine Michigan counties. The approval, granted under Section 18, allows treatment on a maximum of 10,000... 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 »

Summer Pruning, Done Right, Is Quite Effective on Apples

There are many elements, pros and cons that go into the decision to summer prune apples. There are some rules for applying this practice to make it a positive experience, because otherwise the grower may... more »

New York Apples Sell Well on East Coast

New York apple varieties – like McIntosh, Empire and Honeycrisp – ranked at the top of a survey of retail sales data in five Northeast and mid-Atlantic markets. "With our high quality fruit and proximity,... 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 »

Teenagers Tackle Tons of Tedious Tasks

Thinking about hiring high school or college kids? Worried about potential difficulties? Well, don’t worry too much. There are advantages and disadvantages, of course, but hiring teenagers isn’t as troublesome as one might think, according... more »

Another Bus! Market Hosts Visitors of All Ages

You’ve hosted school tours for a while and they’ve been a success. The kids learn something, you make a little money and, hopefully, parents hear how much fun the kids had and decide to bring... 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 »

Organic Apples Face Market Test This Year

Washington-grown organic apples have been coming to market at a rate of increase of about 30 percent a year. At Stemilt Growers, in Wenatchee, one of Washington’s largest packers of organic apples, the growth rate... more »