Equipment

Disease Update: Rots wreaking havoc on stone fruit

The extremely wet weather over the last month has triggered rot issues in both sweet and tart cherries. As a result of the volume of fungal spores flying around and the persistent warm wet conditions,... more »

IFTA tour story ripe with industry progress

Gary Pullano, associate editor for Fruit Growers News, is blogging this week from the International Fruit Tree Association's Regional Summer Tour in Washington state.When you gather 170 people from seven countries, including those from nine... more »

Increase of spotted wing Drosophila in berry crops

Monitoring for spotted wing Drosophila (SWD) over the past week has revealed an upswing in the catches of SWD in monitoring traps. Numbers have gone from a few per trap to some catching more than... more »

Blueberry fruit rot severe this year

Anthracnose (also called ripe rot) in blueberry, has been quite severe this year, especially in highly susceptible varieties such as Bluecrop, Bluetta, and Blueray. Anthracnose in blueberry is caused byColletotrichum species, the very same troublesome... more »

MSU’s Jim Flore named Cherry Industry Person of the Year

Michigan State University (MSU) horticulture professor Jim Flore was honored as Cherry Industry Person of the Year on July 7.Flore received the honor at the MSU Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center, where public tours are... more »

Ceremonial ‘First Pick’ marks the start of the Michigan blueberry harvest season

The Michigan blueberry harvest is once again about to launch into full swing and local growers are working long hours to ensure that the blueberries are picked, packed and available to consumers, retailers, restaurants, and... more »

Waiting to harvest after a rain enhances food safety

To protect consumers from foodborne illness, produce farmers should wait 24 hours after a rain or irrigating their fields to harvest crops, according to new research published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.Rain or... more »

‘Field Operations and Harvesting’ now available in Spanish

Thanks to the hard work of a small group of volunteers, the “Field Operations and Harvesting” and the “Combined Harmonized Food Safety Standards” are now both available in Spanish.The Harmonized Standards were created by a... more »

Breeding, energy, shelf life will drive future of storage

What might fruit storage look like in the future? Several experts shared their thoughts with FGN. Randy Beaudry, a horticulture professor at Michigan State University, said storage technology has pushed fruit about as hard as... more »

MRLs could pose trade barrier for U.S. fruit exports

Market pressures are forcing growers to be more aware of the impacts of maximum residue levels (MRLs) on their product. Without attention to detail, they could be locked out of markets in the global food... more »