Washington State University’s newest apple variety, WA 64, is a sweet, tart, firmly crisp hybrid of Honeycrisp and Cripps Pink, a variety that includes the well-known Pink Lady®. Officially released for commercial licensing this summer, WA 64 is expected to reach stores in 2029. WSU will select a partner in the coming weeks to make trees available to growers, and the college will choose …
Today, Congressman David G. Valadao (CA-22) introduced two bipartisan bills to improve the domestic specialty crop industry – the Specialty Crop Domestic Market Promotion Program Act and the Specialty Crop Mechanization Assistance Act. Specialty crops are a cornerstone of California agriculture – the state produces the most specialty crops in the country both in quantity and diversity, with over 400 …
Developing disease-resistant, high-quality improved crop varieties to benefit agricultural producers and consumers may seem like a “hairy” task, but Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists may have gotten to the root of the issue. A new biological technology that develops and multiplies disease-resistant citrus plants using “hairy roots” is under development by an AgriLife Research team led by Kranthi Mandadi, Ph.D. Mandadi is …
USDA Foreign Ag Service — We see them every time we purchase fresh fruits and vegetables: price look up (PLU) labels. The little coin-size stickers are stuck to everything from apples, bananas, and cantaloupes to watermelons, yams, and zucchini. According to the Sustainable Packaging Coalition , PLU labels have been used globally for more than 30 years with the International Federation for …
Announced by the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Division (CPDPD), the CDFA’s Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) quarantine program now requires all harvesters/farm labor contractors (FLCs) – referring to any person/establishment who employs people to perform work related to grove management and/or harvesting commercial citrus fruit – to have a valid compliance agreement to …
Spotted wing drosophila (SWD), a small fly native to Asia that first appeared in Michigan in 2010, isn’t like most pests. Populations of crop-damaging insects tend to have distinct generations. Not SWD. Several generations overlap and build through the year, attacking vulnerable agricultural crops and wild plants. The situation has created a major challenge for the Michigan berry and cherry …
To teach PCAs about citrus mealybug (an emerging concern for citrus growers) this field day will focus on lectures on pest identification and biology, scouting/monitoring, and management, lecture on ant control. With this knowledge, PCAs can monitor the fields for mealybug infestation and develop informed management strategies. Attendees will receive instruction from Sandipa Gautam and David Haviland from the UC …
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced the appointment of 28 members and alternate members to serve on the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC). Members and alternates will serve a three-year term ending Dec. 31, 2025. Four of the appointments are the exporter members and alternates whose terms will expire Dec. 31, 2024, to remain in the council’s nomination rotation. …
Now in its fifth year, the agriculture industry collaboration led by Growing Matters kicked off its annual BeSure! stewardship awareness campaign to promote best stewardship practices when using neonicotinoid products on farms and urban landscapes. Using a wide range of media channels, the BeSure! campaign reminds growers, crop protection applicators, urban landscape applicators, agricultural supply retailers and others to follow label …
For the first time, under authority of Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act Amendment of 1935, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will purchase up to $20 million of fresh mandarins and tangerines for distribution to food banks, schools and other non-conventional markets. USDA also announced that it will purchase up to $20 million in oranges and $10 million in …
