The Plant City, Florida grower of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries has expanded operations to Oxnard, California. The Frontera strawberry variety will be grown there.

While no specific type, brand or supplier of leafy greens was identified as the source of infection, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has identified the E. coli strain in a manure sample about a mile from the production site. 

The crossing between Reynosa, Mexico and Pharr, Texas is expanding to accommodate $35 billion in trade and more in the years to come. It’s the number one crossing in the U.S for produce. More than 10 per cent of the crossings are in high-value berries.

In a new twist, some of America’s largest blueberry growers are insisting that there is no injury to the industry when most imports arrive outside the domestic growing season of late April to early September. The coalition went public a week before the U.S. International Trade Commission looks at the case on January 12.

The American Blueberry Growers Alliance has been established to seek relief from rising imports. While Peru and Mexico are said to be the main irritants, Canada is also caught up in the International Trade Commission investigation.  

In recent years, the mergers of global crop protection companies promised robust R & D pipelines.  But the reality is that fewer products and label extensions will come to horticulture. That’s because there’s a bottleneck of reduced trial capacity at the Pest Management Centre says apple grower Charles Stevens, Newcastle, ON. 

The cost of energy-intensive fertilizer is set to increase under a new carbon tax regime. It’s yet another burning issue for horticulture, on top of labour and crop protection. 

Events by invitation-only became the norm in 2020 as the pandemic curbed in-person contact. The impacts of COVID-19 on research, new product launches and extension efforts will be felt for years to come. 

Dejected workers gather to tear down the brittle leaves of a cucumber crop that perished after Nature Fresh Farms was shut down by public health authorities on June 30, 2020. In a recent short documentary, the story is told how 199 asymptomatic workers tested positive for COVID-19 but no one was ever hospitalized. The devastating effects of losing 7.8 million pounds of produce aren’t just economic but emotional as guest workers have testified. 

Meetups are increasingly scarce. That’s why technology transfer is challenged in the age of COVID-19. Ontario vegetable crop specialist, Travis Cranmer and his colleagues are using new platforms to reach garlic growers Ian and Nathan Teetzel near Exeter, Ontario.

This resource provides excellent pictures and describes key features to identify the six different species found in Ontario: waterhemp, redroot pigweed, green pigweed, tumble pigweed, smooth pigweed and prostrate pigweed.  

BASF Canada Agricultural Solutions has received registration for Merivon fungicide. It can be used to address key diseases such as black rot and bitter rot in apples, and Septoria leaf spot and botrytis gray mold in blueberries. 

Currently in Ontario the Pigweed family have confirmed resistance to 6 of the 8 Herbicide Groups where resistance occurs. Browse or download the latest version of the Pigweed Species Identification Guide.

The Ontario Pesticide Education Program courses focus on product information, health and environmental risk management, pesticide application and pesticide safety practices. Growers can work through the course at their own pace. 

UPL diversifies its portfolio with OHM, its first biostimulant in Canada.