Leafy Greens
Cold weather makes for tastier spinach
Researchers at the NH Agricultural Experiment Station have found that spinach grown in high tunnels during the coldest months of winter has the highest sugar content. Becky Sideman, a researcher with the NH Agricultural Experiment... more »
Bella Verdi expands into new Texas greenhouse
Bella Verdi has opened a new 20,000-square-foot greenhouse facility located near Austin, Texas. The new facility will increase production of the company’s living and specialty lettuces as well as other leafy greens. Founded in 2003,... more »
Organic growth drives evolution of fourth-generation farm
Arnott Duncan is a fourth-generation Arizona vegetable grower who left his family’s farm in 1985 and began growing a few hundred acres of conventionally grown row crops. “It seemed as though the general mix of... more »
LED treatments enhance lettuce phtyochemicals
Researchers in China and United Kingdom studied the effects of LED light combinations on lettuce grown in hydroponic systems to determine whether the treatments could reduce nitrate accumulation, and to find out what effect the... more »
State involvement a mixed bag for Cuban growers
For part one of Sam’s trip to Cuba, click here. The farmers we met in Cuba were all in their 50s and had made career changes, such as transitioning from factory workers or Communist party... more »
Gene blocking lettuce germination regulates flowering time
Kent Bradford, left, and Alfred Huo, seen here with a flowering lettuce plant, found that lettuce could be prevented from flowering by increasing the expression of a specific microRNA in the... more »
Dole packaged salads linked to listeria outbreak
Dole has stopped all production at its processing facility in Springfield, Ohio, after being linked to a listeria outbreak. Packaged salads produced at the processing facility are the likely source of the outbreak, according to... more »
BrightFarms: Commercial-scale produce operations in local markets
What is being billed as one of the world’s largest urban farms and greenhouses is nearing completion in Washington, D.C. The 100,000-square-foot greenhouse is being built by BrightFarms, a company that has also turned supermarket roofs into... more »