Tomatoes/Peppers

Florida tomato growers bolstered by decision on imported product

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) released a statement March 11 after the U.S Department of Commerce rejected a request by importers of Mexican tomatoes to exempt certain greenhouse-grown specialty tomatoes from the 2019 U.S.-Mexico Tomato Suspension Agreement,... more »

Unintended effects of gene editing in tomatoes studied

Yi Li, professor of plant science in the University of Connecticut College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources is working on a new $500,000 Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research Grant from the USDA/NIFA to study a... more »

Study: White clay spray mix repels tomato pest

Tomatoes are big business in Florida, the nation’s top producer of the popular fruit, but an insect no bigger than a grain of rice threatens growers’ fields each season. The whitefly prefers the underside of leaves, enjoying a variety... more »

Researcher studies transforming tomatoes with molecular biotechnology

James Duduit, a North Carolina State University horticultural science doctoral student, utilizes molecular biotechnology to transform tomatoes and improve the crop’s resistance to bacterial wilt and other common pathogens. Molecular biotechnology has many crop applications... more »

Several issues impacting California processing-tomato growers

The supply chain's weak links and California's fickle winter weather are clouding the forecast for the state's processing-tomato growers. Aaron Barcellos, a diversified grower in Los Banos, already cut his tomato acreage by more than... more »

AppHarvest grows indoors for tomatoes, other produce

The first tomatoes from AppHarvest’s flagship, 60-acre greenhouse in Morehead, Kentucky, first appeared on retail shelves in January 2021, but that pales in comparison to what the company hopes to be shipping out by the... more »

Device sniffs out the ‘smell-fingerprints’ of pestered plants

A team of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and university scientists has developed an electronic nose to sniff out whitefly infestations of tomato plants. The "E-Nose" works by detecting a specific cocktail of chemicals, called volatile... more »

CBP withholds release order on tomatoes produced by farm in Mexico

Since Oct. 21, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at all U.S. ports of entry have detained fresh tomatoes produced by the tomato farm Agropecuarios Tom S.A. de C.V., and Horticola Tom S.A de... more »