Tomatoes/Peppers
Mexican tomato exporters claim produce is free of virus
Mexican tomatoes being detained at the border for longer inspections is "unjustified," according to agricultural officials in Mexico. According to a report from Yahoo Finance, Víctor Villalobos Arámbula, Mexico's secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development... more »
‘Christmas Lights’ ornamental peppers bred
John Stommel is a plant geneticist, but he should probably be known as Professor Pepper. Stommel has devoted much of his 30-year career at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to breeding and releasing unique pepper varieties... more »
California awards over $1.1M for proactive IPM
The California Department of Food and Agriculture has awarded a total of $1,110,283 funding for three projects to be administered through the Office of Pesticide Consultation and Analysis (OPCA) Proactive Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Solutions... more »
Tomato plants repel pathogens with ‘vaccine’ to boost defense system
Scientists knew that plants wage chemical war against bacterial, viral and fungal infections. Now they’ve learned how to “vaccinate” tomato plants with a natural chemical to boost their defenses against a pest that makes leaves... more »
ITC: Mexican tomato dumping threatens US growers
In a unanimous decision on Nov. 22, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) made an affirmative determination that dumped Mexican tomato imports threaten the U.S. industry with material injury. This determination comes on the heels... more »
Researchers ID an accomplice to late blight
Descendants of the fungus-like pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s – Phytophthora infestans – may have had a "helping hand" in recent U.S. outbreaks of the costly blight disease. Reporting in the September 2019... more »
Tomato brown rugose fruit virus concerns growers
Growers and officials across the country are watching produce aisles for imported tomatoes with tomato brown rugose fruit virus, or ToBRFV, which they say could disrupt domestic growers of tomatoes and peppers. Although tomato seeds... more »
USDA acts to protect US from tomato brown rugose fruit virus
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is taking immediate action to prevent the introduction of tomato brown rugose fruit virus into the United States and protect U.S. tomato and pepper production worth more... more »