News

Judge tosses Driscoll’s patent allegations against former strawberry breeder

A quarrel over lucrative California strawberry strains withered in court July 6 after a federal judge picked apart a corporate seller’s patent infringement lawsuit against the former chief of a legendary breeding institute. According to a report... more

Commodity commissions in Georgia appoint producers

Ex officio members of the Georgia Agriculture Commodity Commissions met June 30 to make appointments to several of the commissions. The following appointments were approved: Andy Futch and John Reece, both of Gilmer County, were reappointed to t... more

LGMA votes to mandate risk-based preharvest testing

The Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement board voted July 8 to mandate preharvest testing for leafy greens grown in fields where elevated risk factors are present. Specifically, the LGMA food safety program will now require members to assess each of t... more

Commercial farms received the most government payments in 2019

Multiple USDA programs disburse payments to farm operations each year. Payments to farm operators totaled $14.8 billion in 2019, based on data from USDA’s Agricultural Resource Management Survey. More than 30% of about 1.97 million U.S. farms recei... more

OPS keynote presentations headlined by Albertson’s co-chairman Jim Donald

Jim Donald, Albertson’s co-chairman, will be a featured keynote presenter at the fifth annual Organic Produce Summit (OPS), joining retail industry veteran Kevin Coupe for a provocative and engaging conversation about the future of the food industr... more

Hydroponics and aquaponics topic of free Ohio State workshop

Ohio State University College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Science is offering a educational workshop, “Hydroponics, Aquaponics Impacts and Opportunities.” It will be held Aug. 5, from 5:30-5 p.m. at the Ohio State University (OSU) S... more

Proper steps identified to control pumpkin disease

I was recently asked about disease control programs for pumpkins. The following was modified from an article by Kate Everts in 2019 that I have added updated fungicide recommendations and additional information about certain diseases. A frequent q... more