Charles Stephens, Associate Deputy Administrator, Specialty Crops Program, for USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service answers a few questions on how the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program can assist specialty crop growers.

Late last week, late blight was confirmed in Chautauqua County, New York, on tomatoes and potatoes. Late blight is characterized by irregularly shaped lesions that are initially water-soaked and pale green before turning gray-brown.

The state of California recently shipped 1.4 million N-95 masks to agricultural commissioners in 35 counties for wildfire smoke protection for farmworkers. This is part of that effort.

Scientists at UF/IFAS are using this year’s allotment of $141 million in research funding to develop better sweet corn, improve cow-calf breeding, make further progress toward controlling citrus greening disease and more.

Goodyear, Arizona-based Duncan Family Farms, a leading family-owned, multi-regional grower of over 7,000 acres of certified organic produce, announced Aug. 31 the installation of a highly effective, controllable and transportable treatment system for irrigation water.

Entering the latter half of August, the very different nature of this year’s back-to-school season is becoming evident. Wave 17 of the IRI COVID-19 shopper impact survey, conducted between Aug. 7-9, finds a growing number of parents reporting their school-aged children will be partaking in virtual education only.