Leafy Greens

Prepare for production challenges with cabbage, kale

Ornamental cabbage and kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephalaL.) are produced commercially during the summer and fall along with other crops such as asters, chrysanthemums, pansies and other cold-tolerant bedding plants. Greenhouse and outdoor ornamental cabbage... more »

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 »

Vegetable farm follows in patriarch’s footsteps

After farming in California’s Salinas Valley since the 1930s, agricultural legend George Tanimura died recently at age 100 – but Tanimura & Antle (T&A), the company he helped create, continues its momentum. “Uncle George worked... 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 »

Vegetable surfaces contribute to foodborne illness

Foodborne illness outbreaks do more than make us sick. Not only can the U.S. economy suffer as a result of reduced worker productivity, particular sectors of the farming industry can experience negative consumer perception, potentially... more »

LGMA advisory board undergoes several changes

This summer the California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement (LGMA) vice chairman and founding member Victor Tognazzini told the organization he was going to retire in Montana. He was expected to take over for current Chairman Ron Ratto in two years; but he didn’t want... more »

LGMA launches hand washing app

The California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement has launched an app, available on iTunes for iPhone and iPad, designed to help train field workers on how to properly wash their hands while on the job. “Handwashing... more »

Robotics drive crop, harvest mechanization

In recent years, there has been an increase in the agriculture industry's level of interest in the development and deployment of driverless tractors, aerial surveying of farmlands, data collection, field management and other technology-based systems.The... more »