The Pomegranate Sorting Technique that Went Viral on Twitter On June 26, 2020, a video posted by Vala Afshar on Twitter depicting a simple fruit-sorting system went viral. In the video, a man rolled individual pomegranates down a set of rods that increased in distance, dropping the pomegranates directly into […]

The greatest challenge of agriculture is producing a thriving, nutrient-rich crop without harming the workers, consumers, and the environment in the process. Spearheaded by the Noble Research Institute, new research into peptides for plant health looks promising as an alternative to conventional pesticides and antibiotics. What Are Peptides? Peptides are […]

Crop protection is an ongoing challenge for California’s fruit, vegetable, and tree nut growers. Unfavorable climate conditions, depleted soil, pests, and bacterial and fungal diseases can ruin part and even all of a crop — causing significant losses for growers and raising prices for consumers. At a time when many […]

Vernon Peterson, an organic grower at Abundant Harvest, quickly discovered after transitioning to organic agriculture that soil health was essential for growing healthy stone fruit. In an interview with Growing Produce, he explained: “In order to farm organic fruit, soil is your No. 1 concern,” he says. “If you get […]

Stone fruit diseases are many and varied, but they typically come from four main origins: Phytoplasmas Fungus Bacteria Unknown origin Knowing which kind of disease you’re dealing with can help you identify effective methods of prevention and control to protect your fruit and avoid a loss. Here, we’ll take a […]

If you were to stroll through the streets and laneways of the Parisian suburb of Montreuil in the 1870s, you would find yourself lost in a maze of 300 hectares of fruiting peach walls. The walls themselves were 2.5-3m tall and more than half a meter wide, covered in limestone […]

Frost damage can become a problem when cold temperatures occur suddenly in spring and autumn — killing shoots, buds, flowers, and bark and giving them a scorched appearance. Fortunately, new growth usually comes through by summer to replace the frost-damaged plant tissues. Here are some facts about frost damage and […]

There are numerous challenges facing the agriculture and horticulture industries today, many of which are a direct result of industrial activity and climate change. Unsurprisingly, the things that put more stress on humans — more extreme temperatures, increasing amounts of radiation, heavy metals, soil salinity, and pollution — put more […]

We often think of plants as helping us raise our own immunity against common viruses like cold and flu. However, plants can be infected with diseases, too. While the study of plant viruses is fairly recent, infectious plant diseases have been around for some time. Read on to learn more […]

There is one thing that specialty crop growers know extremely well: If there isn’t adequate pollination, there won’t be a bumper crop. The wind often helps with this annual process, especially if the pollinating trees are placed upwind and not far from the trees to be pollinated. But mostly, we […]