Grapes

Fruit growers have a lot to learn at the 2011 Great Lakes EXPO

This year’s Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO will offer a variety of educational sessions and special events. There should be something of interest for everyone attending. The 2011 EXPO is scheduled for... more »

Winegrape Harvest 2011: Crop size likely low, quality high

Tony Linegar smiles as he proudly points to the framed award that hangs on the wall to the right of his desk and explains that in his capacity as the county's Agricultural Commissioner he was... more »

Fruit spurred growth of organic farming movement

If the U.S. organic farming movement has a father, many would point to J.I. Rodale. In 1947, Rodale founded what became known as the Rodale Institute to “study the link between healthy soil, healthy food... more »

New pest has growers and exporters on edge

Cooperative Extension Agent Mike Bush hunches over the table, peering through a magnifier at seven tiny, black specks. Collected from a plastic trap holding a mixture of vinegar and soap, the specks are fruit flies.But... more »

Spotted Wing Drosophila catches are picking up

Widespread monitoring in commercial fruit farms across Michigan by Michigan State University research and Extension staff has so far detected spotted wing Drosophila (SWD) at only a small proportion of the hundreds of sites where... more »

Experimenting with high-density blocks

In March, an International Fruit Tree Association tour visited C&M Orchards near Prosser, Wash., where owners Craig and Mike O’Brien showed their visitors a 52-acre block of high-density apples they planted in 2000. The apples... more »

Farm thieves target grapes, and even bees

Sgt. Walt Reed said he could tell right away that the grapes were stolen. They looked like an ordinary bunch. Except, he said, for the way they were dressed. The New York TimesTo read more,... more »

New tool to fight BMSB

On June 24, EPA approved, for emergency use, the insecticide dinotefuran (trade names Venom and Scorpion) on tree fruit to help manage populations of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB), an invasive insect that has... more »