Project Description
Special Focus: California
Featured stories about California appear in this issue.
Short trees require more work up front
Grower Paul Muradian has nearly ten years of experience with tight tree spacing and multiple leader orchard systems in peach and nectarine orchards. But though
First Bite
California, with its moderate climate and water availability, has long been the fruit bowl of America, producing nearly all types of fruits imaginable. The Golden
Let there be light
Some fruit-growing regions have big advantages over other areas, and one of those advantages is light, according to Dr. Dave Ferree, retired horticulturist at Ohio
California FOCUS
California’s tree fruit industry, like other growing regions, has experienced a multitude of challenges in recent years, including smaller crops caused by wet weather and
Training trees to be short
University of California Cooperative Extension’s Kevin Day, a proponent of growing shorter stone fruit trees, has helped numerous growers lower their tree height without diminishing
Pedestrian orchards studied
Pedestrian orchards offer potentially significant savings in labor costs for California’s stone fruit growers, but industry officials have never evaluated the orchard systems for feasibility
To market, to market
Red Globe peaches picked ripe from the tree at the Pipitone orchard. The odometer on Jerry Pipitone’s truck has clocked over a quarter of a
Prioritize vineyard expenditures
Becoming more efficient is a mantra of agricultural producers as they struggle to survive. But increasing efficiency isn’t as easy as simply reducing farm expenses
Improving efficiency in the vineyard
What are grape growers doing to be more efficient and stay in business? Keith Oliver, manager at Olsen Brothers Farms in Prosser, Washington, said they
Similkameen leads in organic practices
The Sterile Insect Release program has helped them achieve organic production, say Sally and Wilfrid Mennell. British Columbia’s Similkameen Valley touts itself as “the organic
Last Bite
Rumor has it there is also a Stars label although no one remembers seeing one. Lloyd Garretson was one of the founding partners of the
Change is constant, Hort president finds
After last harvest, Blair Losvar pulled out all his remaining Red and Golden Delicious trees. In the past decade, he’s transformed his family’s 200-acre orchard
Research focuses on reducing growing costs
Scott Johnson stands in front of a peach tree on Krymsk 1, a dwarfing rootstock from Russia that shows promise in the NC-140 peach
South African growers preserve biodiversity
A Delheim Wines vineyard at Klapmutskop Hill in South Africa’s Stellenbosch region. Delheim has committed all its acreage to the Biodiversity and Wine Initiative. A
Impact on Trade
China’s consumption of apples and apple products exceeded 30 pounds per person in 2004 compared to U.S. consumption of 40 to 50 pounds per person
Short trees reduce labor costs
Photo, this page: Early variety peach trees at Enns Packing were mechanically topped after harvest (around the second week of June) and then topped again
Evaluating Nondestructive Firmness Detectors for Pears
The firmness of pears is used as a harvest indicator and to help track ripening of the fruit in wholesale and retail operations. Firmness is
In my view
Recently, the newspaper carried an Associated Press story covering top concerns aired by Washington State potato growers and processors as they peered into the crystal
Growing high-density cherries
This slender spindle orchard system produced high yields early in the orchard’s life because of minimal early pruning.There are many challenges to growing sweet cherries