Citrus greening disease or huanglongbing — HLB for short — has taken a toll on Florida’s citrus sales, but hope remains that the industry will survive and even thrive.
Georgia peach grower Robert Dickey III and Florida vegetable grower Charles Obern have been named 2019 Farmers of the Year by Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo.
Ocean Mist is bringing chef Christopher Vacca to the Produce Marketing Association’s Foodservice Conference & Expo to create Tuscan Style Braised Baby Artichokes to sample on the show floor.
LGS Specialty Sales Ltd., New Rochelle, N.Y., is preparing to start the Peruvian avocado and summer citrus seasons by visiting growers in different countries.
The Canadian Produce Marketing Association expressed its approval for the federal government’s investments that benefit the fresh fruit and vegetable industry.
California growers are expected to produce 80 million cartons of navel oranges during the 2018-19 season, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s an 11% increase over last year.
Florida’s orange volume should be about 77 million 90-pound box equivalents, most of which will go to processing, said Andrew Meadows, director of communications for Lakeland-based Florida Citrus Mutual.
Volume should be up in most U.S. citrus-growing areas this season compared to last year, and despite challenges in some areas, growers say they’re shipping some good-quality fruit.
The University of Florida has developed a system designed to help growers know the best times to spray fungicides on their citrus trees in order to minimize a disease called postbloom fruit drop.