Fruit
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An article in Growing Produce this week quoted a USDA researcher speaking to WMAZ-TV of Macon on the peach harvest this year. The scientist, Tom Beakman, from the USDA Southeastern Fruit and Nut Tree Research Laboratory in Byron GA, said ‘We have never been so short (on chill hours). Hardly any of the commercial material that’s out…
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The Packer has an interesting story this week on how producers are dealing with the fall-out of the killing frost in mid-March. While blueberries and peaches took a significant hit, there will still be some crops available. Other fruit like blackberries were not affected by the frost and strawberries have come back strong after the…
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The Vegetable and Specialty Crop News posted a pair of stories by Kelsey Fry today describing the different impacts of the mid-March freeze on blueberry production in Florida and in Georgia. While the Georgia crop was severely impacted by the cold temperatures, which got down to 22 F in some places, the Florida crop was largely…
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As the climate changes and warmer temperatures move towards the poles, there will be winners and losers. Food and Wine features one of the winners in a warmer climate–wine producers in the south of England, who are now able to produce sparkling wines that rival the traditional Champagnes of France. It’s not just the changing…
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Brad Haire of the Southeast Farm Press published a compelling story this week about one blueberry growers’ family and their efforts to save this year’s bumper crop from the killing frost which hit the Southeast in mid-March. Many producers will be able to relate to the decisions the family made to try to save their…
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Over the last few years I’ve worked with several satsuma farmers in southern Georgia helping them with insurance information and low temperature climatologies. One grower even sent me a box of them in the mail! The Georgia Farm Bureau posted a story this week in Growing Georgia describing the increase in satsuma farming over time…
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Vegetable and Specialty Crop News posted a story earlier this week describing problems that Georgia peach farmers are having with the unusually low number of chill hours that have been observed this year due to the warm winter and spring. For the peaches that survived the mid-March frost, the lack of chill hours has led…