Strawberry season will soon be upon us (if it isn’t already). It’s a popular crop – number three among fruits produced in the U.S. and constant consumer craving. That demand and the fruit’s adaptability for controlled environment agriculture (CEA) systems makes strawberry an attractive fruit crop fo...

Indigenous botanist Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of the best-seller “ Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge & the Teaching of Plants ,” spoke collaboratively for two nonprofits – the Massachusetts Audubon Society and Wellesley College – in the Bay State. Her latest book, “T...

Imagine blackberry growing becoming more streamlined – literally. Pairwise, a company based in Durham, NC, uses proprietary plant gene editing technology to deliver breakthroughs that benefit farmers, consumers and the planet. At last year’s American Society for Horticultural Science meeting, they s...

A never-ending propagation challenge is weeds. In a presentation hosted by the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI), research associate professor Anthony Witcher, Ph.D., Otis L. Floyd Nursery Research Center at Tennessee State, discussed weed control in propagation. “We think propagation is a shor...

A recent study titled “Healthier Soils, Lower Emissions & Carbon Credits in ‘Carbon-Smart’ Apple Orchards” sets a sharp and stirring stage for research from Michigan State University scientists Kevin Postma, Akihiro Koyama and Julianna Wilson. Their work blends careful calculation with climate consc...

SPRING HOPE, NC – Johnny Barnes knew how to achieve big goals. In 1986, he returned home to the family farm established by his parents Carson and Maxine and helped turn it into an operation which markets sweet potatoes across the country and globally. He also helped build organizations which assist ...

If you grow strawberries, there’s a good chance you have used plastic mulch in the past (or are thinking about trying it in the future). However, the most commonly used mulch is anything but green for the horticulture industry. Polyethylene (PE) mulch suppresses weeds, optimizes the soil and canopy ...

Irrigation involves many considerations, but soil scientist Dr. Andrew Bierer, Appalachian Fruit Research Center, Kearneysville, WV, believes soil is number one. “Soil is made of three different size class particles,” said Bierer, who spoke recently at the Mid-Atlantic Fruit & Vegetable Convention. ...

Thanks to social media, plants that never received much attention before are gaining more time in the spotlight. Like Dipladenia. An annual, Dipladenia (aka rocktrumpet) is sometimes used interchangeably with Mandevilla but they are different. As Brian Krug and Jamie Gibson, technical leads with Syn...

Irrigation got its moment in the sun at the most recent Cultivate, though not in the way you might expect. Forget the glossy tech booths and glitzy gadgetry – the real action was in a seminar room where Gerry Spinelli, production horticulture advisor for nurseries, floriculture and controlled enviro...

Pots, trays, media and seeds are ready to go. And so are the pests and diseases ready to muck everything up. Emma Lookabaugh, a technical service rep for BASF, spoke about four basic things to focus on when getting the jump on nursery diseases at the most recent Cultivate event. While some may seem ...

Vegetable vitality begins beneath the surface. In organic systems the success story often starts with something small yet significant: the transplant. In a focused and forward-thinking presentation, Ajay Nair, Ph.D., and Smriti Chaudhary, research assistant, from Iowa State, explored how dry media r...

Organic certification is a third-party verification system, allowing the certifier and its inspectors to verify what is happening on an organic farm. “What does the inspector want to see? They want to see records that demonstrate that you’re meeting the organic standard,” said Nicole Dehne, the cert...

The 2025 Irrigation Show & Education Week brought together growers, consultants and tech tinkerers hungry for tools that can stretch every drop. In the middle of the bustle, Dr. Stacia L. Davis Conger, state irrigation specialist and associate professor of irrigation engineering at LSU’s AgCenter, d...

In a presentation hosted by BalChem, Andrew Rose of the nonprofit organization Bioeconomy Information Sharing & Analysis Center (BIO-ISAC), discussed a critical and timely question: Could your operation survive a cyberattack? Rose refers to himself as an “accidental expert” in cybersecurity. He was ...