Tag Archives: Fruit

New insecticide to help tree fruit industry fight stink bug

Brown marmorated stink bug

A native of East Asia, the brown marmorated stink bug has no natural predators in North America.

Virginia’s fruit industry has a new weapon in the fight against the brown marmorated stink bug, or Halyomorpha halys. On June 29, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted an emergency exemption to use the insecticide dinotefuran to control the stink bug on stone and pome fruits in Virginia and six other states.

Chris Bergh, tree fruit and grape specialist for Virginia Cooperative Extension and associate professor of entomology at Virginia Tech, prepared the application for the pesticide’s use as part of Extension’s larger effort to ward off the stink bug in Virginia.

“The exemption will allow stone and pome fruit growers in a seven-state region to use this pesticide,” Bergh said.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) submitted the application to allow for unregistered use of the pesticide until Oct. 15, the end of harvest season. According to a VDACS announcement, Section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act authorizes the EPA to grant exemptions for pesticide use for a limited time in the event of an emergency. Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Agriculture and Natural Resources | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Filling a Niche with Fruits and Vegetables

Reza Rafie, Extension specialist at Virginia State University, discusses locally-grown produce with a Whole Foods employee. Rafie is working to connect producers with local outlets for their products.

Reza Rafie knows there is money to be made in the specialty fruit and vegetable crops arena – and he wants farmers to know it, too.

Reza Rafie, Extension specialist at Virginia State University, discusses locally-grown produce with a Whole Foods employee. Rafie is working to connect producers with local outlets for their products.

Rafie, commercial vegetable Extension specialist at Virginia State University (VSU), has been working for two years to grow and market unusual produce in what he calls a “niche” agriculture effort.

“It’s a different way of thinking about agriculture,” Rafie says. “I help farmers look at it this way: they’re not growing a ‘crop’; they’re growing ‘food.’ That opens up a lot of possibilities if they are willing to explore niche markets and adapt what they are growing to suit today’s buyers and new trends.”

Consumers today are more interested in locally grown produce and in the nutritional value of the foods they eat. Additionally, as the population of Hispanic, Asian, and Middle Eastern natives in the United States continues to grow, more people are looking for fruits and vegetables that are important to their culture and traditions – which may not be available in typical American grocery stores. Read the full story in Solutions.

Share
Posted in Agriculture and Natural Resources, Community Viability | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment