Saturday, February 04, 2012
RED BLUFF, Calif. - The new head of the California Dried Plum Board says he hopes for a rebound in plum acreage in the next decade even as plantings dipped again in the last year. Only 55,000 acres of trees were bearing during the 2010-2011 season, down from the 61,000 acres that bore fruit in ...
Friday, February 03, 2012 4:28 PM
Agriculture in parts of Eastern Washington's 4th congressional district feel a bit disenfranchised by the state's new redistricting plan. The plan, set for legislative adoption by Feb. 7, was put together by a bipartisan commission. The plan moves three Eastern Washington counties from the 4th Di ...
Thursday, February 02, 2012 10:00 AM
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Rob and Sally Hilles, who run a fully integrated hazelnut operation near here, have been chosen as Nut Growers of the Year for 2011 by the Nut Growers Society of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. The award, which was presented by society president Tim Aman at the nut growe ...
Thursday, February 02, 2012 10:00 AM
DRYDEN, Wash. -- Alex Toban moves quickly, instinctively knowing his next lopper cut with the merest glance of the eye. At 56, he's pruned, thinned and picked pears in the Wenatchee Valley for 30 years. This year, Toban and pruners throughout Central Washington are two to four weeks ahead of sch ...
Thursday, February 02, 2012 10:00 AM
Frozen blueberry supplies have increased significantly in the past year, which experts say could dampen prices during the next harvest. Warehouses entered 2012 with nearly 20 percent more blueberries in cold storage than a year earlier, according to USDA statistics. Cold storage stock increases ...
Thursday, February 02, 2012 10:00 AM
NAPA, Calif. (AP) -- Napa Valley wine producers will go a long way to protect their good name, all the way to Thailand if necessary. That's the latest country which has awarded Geographic Indication status to Napa wine, which means they've agreed not to allow sales of wine labeled "N ...
Thursday, February 02, 2012 8:55 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration says it has found low levels of an illegal fungicide in orange juice samples taken from Florida manufacturers. The FDA says the fungicide is far below dangerous levels, the juice is safe to drink and the orange juice won't be recalled from s ...
Thursday, February 02, 2012 3:15 PM
BOISE -- A bill that would give the Idaho Wine Commission the ability to better promote the state's fast-growing wine industry has made it to the House floor with a "do-pass" recommendation. House Bill 412 would give the commission statutory authority to more thoroughly promote Idaho's winegrape ...
Thursday, February 02, 2012 10:00 AM
A federal judge has upheld a requirement that California almonds be treated with heat or chemicals, which some growers claim unfairly favors foreign producers. The USDA did not exceed its authority by imposing regulations that effectively banned the sale of domestically produced raw almonds, said ...
Thursday, February 02, 2012 1:00 PM
YAKIMA, Wash. -- Fred McMechan Plath, owner of Washington Fruit and Produce Co., one of the state's largest tree fruit companies, died Jan. 25 in Yakima. He was 89. Plath was president of the company in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, decades that saw strong growth. The company was started by his fathe ...
Thursday, February 02, 2012 2:00 PM
Oregon State University Extension entomologist Peter Shearer said he still is catching spotted-wing drosophila in his traps in Hood River and Wasco counties, which shows the insect overwinters. But experiments to determine where it resides during cold winter months have been unfruitful. "It may ...
Thursday, February 02, 2012 3:00 PM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Federal authorities said Friday they've taken down two major drug trafficking and money laundering operations in different parts of New Mexico, one involving an Albuquerque firefighter and the other southern New Mexico pecan growers. Agents have seized caches of ...
Friday, January 27, 2012 4:18 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration has detained several shipments of imported orange juice after finding traces of an illegal fungicide. The government says the juice is safe to drink. But the fungicide, carbendazim, is not approved for use in the United States, so any ju ...
Friday, January 27, 2012 2:17 PM
REDLANDS, Calif. (AP) -- A pest that threatens citrus crops has turned up in the San Bernardino County city of Redlands. The Press-Enterprise of Riverside (http://bit.ly/xbMdf2 ) says the Asian citrus psyllid was discovered at the city-owned Granite Grove. The newspaper says the City Council ...
Friday, January 27, 2012 8:36 AM
VISALIA, Calif. -- Interest in the burgeoning pistachio industry was reflected in the packed meeting rooms for the annual Pistachio Day. The annual one-day event drew 650 people, roughly double the number attending just two years ago. The reason might be that the recently completed pistachio harv ...
Thursday, January 26, 2012 11:00 AM
WENATCHEE, Wash. -- A few more fruit trees in Central Washington will die this coming season from the pre-Thanksgiving Day freeze of 2010, a Washington State University tree fruit specialist says. "It takes a while for them to understand they don't have a trunk," Tim Smith told growers at the Nor ...
Thursday, January 26, 2012 11:00 AM
WENATCHEE, Wash. -- Continued grower vigilance next spring is needed to keep little cherry disease under control, a Washington State University research scientist says. Cool, wet springs for two years in a row has increased visibility of the virus, which in warmer years mostly hides from growers, ...
Thursday, January 26, 2012 11:00 AM
PORTLAND -- Oregon State University has announced the upcoming release of a new commercial hazelnut variety resistant to Eastern filbert blight. The new cultivar, Dorris, is notable for its flavor, said OSU hazelnut breeder Shawn Mehlenbacher. "This is an attempt by the OSU breeding program to gi ...
Thursday, January 26, 2012 10:00 AM
RED BLUFF, Calif. -- The state-established organization that promotes California walnuts will seek growers' permission to raise their maximum assessment from a penny to 1.75 cents per pound. The Golden State's roughly 4,500 walnut farmers will receive ballots in March for the referendum, which wo ...
Thursday, January 26, 2012 12:00 PM
WENATCHEE, Wash. -- Apples often take center stage in the tree fruit world as markets seem flooded with new varieties. But a group of research scientists hopes to create equal buzz for pears in a few years with new varieties and better methods of bringing ripe pears to market. Scientists from Wa ...
Thursday, January 26, 2012 10:00 AM
WENATCHEE, Wash. -- Parts of Chelan and Benton counties may be placed under apple maggot quarantine this year, but the pest still has not been found in commercial fruit. The Washington State Department of Agriculture wants to keep it that way, Mike Klaus, department entomologist told growers Jan. ...
Thursday, January 26, 2012 11:00 AM
BOISE -- A new rule designed to better protect the state's grape industry from pests and diseases was approved by the Idaho Legislature Jan. 19. The new rule tightens and clarifies the requirements for importing grape planting stock into the state. It clearly outlines what pests are regulated, the ...
Thursday, January 26, 2012 11:00 AM
Many areas in warmer zones; gardeners can plant different seeds WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) -- Global warming is hitting not just home, but garden. The color-coded map of planting zones often seen on the back of seed packets is being updated by the government, illustrating a hotter 21st century. It's th ...
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 12:00 AM
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- A new study says citrus greening has cost Florida more than $3.6 billion over the last five years. The University of Florida study released Tuesday says the bacterial citrus disease has cost the state more than 6,600 jobs since 2006 by reducing orange juice prod ...
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 8:33 AM
YAKIMA, Wash. -- Washington cherry growers have approved a six-year extension of a federal marketing order for the industry's grade and pack committee with a 92 percent favorable vote. The Agricultural Marketing Service of the USDA conducted the election by mail in November and released results t ...
Thursday, January 19, 2012 10:00 AM
New research suggests the antioxidant properties of grapes could help a consumer slow or prevent the onset of age-related blindness. The study published in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine found a grape-enriched diet protected against oxidative damage of the retina and prevented blin ...
Thursday, January 19, 2012 10:00 AM
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