Fruit and Vegetable News

Produce safety is in the national spotlight right now. Earlier this year romaine lettuce contaminated with E. coli from the Yuma, AZ growing region sickened at least 210 people in 36 states and caused 5 deaths, including two in Minnesota. The outbreak is officially over as of June 28, and now regulators will be piecing together what caused the contamination. We won’t know the source of the current outbreak for some time, but we do know that the 2006 spinach outbreak that was of a similar magnitude was traced back to irrigation water contaminated with feces from cattle or wild deer. Fields of leafy greens Photo credit: Annalisa Hultberg While we don’t have control over what growers in Arizona or California do, we can control our own practices to help prevent outbreaks associated with Minnesota produce. We want to prevent any illnesses or outbreaks from Minnesota-grown produce, and to ensure our food systems to grow and thrive. FSMA Produce Safety Rule Trainings You ma...

Some problems are difficult to diagnose in the field. When growers spot issues on their vegetable or fruit plants, the cause of the problem is often not identifiable in the field. However, identifying the cause is a very important first step to resolving it. Did you know that the University of Minnesota has a Plant Disease Clinic (PDC) that helps diagnose diseases on plants? Every year, they receive between 2000 and 2500 samples from growers, and last year these included over 170 different plant species.

This month's episodes of "What's Killing My Kale?" are all about plant diseases. In this episode, we talk with Michelle Grabowski about diseases in cole crops , and what growers should be thinking about in terms of scouting and management in the upcoming weeks. You can listen to this episode  here , on  Stitcher , or  iTunes .   

This month's episodes of "What's Killing My Kale?" is all about plant diseases.  We start in part 1 with a trip to the University of MN Plant Disease Clinic to learn about the services they provide to growers. Visit their website here:  https://pdc.umn.edu/ . You can listen to this episode  here , on  Stitcher , or  iTunes .