Fruit and Vegetable News

In episode 18  of our fruit and vegetable podcast  What's Killing My Kale?  we talked to Linda Chalker-Scott, a horticulturalist with  Washington State University. The internet lays many claims about the benefits of numerous "alternative" or "natural" remedies for pest management and plant health. How do we know which methods are backed up by science, and which are not? In this episode, Linda lays out ways growers can determine if claims about natural products are accurate and effective. We use epsom salts and compost tea as two examples. This episode is being re-posted from December 2018. We are still getting the hang of posting correctly so that our podcasts are compatible with other forums; this should fix our feed so that all of our episodes end up on iTunes and Stitcher! Click here to listen to the episode.  You can listen to it now, or download it to listen later.  You can find all previous (2018) episodes on  FruitEdge . What's Killing My

This is a list of winter educational conferences for fruit and vegetable growers in Minnesota and surrounding states. If you attend, please say hello to our many Extension Educators, researchers, and graduate students who will be giving talks! Stop by the UMN Extension booths at the MFVGA and SFA Conferences to visit with us as well. Read on to see the list.

Authors: Annie Klodd and Natalie Hoidal.  "What's Killing My Kale?" is the UMN Extension podcast on fruit and vegetable pest management. Each episode, we interview a farmer, researcher, or Extension Educator about hot topics and innovative methods for managing pests. The December episodes of the podcast center around understanding the complex topic of pesticide use and safety on fruit and vegetable farms, including organic and natural pest management products. Episode 17: Glyphosate and Cancer  with Kaci Buhl. Kaci is the statewide director of Pesticide Safety Education at Oregon State University, and the deputy director of the Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative ( PERC ). In this episode, Kaci talks about how people approach risk around herbicides, and dissects the complexity of current research on glyphosate and cancer. Episode 18: What Does Pesticide Safety Mean for Organic Farms ? with Natalie Hoidal. In this episode, Natalie discusses the importance

In episode 17  of our fruit and vegetable podcast  What's Killing My Kale? Annie and Natalie discuss pesticides labeled for use in organic systems.  In this episode, Natalie discusses the importance of thinking about pesticide safety on all fruit and vegetable farms, including organic farms with organic pesticide products. She also lays out the results of the fruit and vegetable pesticide use survey that was distributed by UMN Extension to fruit and vegetable growers throughout 2018. This episode is being re-posted from December 2018. We are still getting the hang of posting correctly so that our podcasts are compatible with other forums; this should fix our feed so that all of our episodes end up on iTunes and Stitcher! Click here to listen to the episode.   You can listen to it now, or download it to listen later.  You can find all previous (2018) episodes on  FruitEdge . What's Killing My Kale?  is a podcast production of the University of Minnesota Extension, s

Author: Annie Klodd.  Any farmers applying compost, manure, or straw should keep in mind that while these inputs have many benefits for vegetable production, they can also be modes of spread for weed seeds. Fortunately, there are ways to minimize the amount of weed seeds that appear in compost and manure and then end up on the field. Photo: Chryseis Modderman Episode 16: Manure, Compost, and Weeds. This month on "What's Killing My Kale?" (our fruit & vegetable pest management podcast) we had a fascinating discussion about this with Chryseis Modderman , UMN Extension Educator for manure management. Among other things, we talked about best practices for applying compost and manure on vegetable fields, and how it is that weed seeds and diseases can travel all the way from the pasture, through the animal, and onto the vegetable field. We then discussed practices that growers can adopt to minimize the risk of bringing in new weed infestations via manure and compost