Fruit and Vegetable News

  Annalisa Hultberg, extension educator, food safety Animal-based soil amendments such as composted manure and poultry litter can build the soil organic matter and water hold capacity of your soil. You may be applying them now. Fall is a great time to do that, as it can be better for food safety and for the health of your plants. Read on for more information.  What are the potential risks? All animal-based amendments carry a risk of microbial contamination, though many factors affect the level of risk in each. Different animals tend to be reservoirs for different pathogens. For example, poultry like chickens and turkey often shed  Salmonella  and  Campylobacter  and ruminants (cows and sheep) often shed toxigenic  E. coli  (STEC). It is not possible to know if an animal is shedding pathogenic bacteria in its feces by looking at the animal or observing its behavior. Therefore it is important to take care with all animal-based soil amendments, parti...

Join us at noon on Wednesday all winter long for a webinar focused on the finer points of fruit and vegetable production. Each week we will cover a technical topic related to the successful management of fruit and vegetable crops, from planning to irrigating to managing pests. The target audience is small to medium sized farmers, as well as aspiring farmers.  Where: Zoom When : Wednesdays January 7 - April 22, 12:00 - 1:15 Attend one or as many dates as desired Recordings of the sessions will be available after the end of the series for those who register Cost: Free These webinars are led by UMN Extension educators, industry experts and experienced farmers. Register: https://z.umn.edu/fvwinterwebinar Topics and dates: Jan 7 Finding and selling to new markets: restaurants, wholesale, and farm to school in 2026 Jan 14 Crop planning to meet production goals Jan 21 Adding fruit to your farm Jan 28 Is a high tunnel right for your farm? Feb 11 Pumpkin IPM throughout the season Feb 18 ...

Join us for a two-day, hands-on workshop to learn about using your time and space efficiently on your farm. Improve your farming skills to grow and sell more high-quality vegetables for wholesale, farm to school, and cooperative markets. Space is limited. Register early to secure a spot! Audience:  Farmers with 2-5 years of experience looking to scale up or sell to wholesale markets Dates & time: January 15 and 16, 8:30am - 4:30pm Location: Eastman Nature Center, 13351 Elm Creek Road, Dayton MN 55369 Cost: $75, materials, lunch and snacks included. Scholarship available. Instructors: Learn from UMN Extension, experienced farmers, and wholesale buyers Registration:  https://z.umn.edu/vegintensive Tomatoes graded and packed for wholesale markets. Topics include: selecting the right markets for your crops, crop planning, variety selection, efficient weeding tools, scouting for pest and disease problems, post harvest handling, sorting and grading produce for wholesale m...

University of Minnesota Extension will host this year's Pumpkin Grower Meetup on   Monday, December 8th at noon  on Zoom.   This event is free and will be a time for pumpkin growers to come together to reflect on the 2025 season and learn together. Hear from seed reps, breeders, and researchers about improving pumpkin production in 2026! We look forward to seeing you there! Registration :  https://z.umn.edu/pumpkingrowermeetup Will the warty pumpkin trend ever die? We will discuss. Photo: Marissa Schuh, UMN Extension.

Article written by  Madeline Wimmer, UMN Extension Fruit Production Educator and Amaya Atucha, UW-Madison Professor and Department Chair Figure 1. Seasonal dynamics of cold hardiness in grapevine buds, illustrating fall acclimation (progressive gains in cold tolerance), winter maintenance of maximum hardiness, and spring deacclimation (gradual loss of cold tolerance as buds resume growth). Introduction to cold hardiness Cold climate hybrid grapes grown in Minnesota (ex. Frontenac, Marquette, Itasca, and Clarion) are better able to survive the harsh winters in the Upper Midwest than European Vinifera grapevines, though they are still at risk of cold damage. How successfully grapevines make it through the winter relates to their cold hardiness. Plant cold hardiness is the vine’s ability to survive freezing temperatures, and it changes throughout the season (Figure 1). In the fall, grapevines acclimate, gradually increasing their hardiness as they are exposed to cooler temperatures an...

Image: The cycle of growth, fall acclimation, and dormancy that a perennial fruit crop goes through each year. These stages are all necessary for its growth, reproduction, and survival, and can provide a lens that helps growers better understand fruit production. Infographic by Madeline Wimmer. Words to be familiar with : Fall acclimation : A series of physiological changes triggered by external and internal factors that prepare a perennial plant to survive the winter and have enough carbohydrate reserves to support next year’s bud break, before mature, photosynthesizing leaves have developed. Dormancy : the portion of a plant’s life cycle when a number of physiological changes occur that allow the plant to overwinter in a less active state. Endodormancy : Also referred to as true dormancy, this state happens when plants first acclimate and go into dormancy. This state usually remains until a certain number of chilling hours have accumulated. Chilling hours : Hours where the ambient te...