It’s Avocado Month!

Celebrate the Magic of California Avocados.

By Emily McKay Johnson, Associate Editor

Chefs and foodies alike, get ready for California Avocado Month which begins TODAY, June 1st. Menus across California are celebrating this magical fruit, not only for its postive health benefits as a source of Omega-3 and Vitamin E, but also for its resiliency to thrive in spite of the prolonged drought.

“Avocados are at their peak of the season,” said Jan DeLyser, vice president of marketing for the California Avocado Commission (CAC), “so we’re in very good supply and their eating quality is just second to none.”

Avocados are so diverse, they can be incorporated into daily menus for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, beverages and even desserts. Consider celebrating summer gatherings with chocolate avocado pudding, avocado ice cream or, perhaps, even an avocado cake. Links to recipes are included at the end of the article.

Would you believe California avocados can be used as a butter alternative—with 300 fewer calories per quarter cup serving?

Despite entering year five of the drought, California and its farming industry received enough rain in the northern part of the state this year to replenish reservoirs and actually increase this year’s avocado harvest. Roughly 4,000 growers on approximately 53,000 acres have harvested 392 million pounds of avocados.

“We actually have more fruit this year than we had last year,” acknowledged DeLyser. “Our growers are continuing to be good stewards of the resources that are available to them and able to produce avocados for us all to enjoy throughout the summer months.”

The CAC’s collaboration with chefs around the country to feature California avocado items, helps support growers of the tree-bearing fruit in the state. Approximately 90 percent of the nation’s avocado crop comes from fertile, California soil, mostly on small family farms, which can ensure the avocados are carefully handled and inspected.

Recipes incorporating delectable avocados: Chocolate Avocado Cake, Avocado Ice Cream

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:05:56-07:00June 2nd, 2016|

Bill Chandler on Farming

Bill Chandler Builds a Legacy

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

A third-generation farmer in Fresno County, Bill Chandler farms near Parlier, Selma, and Fowler. The family operation has traditionally produced tree fruit such as peaches, plums and nectarines, but they are certainly expanding their crop diversity. “We have gone more into almonds lately because of unavailable labor,” Chandler commented. “We are looking into citrus, which is not as perishable as soft fruit—which, if you don’t harvest it right away, you’ve lost the whole year’s effort.”

Like so many farm families in California, the Chandlers go back a couple of generations farming here. “My grandfather came out here in 1888 from Illinois,” Chandler expounded, “and looked at this area. It was appealing because the land prices were not that bad compared to Illinois. But the big deal was the weather; we don’t have all that snow in the winter time. We also have relatively level ground and not a lot of rocks in our soil. We, too, have hardpan under the soil, but that can be worked out.”

“My father got out of school in 1921 and started farming in this area,” said Chandler. “I was the only son and I always wanted to farm. I have a sister who was able to inherit some, and I bought my sister out, so that’s what our farm is now.”

Bill Chandler and his wife, Carol, have two sons, Tom and John, who are both back on the farm. “They both majored in ag, which was kind of neat; one in ag econ and the other in food science, and we are very proud that they are both back farming with us now. Tom, the older one, majored in ag econ at UC Davis and was in banking for about 12 years. Now he has come back and has been helping us on that side of the farming, which is very very important. He also did some land appraisal on the side. His brother, John, who majored in in fruit science at Cal Poly, is more into field work, and he does some beekeeping on the side as well.”

Chandler said a lot of success and wonderful things about farming have always been accompanied by a lot of challenges as well. “Yeah, there is always something,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s labor, weather or regulations. We are really fortunate; we stand at a place here, Kearney Field Station*, where the UC has done a great job helping us solve some of these regulations or pests.”

Chandler’s sons, Tom and John, are going to pick up where their dad leaves off, but that may be awhile, “You know,” Chandler philosophized, “a farmer never does retire. Fortunately, I am able to live on the farm. They are doing most of the farmwork, but they do ask me questions.”

This year’s above-average rainfall, along with the snowfall, has been great, but Chandler said, “There is still going to be a lot of work to dig ourselves out of this four-year drought. I have experience and so do many other people. Not only are our trees suffering from lack of proper irrigation, but we are spending a lot of money putting in new wells or new irrigation systems so that we can handle this drought.”

Chandler doesn’t take nearby UC and USDA researchers for granted. He always attends meetings and takes notes. “We can go to these folks and have these seminars that are really helpful.”

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*Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension (KARE) Center

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:24:07-07:00April 12th, 2016|

Ryan Jacobsen on 5 Percent Water Allocation

Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO on Water Allocation

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

California Ag Today staff interviewed Ryan Jacobsen, CEO and executive director of the Fresno County Farm Bureau moments after the Bureau of Reclamation announced only 5 percent of contracted water would be allocated to Federal surface water users south of the Sacramento Delta during this El Niño year.

California Ag Today: Forget how you feel about the Bureau of Reclamation’s initial 5 percent allocation for Federal water users. How many times can we say, “Frustrated?”

Jacobsen: Absolutely just despicable—the announcement we heard earlier today. The frustration is that we’ve continually been told over the last couple of years with zero percent water allocations that it’s been Mother Nature.

Even though it’s not necessarily the big bang year we were hoping for in northern California, Mother Nature provided. We’ve seen the reservoirs overflowing. We’ve seen the reservoirs flood-releasing, and here we are with a five percent allocation. We saw outflows in the delta this winter that exceeded the 300,000 acre/feet a day, and yet we weren’t doing anything to capture it. So, it’s just frustration, frustration, frustration that here we are—more of the same—and what does this mean long-term for California agriculture? We can’t be viable without a surface water supply, and when Mother Nature provides, unfortunately the federal government’s not trying to collect it.

California Ag Today: What is going on? Why are they doing this? Do you have any theories?

Jacobsen: Obviously, it has so much to do with the environmental side and the belief that the federal government is doing all they can to protect these species up there. We have seen that it’s doing no good; the fish species are seeing no recovery; it’s actually going in the opposite direction. It is plain mismanagement. The unfortunate part is sound science isn’t even going into this right now; it is purely the emotional side of whoever decides to pull the trigger on the federal side. And here we are on the resulting end, losing millions and millions of dollars in our economy, idling more farmland—the most productive farmland in the country—in the world—and losing the jobs that are associated with it.

San Luis Reservoir -Empty, California Farm Water Coalition

San Luis Reservoir Suffering the 2015 Drought is now barely half filled even after the El Nino rain, runoff and massive flood releases from Shasta an Oroville

California Ag Today: You speak brilliantly on this whole situation. Way more water has flowed out to the ocean than needed for the protection of any of the species or the environment, so who are they listening to?

Jacobsen: Right now, this is simply the administration’s decision. Reclamation falls under the federal side of things, so obviously, ultimately, it lays on the President’s desk. If we talk about resolution: by 9 a.m. tomorrow morning, we could see a resolution to this whole issue. If Congress would get their act together and pass some kind of bill, get it on the President’s desk and get it signed, we could see some resolution.

Unfortunately, here we are, April 1: a good portion of the precipitation season is now behind us, the high flows through the delta are pretty much over. We still have healthy reservoirs up North, but unfortunately it doesn’t mean anything for us down here because we can’t convey it through the Delta to get here. That lack of and the lack of ability on the federal side to make the decisions that would allow us to pump that water makes this just another year of doom and gloom. Again, how much more of this can we take? I think the long-term outlook for those farmers with permanent crops who have tried to scrape by, has to be, “Is this even viable for us to continue to do this anymore?” ‘Because Mother Nature provided, and yet we don’t see the water.

California Ag Today: Very bleak. Ninety-five percent of normal snowfall, too.

Jacobsen: The percentages in northern California, while good, weren’t the El Niño banner year we were expecting. The season looked bright, like it was going to be good. Yet, the fact of the matter is that during the months of January, February and March, when these just incredible numbers of high water flows were going through the Delta, pumps were pumping in single digits. And that’s not even close, or anywhere near where they should have been.

I think the misconception is when we talk about the water that is taken from the Delta, it’s such a small percentage, particularly during those high-flow times; it would have meant no difference to water species. It’s just a frustration that we continue to be bombarded by these environmental restrictions that are having no good effect on the long-term viability of these species they are trying to protect.

California Ag Today: What is the economic impact of these water cutbacks on the Central Valley?

Jacobsen: Well, when you look at the five percent allocation, we are ground zero. Fresno County, right in the heartland of the Central Valley, is ground zero. We are going to see probably in excess of 200,000-250,000 acres of land continue to be fallowed and the loss of the tens of thousands of jobs associated with that, and millions, tens of millions of dollars. It’s obviously a very dire situation when it comes to long-term viability here in the Valley.

California Ag Today: Because they are going to hear a lot of outrage from us, do you think the Bureau of Reclamation would go to a 20 percent water allocation? Farmers must be thinking, “We got to get the seeds ordered today for the crops.” Is there any hope for an increase in water, or do you think farmers just can’t bank on it?

Jacobsen: It’s already too late. For this season, it’s already too late. It is April 1 already, and, unfortunately, this is not a joke. This decision is about one month-and-a-half late. I think the Bureau of Reclamation was hoping the numbers would improve magically. They didn’t.

The five percent allocation, while said not to be our final allocation, is likely to be close. It won’t go up to 20; it won’t go up to 15. Maybe if we pray enough, it may go up to ten, but that would be on the high side. Right now, it looks very realistic that five percent is where we end up, where we are going to stand for the year.

California Ag Today: Okay, I know growers who have planted tomatoes in Fresno County, thinking, “Hey, we gotta get water.” They’re not getting it.

Jacobsen: They’re not getting it, no. And lack of surface water supply continues to make a huge dent in our groundwater supply, so this just can’t continue the way it is going. Plus, upcoming implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), combined with the lack of federal surface supplies, will absolutely hammer farms here in the Valley.

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:24:07-07:00April 8th, 2016|

New Citrus PSA Shows Homeowners HLB Threat

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

Without the involvement and aid of backyard citrus growers to prevent the spread of the invasive Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) and the citrus-deadly Huanglongbing (HLB) disease vectored by the ACP, consumers would no longer have the opportunity to enjoy fresh citrus. “Deadly Plant Disease Threatens California Citrus,“ the newest public service announcement (PSA) from California Citrus Pest Disease and Prevention Program (CCPDPP) conveys this message to residential citrus growers, according to Joel Nelsen, California Citrus Mutual (CCM) president, in order to keep all citrus safe from HLB.

CA Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program’s Citrus PSA on HLB Fight, “Deadly Plant Disease Threatens California Citrus”

Nelsen said the citrus PSA announcement “shows a family in the backyard barbequing and doing what families do on a weekend.” They walk over to their row of three citrus trees in the backyard when an orange falls off the tree and disappears, followed by the disappearance of all three trees. Nelsen said the PSA zeros in on the family members’ confusion at the disappearance of the oranges and the trees, all associated with the HLB infection.

CCPDPP’s new PSA is a way for homeowners to understand the importance of keeping citrus safe from HLB, said Nelsen, ”because as much as they’re emotionally tied to their trees, so are the growers in our industry. We don’t want to see anyone’s tree get eliminated because of HLB.”

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Prevent HLB; Check Your Citrus Trees for Asian Citrus Psyllid

In a new four-minute video, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) scientists encourage California farmers and home citrus growers to check new growth on their citrus trees for Asian citrus psyllid infestation. As ACPs spread Huanglongbing (HLB) disease, a serious, incurable threat to both the citrus industry and backyard citrus trees, scientists aim to minimize the ACP population until researchers find a cure.

UC ANR video, “Check your Citrus Trees for Asian Citrus psyllid“

A flush of new leaf growth on citrus trees announces spring in California. The emergence of feathery light green leaves is particularly attractive to Asian citrus psyllids (ACP), signaling a critical time to determine if the trees are infested with ACPs.

“We encourage home citrus growers and farmers to go out with a magnifying glass or hand lens and look closely at the new growth,” said Beth Grafton-Cardwell, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) citrus entomologist. “Look for the various stages of the psyllid – small yellow eggs, sesame-seed sized yellow ACP young with curly white tubules, or aphid-like adults that perch with their hind quarters angled up.

Pictures of the ACP and its life stages are on the UC ANR website. Call the California Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Exotic Pest Hotline at (800) 491-1899 with any findings.

The UC ANR ACP website provides help in finding the pest and taking action.

(Source: UC ANR)

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California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:03:03-07:00March 30th, 2016|

Breaking News: New HLB Infected Tree in San Gabriel

Breaking News

Citrus Insider Reports New HLB Confirmed in San Gabriel

Today, two additional trees in have tested positive for Huanglongbing (HLB). The two trees, an orange and a kumquat, are on separate properties but are both within the core area in San Gabriel where 10 diseased trees were confirmed last summer. Given the close proximity, there will not be a quarantine expansion.

One of the HLB-positive trees has already been removed and California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) officials are in the process of contacting the other homeowner to schedule tree removal. Agriculture officials are working quickly in the area.

Citrus trees in San Gabriel had already been treated for the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) within the last few weeks as part of CDFA’s routine HLB response. ACP populations are closely monitored in areas where HLB has been detected and treatments occur if there is a noted increase in population size. Since trees have been recently protected, no additional treatments will take place at this time. Instead, CDFA will focus on sampling extensively in the area. Much of the area has already been sampled and CDFA’s lab has identified all samples from San Gabriel as high priority.

The Citrus Pest & Disease Prevention Program is working with the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner’s office and CDFA to develop a multilingual informational flyer to notify residents of the significance of these finds and potential implications to other citrus trees in the area. CDFA staff will distribute this information as they go door-to-door sampling and surveying.

More information will be shared as it is available. In the meantime, the citrus industry is encouraged to keep a critical eye on all plant material moving into or out of your groves and recommends taking the following steps so collectively, as a team, we can all save our citrus trees.

-Remove all leaves and stems

-Shake out picking bags

-Inspect harvesting equipment

-Educate fieldworkers

-Get on board with area-wide treatments

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Additional Links:

Citrus Insider

Save Our Citrus

California Citrus Mutual

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:03:04-07:00February 3rd, 2016|

Red Scale Challenges Citrus

Besides HLB, Red Scale Challenges Citrus

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

While much of the talk in the citrus industry is about how to fend off Huanglongbing (HLB) disease, one of the most devastating citrus diseases, Dr. Beth Grafton-Cardwell, director of the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Lindcove Research and Extension Center, reinforced that HLB isn’t the only pest that can overtake California’s citrus orchards.

Grafton-Cardwell explained how last year’s warm winter led to an increase in the California red scale, Aonidiella aurantii, population. “Normally we have cold conditions that kill off the younger instars of the scales and [basically] restarts the system. But we didn’t really have any low temperatures last year, so the scales didn’t go into their usual hibernating phase. They just kept cranking out crawlers and adding in an extra generation or two of production. So the higher number of scales on the trees made it much more difficult for the growers to control.”

Grafton-Cardwell explained while it is difficult to speculate whether this coming year will yield another large population of the California red scale, “We have already received more moisture as a result of seasonal rainfall, which should help hinder the pest. Hopefully we’ll get some cooler weather conditions too–not freezing because citrus groves don’t like freezing temperatures–but cold enough to knock out some of the scales and get the population back under a manageable level,” she said.

Nevertheless, despite the challenges that California red scale can cause, Grafton-Cardwell said, overall, citrus growers need to keep their focus on the fight against the Asian Citrus Pysllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri, and its ability to spread HLB. “Growers need to start thinking in terms of: California has the [HLB] disease and it’s going to start spreading in southern California soon,” Grafton-Cardwell said. “What do we do to prevent it from spreading up here into the San Joaquin Valley?”

Photo source: “Life Stages of California Red Scale and Its Parasitoids,” UC ANR Publication #21529, by Forster, Lisa D.; Robert F. Luck; and Elizabeth E. Grafton-Cardwell; with photos by L. Forster and M. Badgley)

Patrick Cavanaugh2021-05-12T11:03:04-07:00January 20th, 2016|

Protecting California Citrus from ACP

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

[embedvideo id=”ZWgOOjpxwE8″ website=”youtube”]

California’s $2.2 billion fresh citrus industry that supplies 85 percent of the nation’s fresh citrus is currently healthy and vibrant despite the background threat of the Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP), according to Kevin Severns, a citrus grower in Sanger, CA; general manager of the Orange Cove-Sanger Citrus Association, a cooperative citrus packing house in eastern Fresno County; and chairman of California Citrus Mutual.

“We’re quite concerned about it,” Severns said about the ACP—a tiny bug that is a known carrier or vector of “huanglongbing” (HLB), a devastating, incurable disease of citrus trees that has already demolished the citrus industry in Florida. “We’ve been able to keep the bug at bay to this point,” Severins continued, “at least here in the Central Valley, but we’re very concerned about it. There are a lot of issues to be concerned about with this bug.”

California has taken note of the devastation of Florida’s industry, Severns said, and is taking steps to ensure the safety of California’s citrus. “Having gone to Florida with many of our citrus growers,” Severns explained, “I heard Florida growers tell we must control the bug. So we’re trying to keep this bug at bay and not allow [the infestation] to expand. We’ve had varied success in different areas of California, but so far, we’ve been able to keep the bug’s expansion here in the Central Valley to a minimum. We continue to have finds from time to time, but we haven’t yet had an explosion of the population of the ACP.”

Severns said, “We have a very successful partnership with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).” While trapping ACP is critical, he emphasized the importance of enlisting the help of residential folks with citrus in their backyards to get involved in the conversation, to look for this pest, and to join in the fight. “The trap is very limited in its ability to pick up ACP, so it’s very important that we have visual surveys in which growers and homeowners actually go out and look at their trees for the bug.”

Severns said current measures against the spread of the ACP is helping to buy time for researchers to find a cure for HLB. “We realize every place on earth where the ACP has gone, eventually has been followed by HLB,” Severns said, “so we’re trying very hard to buy time and give our researchers and scientists a chance to come up with a solution to this disease—whether it is a resistant type of citrus variety or a cure for the trees.”

Preventing the spread of ACP and HLB, from commercial citrus growers to residential citrus growers, will require that everyone works together. To learn more, go to CaliforniaCitrusThreat.org or contact your local Ag Commissioner.

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Did you know, the historical time period establishing the California citrus industry is known as the “other” California Gold Rush? (Source: California Citrus Mutual)

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Patrick Cavanaugh2021-05-12T11:05:58-07:00January 12th, 2016|

UPDATE! Expanded ACP Quarantine

UPDATE! Expanded ACP Quarantine in Stanislaus and Merced Counties

Two ACPs Found in City of Turlock

Stanislaus County has been placed under quarantine for the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) following the detection of two ACPs within the City of Turlock. The expanded ACP quarantine also includes a portion of northern Merced County along its border with Stanislaus County. The quarantine zone measures 101 square miles, bordered on the north by East Service Road; on the south by August Avenue; on the west by Blaker Road; and on the east by North Hickman Road. The quarantine map for Stanislaus and Merced is available online at: www.cdfa.ca.gov/go/acp-maps.

The quarantine prohibits the movement of citrus and curry leaf tree nursery stock, including all plant parts except fruit, out of the quarantine area and requires that all citrus fruit be cleaned of leaves and stems prior to moving out of the quarantine area. An exception may be made for nursery stock and budwood grown in USDA-approved structures which are designed to keep ACP and other insects out. Residents with backyard citrus trees in the quarantine area are asked not to transport or send citrus fruit or leaves, potted citrus trees, or curry leaves from the quarantine area.

ACP county-wide quarantines are now in place in Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura Counties, with portions of Alameda, Fresno, Kern, Madera, Merced, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Stanislaus counties also under quarantine.

The ACP is an invasive species of grave concern because it can carry the disease huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening. All citrus and closely related species, such as curry leaf trees, are susceptible hosts for both the insect and disease. There is no cure once the tree becomes infected; the diseased tree will decline in health and produce bitter, misshaped fruit until it dies. In California, HLB has only been detected in 2012 and 2015 on residential properties in Los Angeles County. This plant disease does not affect human health.

Residents in the area who think they may have seen ACP or symptoms of HLB on their trees are urged to call CDFA’s Pest Hotline at 1-800-491-1899 or your local agricultural commissioner’s office (Stanislaus County (209) 525-4730; Merced County (209) 385-7431). For more information on the ACP and HLB, please visit: www.cdfa.ca.gov/go/acp.

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:06:00-07:00December 28th, 2015|

Raisin Bargaining Association Negotiations for 2015

Glen Goto: Raisin Bargaining Association Negotiations for 2015

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

In the midst of the 2015 (RBA) Raisin Bargaining Association negotiations on behalf of its members, the RBA has reached a price agreement with one processor among 13 thus far, according to CEO Glen Goto. “It is a negotiation, so we don’t know where it will end up,” Goto said. “We also don’t know when it will end up, but we’re trying to do it as quickly as possible.”

Goto said California accounts for 30 to 35 percent of the world raisin supply. This year, Turkey, California’s largest competitor, which typically produces about the same amount, is experiencing a decreased supply due to a devastating April frost. “We are a world commodity,” Goto said. “The United States and Turkey, together, produce most of the dried grapes in the world, so we do look at Turkey as a competitor. Nevertheless, in certain markets, we may want to work together with Turkey. We are very structured with regard to our export destinations, and Europe is one of our big markets. Turkey is also very big in Europe, so our export success there varies by year and by supply situation.”

Goto is optimistic about the raisin industry despite its challenges and the loss of acreage as growers convert their vineyards to almonds, other nuts, citrus and other tree fruit crops. He explained, “Growers are doing their due diligence to determine the best economic scenario for their operations. And given other good, profitable commodities in the marketplace, more power to growers if they have the ability to convert their acreage to them.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:27:02-07:00December 8th, 2015|

Health Benefits of Pomegranates

Dong Wang on Health Benefits of Pomegranates

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

As the demand for healthy food items increases, farmers are choosing from among a larger diversity of crops to grow. Dong Wang, research leader with the United States Department of Agriculture Research Service in Parlier, spoke at the 2015 UC Kearney Ag Research and Extension Center (KARE) & USDA-ARS Pomegranate Field Day last week.

Wang said “the International Society of Horticultural Sciences[1] organized a conference in 2013 on pomegranates and other minor fruits. Attendees from about 20 countries presented their pomegranate research findings on crop production, yield, quality, and genetic aspects of different species, including cultivars. They also presented findings relating to health benefits and the biochemistry of pomegranate products.”

Researchers and experts in California and around the world continue to explore producing a plant variety with the genetic potential for higher yield. And while increased marketable yield is important, Wang said researching pomegranate health benefits and phenolics—compounds with antioxidant properties—may be more beneficial than the absolute yield, “so people are researching multiple aspects of the topic.”

Dong Wang, research leader with the USDA-Agriculture Research Service in Parlier

While the U.S. has a relatively small market for fresh pomegranates, pomegranate juice and secondary products, which are more common in the U.S., help to increase the fruit’s marketable yield. Wang explained some Americans eat fresh arils atop salads and other dishes, but those not-so-perfect on-the-surface pomegranates will still be desirable for the fresh market because they still contain beneficial compounds when processed. This research on phenolics, vitamins, and other compounds found in the fruit has been performed not only on the juice and the arils, but also in high-concentrate peels.

The International Society of Horticultural Sciences organized a conference in 2013 on pomegranates and other minor fruits. Conference attendees from about 20 countries presented their pomegranate research findings on crop production, yield, quality, and genetic aspects of different species, including cultivars. They also presented findings relating to health benefits and the biochemistry of pomegranate products.”

As a result of the 2013 International Society of Horticultural Sciences Conference in 2013 on pomegranates, Wang co-authored a proceedings book published by the International Society of Horticultural Sciences in July 2015. Co-written with Zhaohe Yuan, Nanjing Forestry University and Erik Wilkins, Paramount Farming Company, the volume, “Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Pomegranate and Minor Mediterranean Fruits,” covers the following major areas of research and state-of-the-art technology: Physiology and Biochemistry, Secondary Metabolism and Human Health, Integrated Pest Management and Disease Control, Marketing and Economics, Genetic Resources and Breeding, Cultivation Techniques, and Post-harvest Technology. According to the USDA, “The book serves as the largest collection of the most current knowledge on pomegranate science and technology in the world.”[2]

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[1] International Society of Horticultural Sciences

[2] USDA ARS

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:27:05-07:00October 30th, 2015|