June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, and the California Walnut Board (CWB) and U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) are collaborating with a select group of retailers, including Coborn’s, Rouses Markets and Weis Markets, to encourage consumers to “grab a boost of blue and walnuts, too!” Activations will include unique opportunities such as local TV segments, e-newsletter features, Facebook Lives, and …

California Prune orchards put on a beautiful show this spring as the trees bloomed with white blossoms and shifted to a changing color palette as new fruit formed. Growers across the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys reported a nice extended bloom with excellent quality. With an estimated 75,000 tons in volume for the 2021 crop, California Prune growers have been …

With emergency drought regulations being prepared and cuts in state and federal water deliveries being announced, farmers and ranchers are being forced to make tough decisions about the future of their operations.  One crop now getting a lot of attention as a possible alternative is table olives, grown in the modern acreage format, which the U.C. Davis Olive Center has …

Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are working to understand how something can be equally effective as both a government-approved food additive and as a pesticide. Methyl benzoate is a naturally occurring compound produced by plants. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration long ago approved methyl benzoate for human use; its fruity and floral aroma makes it a staple …

Winners from the 13th Annual California Olive Oil Council Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition have been announced, recognizing olive oil producers from throughout California for their excellence. This year’s competition, which attracted 80 submissions, was judged by the California Olive Oil Council’s certification tasting panel, granting a host of awards including Best of Show, Best of Class, Miller Recognition, and Gold …

The 2020 recipient of the California Olive Oil Council (COOC) Pioneer Award has made a lasting impact on the California olive oil industry. Dan Flynn started the UC Davis Olive Center 13 years ago where he serves as the executive director with just $50,000 from university and industry supporters, and grew it into a world-renowned center for olive research and education. …

There has been growing hype around finger limes from citrus growers, the retail sector, and their customers. Growers are particularly interested in this market as disease pressure such as citrus greening and international competition have made other citrus and fruit markets less appealing. However, many are concerned that finger limes are just a fad and the markets will eventually crash …

With the GEM® avocado variety acreage increasing in California groves and gaining increased popularity as a point of discussion with retailers, the California Avocado Commission has added the GEM® variety to the CaliforniaAvocado.com website. In tandem with this initiative, the Commission also has made concerted efforts to better position California avocados on search engines by updating the avocado variety browser …

What Nobel Prize-winning Economics Research Tells Us About ACP and HLB Management in California As you have likely heard many times, coordinating management measures for the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) and Huanglongbing (HLB) over a larger scale than individual properties is key to achieving effective control and limiting the spread of the disease. Coordination is important in terms of surveying …

FAS New Delhi (Post) secured confirmation from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India that prunes from plums (Prunus domestica) are a processed food product (dried fruit), and as such are not subject to the non-Genetically Modified (GM) cum GM-Free status certificate requirement. Industry’s concerns for clarification necessitated post’s outreach. U.S.-origin prune exports to India reached nearly $1 million …