Fruit Program News

  • UMass Fruit Team Seeks Undergraduate Summer Intern(s) with Pay!

    February 13, 2018
    The UMass Fruit Team (umassfruit.com) is looking for one (or two) full-time, spring- summer undergraduate student Integrated Pest Management assistants/interns. These are PAID hourly positions! Main responsibilities to include (but are not limited to): install and maintain orchard pest monitoring equipment and other orchard fieldwork tasks as required. Mostly, this is a learning/mentoring position for the right individual(s). Therefore, we might expect you to also draft content for newsletters and other publications based on monitoring information and relevant field observations.
    Read more
  • New video on High Density Apple Orchards

    New video on High Density Apple Orchards

    January 23, 2018

    Fruit production specialist Jon Clements of UMass Extension demonstrates more efficient growing methods to produce greater yields and higher-quality fruit from Massachusetts apple orchards. This new technology is the future for the next generation of apple growers in Massachusetts and beyond.

    View video of High Density Apple Orchards

  • Get SMART: New Solar Incentive Program Coming to Massachusetts

    January 12, 2018
    The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) is in the process of finalizing a new solar PV incentive program, the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) Program. The regulations for SMART include an option for dual-use solar arrays on continually farmed agricultural land, namely an Agricultural Solar Tariff Generation Unit.
    Read more
  • myipm logo

    MyIPM App Update

    January 4, 2018

    The MyIPM smartphone app has undergone a major update! Previous to now, separate MyIPM apps were available for different crops and disease/insect scenarios. (See previous news item here.) NOW, these have been rolled into one major upgrade of the MyIPM app, and it is available on both the Play and Apple Stores on your Android or iOS device respectively. MyIPM now includes Apple, Blackberry, Pear, Cherry, Blueberry, Strawberry, Peach, Bunch (grape), and Cranberry fruit crops, with both Disease and Insect pest and management information. MyIPM's main intent is to help with chemical control selection to avoid developing chemical pest resistance by rotating fungicides/insecticides/miticides. There is also a wealth of practical information on pest biology, alternative control methods, and chemical control options. In addition this update to MyIPM includes information on pesticide (by trade name) application risk for many environmental factors such as pollinator, human, avian, aquatic, earthworm, and small mammal. (As provided by the Pesticide Risk Tool.) There is also a handy app-wide "Search for pesticide" function. Speaking of search, SEARCH for "MyIPM" in your respective smartphone app store to download and begin using MyIPM to help with pest identification, management, and resistance avoidance.

     

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  • NEW jmcextman BLOG POST

    January 2, 2018

    New JMCEXTMAN blog post: Precision chemical apple thinning in MA in 2017

    OK, I have been through this before, the whole measuring apple fruitlets thing and entering data into the precision thinning spreadsheet to determine if I needed to do more chemical thinning (or not) routine...read more

  • MFGA Annual Meeting on 12/13/17 at NEVFC

    December 11, 2017

    !!!Please note that the Annual Business Meeting date is different than what is printed in the NEVFC program.  The meeting will be held atnoon, immediately following the Stone Fruit session on Wednesday!!!

    Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Association

    Annual Business Meeting

    New England Vegetable & Fruit Conference 
    Pemigewasset Ballroom (Ballroom A)
    Radisson Hotel, Manchester, NH

    12:00 Noon, Wednesday, December 13, 2017

     AGENDA

    • Opening remarks - Cook                                                                    
    • Minutes of the last Annual Business Meeting - Autio
    • Secretary's report  - Autio
    • Treasurer's report - Autio
    • Committee reports
    • Legislative - Dowse
    • UMass Fruit Advisory - Carlson
    • Harvest Labor - O’Toole
    • Marketing, Publicity, & Promotion - Nicewicz
    • Trustees of the UMass Cold Spring Orchard - Chandler
    • Old business

    New business

    • Presentation of nominations
    • Election of officers and directors for 2018
    • Passing of the gavel to the new president

    Please note that the Annual Business Meeting date is different than what is printed in the NEVFC program.  The meeting will be held atnoon, immediately following the Stone Fruit session on Wednesday.

  • New England Tree Fruit Management Guide on-line

    December 11, 2017

    New England wide Extension tree fruit specialists have been hard at work to update the on-line version of the New England Tree Fruit Management Guide, which can now be found here: http://netreefruit.org/ We will continue making updates and adding content as the 2018 growing season approaches! Please be sure to bookmark, and note that it is mobile friendly, so add a shortcut icon to your smartphone home screen!

     

  • Crop Insurance Deadline November 20!

    November 7, 2017
    November 20, 2017 is the deadline to purchase Federal Crop Insurance on apples and peaches and also the deadline to update coverage levels or cancel an existing policy on apples and peaches. November 20, 2017 is also the deadline to purchase coverage for perennial crops under the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) administered by the USDA
    Read more

  • NEVFC on-line registration now open

    November 5, 2017

    Online registration is now open for the 2017 New England Fruit and Vegetable Meetings in Manchester, NH, to be held December 12-14. As usual, there will be sessions for growers of all scales, scopes, and specialty crops, including two sessions each for apples and grapes, a stone fruit session, a cider and cider apple session. On-line registration deadline/discount is November 30.

    Registration information may be found at: https://newenglandvfc.org/registration

  • Ambrosia replaces McIntosh as #8 apple variety at retail

    October 2, 2017
    Ambrosia™ apple harvest underway; production up 20%; Nielsen data this past season showed Ambrosia passing McIntosh to become the number 8 overall apple variety in the United States in retail dollars. Read more at Fresh Plaza...

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