The Texas Department of Agriculture has extended an emergency quarantine on the movement of citrus stock from portions of Hidalgo County until 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, until further testing can be completed on citrus groves in close proximity to a tree infected with citrus greening disease that was discovered in a commercial grove in San Juan earlier this month....More

The discovery of citrus greening disease on an orange tree in a commercial grove in the Texas Rio Grande Valley last week may be unsettling to growers, but a comprehensive management plan, extensive surveys and preventive control measures over the last three years gives local growers reason for hope...More

The Federal Drug Administration’s move to ban imports of foreign orange juice products after the discovery of fungicide contamination in shipments from Brazil will have little immediate impact on the Rio Grande Valley citrus industry, but depending on the length of that ban and subsequent consumer reaction to potential food safety issues, growers and juice processors could see either a positive or negative response in the months ahead, according to experts...More

Pecans are known to be the healthiest of all tree nuts, packing more antioxidants than any other....More

U.S. almond, walnut, pistachio, pecan and hazelnut growers have experienced banner years of crop prices recently, as China's once largely agrarian country transforms its economy from export-driven to consumer-driven....More

A single female Asian citrus psyllid was found in an APHIS trap in a residential backyard about one-quarter mile east of the International Port of Entry in Nogales, Ariz....More

Retail prices for both fruits and vegetables rose, driving an increase in weekly dollar sales in the second quarter of 2011 compared with the same period last year, according to the latest edition of FreshFacts on Retail, the quarterly retail research report of the United Fresh Foundation....More

Growers in the 19th century were alive to the concept of intellectual property. Operating in increasingly competitive markets, they offered new fruits as often as possible, and if they were to protect their property, they had to identify it. In 1847, Charles M. Hovey began publishing a series of handsomely illustrated prints of American fruits....More

Higher than normal temperatures, longtime drought conditions and recent rains are leading many Oklahoma growers to see increased numbers of a significant nut pest, the pecan nut casebearer....More

Some crunchy, good-for-you tree nuts like almonds and pistachios are vulnerable to attack by a troublesome mold known as Aspergillus flavus. The mold produces cancer-causing natural compounds called aflatoxins....More

New Mexico pecan growers and consultants are on alert after a new leafminer species was found last year in the state along with the hickory shuckworm....More