Reports Ideas, Tips & Guides

Strawberry growers are scrambling to find disease-free plants. Late-season disease and insect pressure is picking up, and muscadines and other fall crops are nearing harvest. See details below.

What is this critter found on a rose of Sharon leaf?

James Nathan Schroder

If you've heard the term «pizza pot pie» as of late, it's because the internet can't get enough of the (deep) dish.

What is giant hogweed?

The Coastal and Pee Dee regions have been drying out from Tropical Storm Debby. Fall crops are being planted in many areas. Peach harvest is coming to a close and muscadine harvest will begin soon. Disease pressure has really kicked up. See details below.

VICTORIA PEARSON

Fall armyworms are being reported in lawns and pastures across South Carolina. If you notice caterpillars feeding or moving in large numbers during the early morning or late evening hours, you may have an infestation.

Blaine Moats

“Impossibly unaffordable” are two words that Californians are probably less than thrilled to hear. In a recent report from Chapman University in Orange, California, and the Frontier Centre of Public Policy (FCPP) in Canada, that’s exactly how four California metros are described. The 2024 edition of Demographia International Housing Affordability shows San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego listed among the top 10 least affordable housing markets—not just in the United States, but worldwide. 

Happy ornamental grasses need to be divided every three to four years. Smaller species (those less than 2 feet wide or so) are easy to cut in half with a sharp shovel or to dig up and gently pull apart with the help of a soil knife. Bigger grasses can prove more of a challenge. The important thing is to do something about the overgrown grass as soon as you notice a possible problem. Don’t walk away and think, “I’ll do it next year”; doing so only makes rectifying the issue that much harder. I like to divide grasses in spring just as I start to see the new growth starting. This is easier to do because there isn’t a lot of tall (and often sharp) foliage to fight through. Actively growing grasses will keep growing after division. In fall/winter most grasses are dormant, and they can struggle to recover. I have two methods everyone can use for dividing behemoth grasses.

There are countless ornamental grasses to choose from, so narrowing down a list of my favorites is tough. However, the following assortment—categorized by their best season of interest—is a good start. Choosing at least one from each season will ensure that your grass-forward garden always has something spectacular going on.

We’re forecast to get lots of rain this week from Tropical Storm Debby. This comes as growers are finishing up summer crops and are making preparations for fall crops. See details below.

A strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, is spreading across wild and commercial bird flocks in the US. 

On Monday, March 28, President Biden unveiled his budget proposal for the fiscal year 2023. The $5.8-trillion proposal is an interesting one; we’re one more year removed from, hopefully, the worst of COVID-19, and the government is eager to adjust spending back to more normal levels. So, what’s in this budget proposal for food and agriculture?

What are these insects on pole butterbeans?

Whether you're living in your forever home or not, the hope is that any home improvement project you tackle will give you a return on your investment.

Scattered rain fell over the weekend. Peppers and okra are coming as the watermelon harvest finishes up. Disease and insect pressure remains high, and planning for strawberry planting is beginning. See details below.

ANN VANDERWIEL WILDE

Meatpacking plants may rely on lots of human hands, but they also rely on functional computer systems.

During his presidential campaign, Joe Biden promoted biofuels as part of his platform.

In its efforts to keep small businesses afloat during the pandemic, the government made a lot of money available. Probably, in retrospect, it was too available.

The Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans had harsh words for the Canadian federal government. At a meeting this week in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the committee presented its new report, which looked at the implementation of Indigenous rights-based fisheries. Its findings suggest that, despite more than two decades since key precedents were set, the fisheries have not been fully implemented. This has led, the committee stated, to confusion, tension and violence. 

Scattered rain this past weekend brought some much needed relief to parts of the state. Insect pressure remains high in some places, and disease pressure is climbing. Harvest of several summer crops is starting to slow as preparations for fall crops are beginning. See details below.

A new report from a federal watchdog calls the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) into question over its 2018 decision to register three dicamba herbicides. 

Since 2003, the US has lost about half of its licensed dairy farms. However, the number of cows producing milk has stayed relatively steady. Take Wisconsin, for example. In 2004, the state was home to less than 16,000 dairy farms. In 2021, that number dropped in half, to less than 7,000 farms. But the number of cows in the state? That didn’t change. There are still about 1.2 million cows in Wisconsin. They’re just part of much bigger herds these days. That means that smaller farms are getting squeezed out in favor of industrial farming and Confined Animal Feeding Operations, commonly referred to as CAFOs, in which large numbers of animals are raised, generally in confinement, and feed is brought to them, rather than letting them graze.

We hope everyone has a safe and happy Independence Day later this week!

Back in March 2019, Tyson Foods proposed a waiver in which the work of some federal inspectors would be done by Tyson’s own employees. 

Around 500 farmworkers took their first steps today in a march for voting rights that will take the participants 335 miles across the state of California over 24 days. 

This article is republished from The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. Read the original article.

With high-tech farming machinery that relies on wireless connections, alongside the ever-growing online opportunities for farmers—such as interacting with potential partners and buyers and the ability to sell products to a wider array of consumers—connectivity is becoming more and more important for modern-day farming. 

Some of us eagerly await summer every year, ready for days of sunshine, picnics, ice cream—and, perhaps not so eagerly, an influx of spotted lanternflies. If you live in the Midwest or East Coast of the United States, you’ve likely seen the insect with its spotted wings and red hindwings flying about or just sitting on the pavement. 

More hot, dry weather is in store for this week. Disease and insect pressure continue to increase as watermelon, small fruit, tomato, and peach harvest continues. See details below.

Ed Gohlich

Finally, a little rain fell around the state, though things remain fairly dry overall. Disease and insect pests are becoming more common as tomatoes, cucurbits, and sweet corn come to harvest. See details below.

In April 2024, the EPA passed its first-ever legally enforceable drinking water standards on a handful of PFAS—a group of man-made chemicals widely used to make non-stick coatings and products that resist heat, oil, water and more. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances keep food from sticking to packaging or cookware, make clothes and carpets resistant to stains, and create firefighting foam that is more effective. They are referred to as “forever chemicals” because of their tendency to not break down. PFAS have been used commercially since the 1940s, and it has long been known that these chemicals are toxic to people. Big chemical companies, such as 3M, have known about the harmful qualities of these toxic chemicals for decades but intentionally hid the evidence. The EPA now admits that “exposure to PFAS has been linked to deadly cancers, impacts to the liver and heart, and immune and developmental damage to infants and children.