The story now goes that local production is superior, and consumers are mainly looking to buy products that are cultivated close to home. Yet, sometimes this goes one step further, and that’s exactly what Warm Belly Farm has been doing with their You-Pick experience. read more

In Europe, high energy prices delayed the start of this year's organic greenhouse vegetable season. "Also, organic greenhouse vegetable acreage is as much as 20 to 30% lower," says Matthieu Zwaan of the Dutch company Bioworld. However, that is not causing major market shortages. "People have
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Brothers Michael and Christoph Simon are currently establishing an organic orchard in Mollram with 10,000 fruit trees, 5,000 of which are apricot trees. "Of course, we looked at similar projects in Germany and South Tyrol and everyone said we were crazy. Because the cultivation of the apricot
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In May, assortments and spaces dedicated to summer fruit - and among these the earliest category is the melon - begin to grow on supermarket counters, but every year supply and demand clash. In the first two weeks of May, in fact, opposite trends are noted, at the level of
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Bayer has cut the ribbon of a new quarantine facility dedicated to testing resistance to Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) virus in tomatoes. read more

Apofruit, a cooperative of fruit and vegetable producers with more than 2,700 members throughout Italy, organised an extraordinary board meeting on 24 May, at its headquarters in Pievesestina di Cesena, to deliberate on some important actions to support its members affected
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At the beginning of week 21, Taiwan banned imports of South African apples because the downy mildew was found in two shipments. This is the second time in a period of six years and the suspension of imports into this market means an economic and
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The first severe thunderstorms of this year caused agricultural damage in several regions of Austria on Tuesday, with hail, heavy rain and partly stormy winds. As Österreichische Hagelversicherung VVaG announced in the evening, storm cells, which moved in particular from the Waldviertel to the
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The Hawita Group, based in Germany, Italy, and Latvia, has become part of Group De Ceuster. The integration aims to join forces within GroupDC's "Plant care" division and to take a leading role in making the sector more sustainable. read more

Although weather conditions are not typical for this time of the year, apricots are certainly in demand at the market. "It is a strange season. The bad weather not only impacted the yield of the early varieties, it also disrupted the production plans of growers and caused many growers to lose
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The gut microbiome consists of more than 3 million genes and billions upon billions of microorganisms. These impact the overall health and well-being of humans. A new study has analyzed the microbiome composition as well as urinary and plasma metabolites. read more

The debate about the editorial on 'pesticides' (read more) continues - and we are very pleased about this. We get the point of view of the groupZero Residues, which expresses its considerations and urges us not to lose the focus of the topic, i.e. food safety and consumer protection.
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This year's citrus season in Egypt is marked by high volumes, but an abundance of small sizes to the detriment of large and medium sizes. For exporters focused on the Chinese market, this situation is having a major impact on business. Amr Abdelhafiz, Managing Director of the Egyptian exporter
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The SanLucar company has chosen Hispatec Agrointeligencia as its technology partner to support it in the digital transformation of its agricultural activities. The company currently has its own cultivation in countries such as South Africa, Tunisia,
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Experts from the Institute of Macroeconomic and Regional Studies have studied the export of fruit and vegetable products from the Republic of Uzbekistan from January to April 2023. During this period, the volume of exports of fruits and vegetables amounted to $256.1 million, or 359.2 thousand
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The Spanish Levante, especially the Region of Murcia and the Region of Valencia, have been recording abundant rainfall after months of extreme drought. In general, and despite the fact that there have been floods in some towns, the producer organizations of both regions consider these recent
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With the proposal of the Energy Efficiency Act, the energy efficiency targets are to be raised significantly and the energy efficiency requirements are to be made more ambitious, according to the Federal Government. The Central Horticultural Association (Zentralverband Gartenbau, ZVG) is particularly critical of the proposed investment obligation. read more

Lincolnshire grower Peloton Produce is looking towards a bright future as they lay the foundations for a 3.5 acre extension to the current premises, the extension will include a new 1000 pallet high humidity cold store complex and additional loading bays, thus doubling their current cold storage
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African countries, including Morocco, accounted for about 40% of the global production of dates in 2021, according to FAOStat. Nevertheless, as reported by EastFruit, Morocco has never been among the global leaders in exports of dates and even continues to increase its imports! read more

In 2022 Saudi Arabia became the biggest importer of grapes from Egypt, leaving behind the Netherlands, the previous year’s leader, according to EastFruit. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia showed the most active growth rates of imports from Egypt, with trade to have grown manyfold over the past years! read more