Improving nursery and fruit crops

Specialty crops, including fruits, floriculture and nursery crops, provide a wide range of products and play a crucial role in the American economy. Land-grant university researchers and educators provide new varieties, production practices and other innovations that help ensure a reliable supply of high-quality products for consumers.

Here are a few examples of that work:

• North Carolina Extension educators are helping apple farmers adopt trellis systems to cultivate smaller dwarf varieties of apple trees. These trees produce the same quality of fruit while allowing farmers to plant five times as many dwarf trees per acre, resulting in higher yields in less space and time.
  _{North Carolina State University; project supported by Smith-Lever (3b&c) funds and state appropriations. See full statement.}
  
  
• Losses from pests like mint root borer and variegated cutworm can eat into Oregon mint farmers’ profits. To help growers determine the correct time to apply a new pest control product, Extension developed a Mint Pest Alert Newsletter informed by weather-based insect models verified by insect traps on the ground. Mint Pest Alert helped growers save an average of $28.33 per acre.
  _{Oregon State University; project supported by state appropriations. See full statement.}
  
  
• Researchers in Arkansas developed a soft robotic hand that can pick blackberries. After being in cold storage for 21 days, the blackberries harvested with the robotic hand did not show excessive damage.
  _{University of Arkansas; project supported by state appropriations. See full statement.}

Photo courtesy Peggy Greb, USDA.