April 2016 (Page 7)

  The banana is the most consumed fruit in Argentina. Per capita consumption averages more than 12 kilograms per year. Argentina produces bananas in a tropical zone in the north of the country, but the local production only serves to supply a fraction of the market. Instead, imported bananas dominateContinue Reading

by Carl Collen, Fruitnet   This season’s Florida orange crop has increased by 3 per cent to 71m boxes, according to projections made by the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the US Department of Agriculture.   The 2m box increase in oranges is a result of a higher estimate for thisContinue Reading

by ichola Watson, Fresh Plaza   The citrus harvest is under way in some areas of South Africa. In the north around the Hoedspruit area, volumes of grapefruit will be down by as much as 2 million boxes due to hail last year and the prolonged drought.   Other citrus fruitContinue Reading

by Nathaneal Johnson, Grist     In the winter of 2014, students at Iowa State University received emails asking them to volunteer for an experiment. Researchers were looking for women who would eat bananas that had been genetically engineered to produce extra carotenes, the yellow-orange nutrients that take their nameContinue Reading

by Charlie McKillop, ABC Rural   March 3, 2015 was the day banana growers in far north Queensland hoped would never come.   Biosecurity authorities revealed the deadly soil disease, Panama Tropical Race 4, or TR4, had been found in the Tully Valley.   Growers were warned the world as theyContinue Reading

by Craig Zonca, ABC Rural     Queensland biosecurity authorities remain on high alert for the devastating banana disease Panama Tropical Race 4 (TR4), 12 months after it was first detected in the state’s north.   “It’s been a massive year,” said Queensland’s chief biosecurity officer Jim Thompson.   “One of theContinue Reading

  The Citrus Growers Association of Peru (Procitrus) stated that Peruvian mandarin exports in 2015 amounted to 100,800 metric tons, which account for 88 percent of the country’s total citrus shipments.   “The satsuma, clementine, Murcott, and Minneola tangelo mandarins have become the stars of Peruvian citrus exports,” they said.Continue Reading

by Kallee Buchanan and Trudie Leigo, ABC Rural   In Queensland, researchers are dwarfing mangos, macadamias and avocados in an attempt to increase productivity of these tree crops.   The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is three years into a 20-year trial and has begun sharing its experience to date withContinue Reading