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Photo courtesy of United Fresh Produce Association

United Fresh announces 2020 Expo at San Diego Convention Center

After the success of the 2019 convention, United Fresh will launch a four-year rotation with San Diego as its first stop.

At the conclusion of the United Fresh 2019 Convention, it was announced that the United Fresh 2020 Convention & Expo will take place June 16-18 in San Diego, California, marking the first stop in a new four-year city cycle for the trade show.

“Chicago has been good to us,” said United Fresh President & CEO Tom Stenzel. “But the time has come for us to broaden opportunities across the industry by taking the show on the road.”

>> Read the full story here.

Photo courtesy of Rutgers University

Four new Rutgers sweet basil varieties now available to home gardeners

Rutgers plant scientists spent a decade evaluating and breeding downy mildew resistant basil.

Four new sweet basil varieties resistant to downy mildew disease, which destroys leaves, are now being sold to home gardeners and commercial farmers across the U.S. thanks to years of breeding and selection at Rutgers University.

Two of the four varieties also show high resistance to Fusarium wilt, another soil-borne disease. The four new downy mildew-resistant sweet basils are Rutgers Devotion DMR, Rutgers Obsession DMR, Rutgers Passion DMR and Rutgers Thunderstruck DMR.

>> Read the full story here.

Photo © opra | Adobe Stock

Village Farms plans to begin hemp production in Texas

The Canadian-based vegetable grower is converting a 1.3-million-square-foot greenhouse for cultivation of high-cannabidiol (CBD) hemp and CBD extraction.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed into law Texas House Bill 1325 (the “Texas Hemp Legislation”), which effectively legalizes the cultivation of hemp and processing of hemp and hemp-derived products, including cannabidiol (CBD) in the state.

As a result of this legislative change, Village Farms has begun conversion of half of its 1.3-million-square foot, ultra-high-tech Permian Basin greenhouse for both cultivation of high-cannabidiol (CBD) hemp and CBD extraction.

>> Read the full story here.

August 2019
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