Simon Conway

Thanks to Laura Holt @roly holt for the visit to see your fantastic lit Tomato crop British Tomato Growers' Association this morning. Great to see hashtag#Britishgrown tomatoes in December and with leading edge environmental tools being used to grow in a sustainable way. oh and a great bacon sandwich too!

"Groupage transport from Spain to the Netherlands is increasingly tricky"

With the 'eternally young' Miguel Gonzalez at MG Fruit's helm, Spain is a key country for this Dutch company. He thought about quitting in 2013, but the fruit and vegetable world remains dear to him, and it was not the right time to throw in the towel. Miguel built a team around him specializing in…

New top seal pack introduced for leafy greens

UP Vertical Farms, an indoor grower of local leafy greens in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, has launched its new top seal pack in collaboration with sales and marketing partner Oppy. This packaging aims to better meet the evolving needs of the market, combining sustainability, freshness, and an enhanced…

Non-woven fabric resistant to frost

Soft NW was founded in 1974, and it is an Italian company specializing in the production and distribution of 100% spunbonded propylene non-woven fabric. Thanks to its special technology, Soft NW can design and produce high-performing non-woven fabrics that enable the company to work in the high end of…

"Late planting of winter strawberry plants meant that earlier volumes were lower"

A dry spring allowed the winter strawberry season in south-east Queensland to be extended until November. This differs from a normal season that would usually see excessively hot and humid days put an end to the winter season in October. The above-average temperatures seen in late winter and early spring…

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Urban agriculture can promote sustainability and community well-being

Urban agriculture, once thought of as a hobby, has become an integral movement that is revolutionizing the way food, sustainability, and cities are perceived. Omar Bawab, cofounder and CEO of a Jordanian agritech startup, told The Jordan Times that urban agriculture is the practice of growing,…

Agrospheres compelets expansion of $25M series B round

AgroSpheres closed its Series B funding round with a strategic investment from FMC Corporation (NYSE: FMC), a global leader in agriculture sciences. This investment brings the total funding in AgroSpheres’ Series B round to $25 million, demonstrating the strong confidence in the company’s innovative…

Norway: New vertical farm to supply retailer with 110 tons of leafy greens yearly

Avisomo, a Norwegian agtech supplier, and Coop Norway, a global retailer, formed a strategic partnership to build an automated vertical farm that will be directly integrated into the retailer's existing distribution center. Signed on November 27, 2023, the deal brings an additional €5.2 million to bring…

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India: Couple grows exotic produce in hydroponics

The Hydroponics market in India is experiencing significant growth due to increasing awareness of sustainable agriculture practices. Factors such as health consciousness, water scarcity, urbanization, and demand for clean, pesticide-free produce are driving this trend. Additionally, the rising demand for…

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US (IL): Container farm makes Quad City debut

A new urban farm has made its way to the Quad Cities. On Monday, the Quad City Botanical Center in downtown Rock Island introduced a 320-foot-long food container that will help produce nutritious food for the Quad City area. The container farm will help solve seasonal limitations that hinder Tapestry…

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US (CA): Vine Ripe Tomatoes offering fresh produce all year long

Even when the temperatures drop in the Valley, a Hanford farm makes sure families are able to enjoy fresh tomatoes year-round. "Only if you have tomatoes at the farmers market in the wintertime. In the summertime, everyone produces tomatoes," said Alberto Meza of Vine Ripe Tomatoes. Meza has been with…

Signaling and Monitoring Nesidiocoris with Pheromone Technique PheroNesi

Since the introduction of Nesidiocoris tenuis, also known as Nesi, in the Netherlands, growers in Northern Europe have been faced with a challenge. While this predatory bug is used in Southern Europe as a natural enemy against whitefly and Tuta absoluta, it is considered a potentially harmful pest insect…

Drewry's

Drewry’s World Container Index stable at $1,382 per 40ft container this week

Drewry’s World Container Index remained stable at $1,382 per 40ft container this week. The composite index remained stable and has dropped by 40% when compared with the same week last year. The latest Drewry WCI composite index of $1,382 per 40-foot container is now 3% less than average 2019 (pre-pandemic) rates of…

Pleasing harvest balance for salads, slight decline for tubers and fruit vegetables

Austrian farmers harvested fewer vegetables this year than last year. Despite an increase in the area under cultivation, the vegetable harvest was 3 percent lower than in 2022…

IFA launches Christmas campaign featuring the best of Irish produce

IFA launched its Christmas Campaign in north Dublin this morning, which is the heart of the Irish horticulture sector that produces seasonal vegetables for the traditional Christmas dinner. The campaign features the various sectors that produce what appears on the table for Christmas Day. For more…

UK: Consortium receives £370K funding to advance low-cost food production domestically

A consortium of four British companies, comprising UK Urban AgriTech (UKUAT), Intelligent Growth Solutions Ltd, RheEnergise, and James Hutton Institute, has received a grant from the UK Government to advance the development of low-carbon and low-cost food production. Specifically, the V-FAST consortium's…

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Terramera receives regulatory approval for new biological pesticide

Terramera has announced the regulatory approval of our newest biological pesticide in Mexico by COFEPRIS, the national regulatory body. TRIFECTO®, a new biological pesticide, provides insect, mite, and disease management in a single application for both organic and conventional growers in Mexico.…

US: Science and technology to facilitate communication with plants

The Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems (CROPPS) announced the release of new student profiles, highlighting the achievements of five outstanding undergraduate researchers. The students – Dahlia Isabella Bolt, Lexi Ellis, Jack Greger, Oge Okpala and Kohl Perry – participated in 2023…

Tomatoes can potentially reduce risk of high blood pressure

Tomatoes, championed by the American Heart Association (AHA) for their potassium content, have demonstrated additional heart health benefits in a Spanish study involving more than 7,000 adults aged 55 to 80. The research revealed that the daily consumption of one large tomato's equivalent (approximately…

Oasis Grower Solutions introduces precision propagation media

To succeed in today's market, commercial growers need every competitive advantage, including a precision propagation substrate that channels success. To address that, Oasis Grower Solutions (OGS) is launching OASIS® RhizoPlug™ Sheet, a new engineered foam growing media designed especially for precision…

The advantages of vertical farming in Ukraine

Vertical farms are gaining global popularity among producers aiming to cut electricity and water costs. A third of the operational expenses in cultivating greens on these farms are allocated to these resources. Victor Shuleshko, CEO of "Green Future Engineering," highlights the advantages of efficient…

"Cellulose nets will also gain a foothold in the conventional sector"

In addition to trays and bags made from paper and cardboard, other packaging solutions made from alternative, resource-saving materials are also rapidly gaining in importance. At expoSE 2023, for example, the ecological, nature-based cellulose nets from NaturNetz GmbH were honored with the Innovation…

"Maximizing the use of phytosanitary products"

Among the various application methodologies, nebulization with the right machinery emerges as a key innovation to ensure a uniform and effective distribution of phytosanitary treatments. The IDM team with its Fumimatic will allow you to operate by guaranteeing the homogeneous dispersion of plant…

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Registration open for the Kentucky Fruit & Vegetable Conference

The Kentucky Fruit & Vegetable Conference registration is now open. The event is scheduled for January 3-4 (Wednesday and Thursday), with pre-Conference events on Tuesday, January 2. The full conference program and registration instructions are available here. The annual Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable…

"We'll, just like always, import from Spain"

Last year, high energy prices meant there was little supply from those countries' greenhouses, so supermarkets had to switch to imports from Southern Europe. How are things looking this year? We approached ALDI and LIDL Netherlands for more insight into their supplies and strategies for the upcoming…

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Aldi’s festive veg staples available from just 15p

Greece claims two top spots for the world's best fruitsAccording to a recent ranking from Taste Atlas, Greece recently took home two titles for the top fruits in the world: 1. Rodakina Naoussas Peaches; 7. Mandarini Chiou Mandarins.Source: greekcitytimes.com Peas on toast trump smashed avocados as UK…

Malawi sends agricultural workers to Israel

On November 25, a group of 221 laborers departed Malawi for Tel Aviv. According to Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the war with Hamas has significantly affected the country’s agricultural sector as thousands of foreign workers left the country. Workers from Malawi, the fourth…

Signify announces new customer-centric organization and structural cost reductions

Signify is adapting its organization to enhance customer-centricity, speed of execution and reduce its structural costs. “After the major transformation we achieved through the past decade, we are taking the next step by organizing our company around four vertically integrated businesses. Three of these…

Peroxide solution approved as organic input in the European Union

Organic growers in the European Union now have a new tool at their disposal to protect their crops, as the peroxide solution of HPNow has been certified as an EU-valid input for organic farming by CAAE. This way, Peroxide UltraPure™, generated exclusively by the GOgen generator, can be used in organic…

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US (WV): Blennerhassett students learn hydroponics

Lettuce tells you about some Career and Technical Education (CTE) students who have sold hydroponically grown produce to Parkersburg South High School. Hydroponics is the technique of growing plants using a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil, and students in the Agricultural Science program…

US (WI): Students help grow food for dining halls

In May, a plot of land in the Eagle Heights neighborhood on the west side of the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus was repurposed in the name of sustainability and education. The Dining Farm, an initiative of University Housing, is already home to raised-bed crop production, including tomatoes,…

Belgian tomato grower now also cultivates algae

In Belgium, tomatoes grow on one side of the tomato company Rijtak's greenhouse. And, on the other, in meters-long tubes, microalgae. While Jannes Vertommen was a student, he…

De-ice your car window with a cucumber

Motorists are advised to use cucumbers, a natural moisture repellent, to defrost car windscreens during winter. Available for as little as 80p, cucumbers contain natural oils that create a hydrophobic surface on glass, preventing frost and condensation. Experts from ALA Insurance suggest a simple…