






Announcements
Vacancies
- Head Grower Strawberries, Australia
- Growing Manager for Hydroponic strawberry producer
- Farm Manager Costa Rica
- Regional Sales Manager Fresh Produce
- Head Grower Strawberries, Norway
- Export Trade Manager
- Business Developer - Northern Europe
- Orchard Sector Manager
- Grower
- International Citrus Account Manager
US (SA): S.J. open field tomato crop damaged by pest
California tomato growers face significant losses from the beet curly top virus, which is reaching epidemic proportions this year, farm officials report.
The viral plant disease - which can affect beans, spinach, melons, peppers, squash and cucumbers, as well as tomatoes and sugar beets, from which it gets its name - is a perennial problem for farmers in the Southern San Joaquin Valley.
But this year, it is hitting harder and affecting crops over a wider area, including some in San Joaquin County.
Brenna Aegerter, a vegetable crops adviser with the University of California Cooperative Extension in Stockton, said she's never seen it so bad. In particular, it is affecting the processing-tomato crop.
"In my eight years here in this county, I had only seen curly top in two fields," she said. "The virus was present in every tomato field I have seen this season, though in most fields, the incidence was so low as to not be a concern."
Mike Montna, president and chief executive of the California Tomato Growers Association, said damage to the State's processing tomatoes - those destined for canneries to be turned into salsa, ketchup and spaghetti sauce - is unprecedented.
"If you talk to growers and processors who've been in the industry a long time, this is the worst incidence of the curly top virus they've ever seen," he said Friday. "There have been fields that have been completely taken out and replanted."
While earlier projections put this year's harvest at 13.1 million metric tons, the latest estimates of the virus-damaged crop run from 11.7 million to 12.2 million metric tons, Montna said.
The heaviest damage is seen in tomato fields in the Southern San Joaquin Valley, where curly top virus is always a problem.
Source: Recordnet.com
The viral plant disease - which can affect beans, spinach, melons, peppers, squash and cucumbers, as well as tomatoes and sugar beets, from which it gets its name - is a perennial problem for farmers in the Southern San Joaquin Valley.
But this year, it is hitting harder and affecting crops over a wider area, including some in San Joaquin County.
Brenna Aegerter, a vegetable crops adviser with the University of California Cooperative Extension in Stockton, said she's never seen it so bad. In particular, it is affecting the processing-tomato crop.
"In my eight years here in this county, I had only seen curly top in two fields," she said. "The virus was present in every tomato field I have seen this season, though in most fields, the incidence was so low as to not be a concern."
Mike Montna, president and chief executive of the California Tomato Growers Association, said damage to the State's processing tomatoes - those destined for canneries to be turned into salsa, ketchup and spaghetti sauce - is unprecedented.
"If you talk to growers and processors who've been in the industry a long time, this is the worst incidence of the curly top virus they've ever seen," he said Friday. "There have been fields that have been completely taken out and replanted."
While earlier projections put this year's harvest at 13.1 million metric tons, the latest estimates of the virus-damaged crop run from 11.7 million to 12.2 million metric tons, Montna said.
The heaviest damage is seen in tomato fields in the Southern San Joaquin Valley, where curly top virus is always a problem.
Source: Recordnet.com
Publication date:
Receive the daily newsletter in your email for free | Click here
Other news in this sector:
- 2023-09-06 Corenthin (Felix) Chassouant new director of sales and business development at Harnois
- 2023-06-12 Agreement reached for the price of processing tomatoes in northern Italy
- 2023-05-09 North Dublin vegetable grower fears enormous tax bill after farm land was rezoned for housing
- 2023-04-13 "Modern farming techniques are now increasingly being used by Indian growers"
- 2023-04-03 Circular Carbon produces fully certified biochar from cocoa shells for horticulture and agriculture
- 2023-03-16 “Liniac zucchini: quality choice among open field crops”
- 2023-02-22 Significant desert region lettuce ice
- 2022-03-18 NSW floods kill millions of bees
- 2022-01-04 Lettuce ice means higher January markets likely
- 2021-10-26 Mixed grower-shipper reactions to California’s recent rains
- 2021-09-06 "You can tell it's not from a hothouse'
- 2021-07-02 Harvest of California chili peppers has kicked off
- 2021-06-25 EU and US pass climate laws
- 2021-04-29 Cow afloat
- 2021-04-06 Egypt, Ethiopia & Sudan set for more dam talks
- 2021-02-25 State-of-the-art lab is MU effort to raise awareness of the university’s first Black teacher
- 2021-02-23 Musical tribute to the Westland region now also on online streaming services
- 2021-01-28 LED project highlights the beauty of agriculture
- 2021-01-18 Inventor of pipe rail system Jaap Zegwaard passed away
- 2020-12-17 "I don’t think many people can comprehend the carnage which is about to ensue"