coronavirus
A Guide for Growers What is coronavirus and why is this unique? Coronavirus is a term used to describe a family of viruses that have a number of common characteristics. Coronaviruses are known to cause the common cold in humans. The recently identified strain of coronavirus that originated in China late in 2019 is now […]
Biocontrol
In order to control agricultural pests, sometimes growers need to turn to natural solutions to help increase the efficiency of an existing integrated pest management program, or in the case of organic growers, to meet regulatory standards. One of the most heavily utilized natural solutions to control these pests is the use of biocontrol agents. […]
Protecting Your Crop Right Up to Harvest
Recently, many of our customers have been experiencing strawberry crown rot, leaf spots and fungal pathogens on berries and vegetable crops. In the case of strawberries, the prolonged overhead irrigation required after transplanting provides optimal infection conditions for bacterial and fungal pathogens. In addition, warm and humid weather conditions result in increased disease pressure on […]
IMPORTANT: New FDA Produce Guidance Released
If your operation is registered with FDA as a food facility, you are required to be compliant with the Preventive Controls for Human Foods Rule, rather than the Produce Safety rule. This is an important distinction. Many packing or storage facilities previously registered under older criterion can now be categorized as secondary farms under the Produce Safety […]
Technology in the Strawberry Patch
Late spring and early summer are the times of year where a drive through eastern North Carolina takes you through fields and fields of strawberry patches hugging the ground in perfectly manicured rows. It gives you the kind of feeling the Beatles crooned about: that the strawberry fields really do go on forever. Even though […]
Connecting the Dots: Irrigation Management Technology
A grower wakes to the glowing light of the phone on his night table. A notification has been pushed from the weather station in the early hours due to last night’s storm, which produced heavy rainfall. A second one appears quickly after from the soil and salinity probe, notifying him that he is reaching his […]
Weather Stations: A New Class Emerges
The bane of any farmer’s operation is an unpredictable shift in weather that can harm one’s crop. From rains at harvest, to freezes during flowering, even the best predictive weather models cannot always account for inopportune weather. Farmers spend a decent portion of their time constantly observing the patterns of mother nature, in the hopes […]
Highland Hub in the Classroom
HPA now offers the Highland Hub to our agricultural educators, providing access to the exact application that numerous farms are implementing in their own operations. Join our training session at the FFA State Convention on June 14. It’s open to all agriculture educators that are interested in purchasing the Highland Hub for their classroom. For […]
Defining Precision Agriculture
We hear it all of the time when we meet a new customer, attending an industry show, or answering questions on a discussion panel, “You all are a drone company, right?” It’s then that we smile and realize what a great opportunity we have to let them know what Precision Agriculture means.
Produce Safety Rule: Five Things You Should Keep In Mind
The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), is said to be the most sweeping reform of our food safety laws in more than 70 years. FSMA is made up of seven major rules, one of which being the Produce Safety Rule.