MAX FACTS GROWING TIPS, NEWS AND TRIVIA
Florida Avocados
America may have fallen in love with avocados, but it has not fallen for Florida’s
avocados just yet. The Sunshine State specializes in what’s called the green-skin
avocado. It comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but generally speaking, green-skins
are bigger, a brighter green and have smoother skin than the Hass variety of avocado.
California primarily grows the Hass avocado. It’s smaller, darker, rough-skinned and
currently owns about 95% of the avocado market. Even though Florida’s avocados don’t
dominate the national market, the state grows about $24 million worth
of avocados a year and puts 1,000 people to work doing so.
(Source: wlrn.org)
Urban Soils are Safe for Gardening
A six-year study at Kansas State University indicates that crops grown in
contaminated urban soils present little-to-no risk for people eating those
crops when gardeners have followed best practices. The findings are
significant for urban and suburban gardeners, who provide about 15% of
the world’s food, according to a 2012 estimate from the USDA. Many
urban gardens are on land affected by previous use, such as brownfield
sites, or abandoned properties with contamination issues. After testing
many urban gardens in seven cities across the US for the presence of
contaminants in foods grown on contaminated soils, researchers found
that lead was the most common soil pollutant. Several sites also contained
elevated levels of arsenic. These contaminants, however, were scarcely
present in the food harvested from these gardens. “The science indicates there
is very little risk to humans who consume these foods,” say researchers.
(Source: sciencedaily.com)
Is BroccoLeaf the Next Kale?
People started predicting peak kale in 2012. The number of farms growing the leafy
green had more than doubled, and Bon Appetit named it the Year of Kale. But we
keep eating more. Sales went up another 31% last year. Peak kale is nowhere
in sight. But Big Produce is not resting on its kale laurels. Instead, it’s
on a quest: creating the next kale. One produce company in Salinas,
California, is hoping the answer might lie in BroccoLeaf—the leaves
around a broccoli crown that most people have never seen. “Before
that crown has even formed, we go in and we harvest some of the
younger, less mature leaves,” says Matt Seeley, vice-president of
marketing at The Nunes Company, which sells the new vegetable in
its Foxy Organic brand. It looks a little more like collards than kale and
chard, and tastes milder.
(Source: fastcoexist.com)
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Maximum Yield USA | October 2015