Pumpkin growers target trends, Halloween demand
Alan Changala, left, who grows pumpkins in Tulare County, kneels next to a white specialty pumpkin called Porcelain Doll Improved, which he says he expects will be popular with customers of his pumpkin patch in Porterville. His farm grew 20 pumpkin varieties this year, including standard jack-o’-lantern types, right, with most of the crop going to wholesale markets. Photos/Cecilia Parsons
New ‘smart’ farm tech targets vegetable production
Sami’s autonomous lettuce harvester, above, uses rubber fingers to grab the top of the head while a knife cuts the stem. Verdant Robotics’ SharpShooter, top left, and Carbon Robotics’ LaserWeeder G2, top center, use artificial intelligence to differentiate crops from weeds. At top right, Padma Robotics’ DV-64 uses audio, lasers and a dancing inflatable tube man to deter birds. Photos/Vicky Boyd
Cyclospora fallout hits California farmers
A lettuce field is destroyed this month in Santa Cruz County amid a decline in fresh produce sales following this summer’s cyclospora outbreak. While the outbreak was linked to iceberg lettuce grown in Mexico, the economic impact has largely fallen on California, which supplies most U.S. lettuce. Photo/Vicky Boyd
Tomato variety key to controlling fusarium stem rot
Fusarium stem rot and decline, commonly known as FRD, affects the water- and nutrient-carrying vascular portions of processing tomato plant stems and canopies. Eventually, vines begin to decline, collapsing and exposing the fruit to the sun, leading to potential sunburn. Photo/Brenna Aegerter
Processed tomato growers hope for market recovery
Harvest has started for processing tomatoes in California, with most growers expected to wrap up by the end of October. Photo/Vicky Boyd
‘Rough’ peach crop caps a bitter season
Cling peaches are harvested at Johl Orchards in Marysville. About a quarter of California’s cling peach acreage was ripped out this year following the collapse of Del Monte Foods. In recent years, Del Monte, which filed for bankruptcy last year, was one of two major buyers of the state’s cling peaches. Photo/Caleb Hampton
Growers look to grafted watermelons to battle pests
A work crew transplants grafted watermelons into a field in the San Joaquin Valley. Photo/Vicky Boyd
Moth damage rises as growers await new insecticide
Diamondback moth larva, left, infests a broccoli plant in a Central Coast field. At right, a diamondback moth caterpillar chews holes on leaves, feeds at young plants’ growing points, and eats floral stalks and flower buds of brassica crops. Some growers in 2025 were forced to destroy their crops at harvest because infestations made them unmarketable. Photos/Courtesy of Ian Grettenberger/University of California, Davis
Hot temps, new varieties boost strawberry volumes
Strawberries grow in a Santa Barbara County field. Unseasonably warm temperatures in February and March ripened Central Coast berries weeks earlier, with the region harvesting at the same time as the Oxnard growing district in Southern California. By the first week of April, Watsonville-Salinas growers picked 10 times more berries than the same period two years ago. Photo/Courtesy of California Strawberry Commission
Despite acreage decline, asparagus growers hang on
During harvest at a Fresno County asparagus field last month, workers use specially designed long-handled asparagus knives to cut spears just below the soil surface but not so deep that it damages the crown, or root mass. California asparagus acreage has dwindled through the years due to competition from Mexico, but a handful of growers and packers remain in the business. Photo/Vicky Boyd