HORT 3503 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Understory, Louse, Phylloxera
Document Summary
Challenges to sustainable fruit production: crop adaptation, crop reliability, pesticide use and energy use. Fruit crops adapted to this region: ar, la, ms and ok. Tree fruits: apples (only ar, ok), peaches, plums. Fruits not adapted to ar, la, ms, and ok. Minor tree crops: figs and mulberries, persimmons, pa(cid:449)pa(cid:449)(cid:859)s, mayhaws. Good soil protection and cover in many cases. Some of the most advanced ipm and pest management tools available for crops. Economic sustainability issues for fruit crops: increasing resource and input production costs, declining wholesale value relative to production costs, increasing market product competition, increasing imported fruit. Environmental sustainability issues for fruit crops: small number of fruit breeding programs with public access, reliance on synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, high energy requirement for production, harvest, transport and storage of products. Social sustainability issues for fruit crops: high labor requirement but low wages, worker safety with significant equipment and chemical use, loss of local fruit farms and loss of related businesses.
