The Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Growers' Association (OFVGA) have expressed relief at the announcement made last week that the provincial minimum wage will be capped at $14/hour until 2020.  

Agricultural damage from this month's Hurricane Michael is predicted to top $1.3 billion, with Florida and Georgia bearing the brunt of the losses.  Just a month ago, Hurricane Florence caused an estimated $1.1 billion in damage in North Carolina and an estimated $125 million in South Carolina.

While the dollar figures alone are tragic, there is also the unquantifiable human impact.  2017's Hurricane Irma - which caused $2.5 billion in damage to Florida's agriculture industry - caused several citrus and tomato growers to shut down operations.  Among them was one of the state's oldest tomato-growing families, Big Red Tomato.  Naturally, as this year's vicious Atlantic Hurricane Season continues to rage, there are concerns that 2018's growing season may be the last for more growers.

Consumers are largely uneducated on the meaning of 'best before' dates as they relate to fruits and veggies.  This confusion is cited as a major cause of a global 680 billion dollar problem, and has prompted the UK's largest grocery chain to make a change.

Research at Cornell University has uncovered a new apple disease.  Paecilomyces rot is caused by infection by the Paecilomyces niveus mold.  While it looks similar to other postharvest apple diseases (like blue rot, apple ring rot, bull’s-eye rot, black rot and bitter rot) and produces the same harmful patulin toxin, Paecilomyces rot is unique and especially pervasive for the fact it can survive high temperatures.  Therefore, human exposure to patulin can occur even from pasteurized apple products - like juices and syrups - made from Paecilomyces niveus-infected apples.