Berrien County COMMERCIAL Horticulture Agent

Al Gaus

Berrien County Commercial Fruit Agent
24-Hour Fruit Hotline
Radio Programs
Newsletters/Articles
Programs/Presentation
Calendar
Internet/WWW

Internet/World Wide Web Resources

Here are some important WWW sites that should be of interest to Berrien County commercial Horticultural producers. E-mail me if you have suggestions for others!

Fruit

• Mark Longstroth, Southwest District Fruit Agent has assembled many useful resources -- including insect and disease fact sheets -- at the Van Buren County/SW District Fruit site.
• The Michigan State University Fruit Area of Expertise (AOE) Team has a WWW site under construction. Check back often for updates.
• The Washington State University Tree Fruit Cooperative Extension Team's home on the World Wide Web is really just a road map to pertinent information posted on servers at our various research and extension centers (Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center; Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center) and county offices.
• The Virtual Orchard is a dedicated WWW site for sustainable apple production. It is fully searchable, and also allows searching other fruit-related WWW sites. The Virtual Orchard also hosts the apple-crop e-mail discusssion group.
• Alan Biggs, at the West Virginia University Kearneysville Tree Fruit Research and Education Center has constructed one of the most comprehensive and useful WWW sites for tree fruit producers in the mid-Atlantic region. (Which is really not too much different from southwest Michigan.) Especially nice is the index of fruit disease pictures, biology, and monitoring information.
• The staff at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center host Extension and Research pages on tree fruit, small fruit, grape, and vegetable production.
• The International Dwarf Fruit Tree Association's mission is to "promote an understanding of the nature and use oof dwarf fruit trees through research, education and dissemination of information."
• More than a "spray guide", the Pennsylvania Tree Fruit Production Guide collates information on the full range of commercial tree fruit production issues. This guide is revised as new information becomes available with input by a score of Penn State faculty members and other consultants. It is meant to be a reference that growers and other fruit industr y personnel can turn to often.
• MBG Marketing (Michigan Blueberry Growers Association Cooperative) features Coop information, blueberry recipes and product information, a Newsletter, and a store among other interesting blueberry information.

Vegetables

• The home page of the Michigan State University vegetable area of expertise team is a site for Michigan vegetable producers to pose questions to individuals on the team. You will also find links to other sites for vegetable related information.

IPM/Pesticides/Biological Control

• Scaffolds Fruit Journal is a weekly update on pest management and crop development. Scaffolds is published by Cornell University - NYS Agricultural Experiment Station (Geneva) and Ithaca - with the assistance of Cornell Cooperative Extension.
• Pesticide Education Resources @ University of Nebraska-Lincoln is an award-winning WWW site where you can find pesticide use information, MSDS sheets, and labels.
• Take a look at the MSU Biological Control Program's WWW site. You will find information abou the program itself, biological control research and extension at MSU, and links to other biological control resources on the WWW.

Ornamental Horticulture/Greenhouse

• Check out Dr. Leonard Perry's Web pages for on-line perennial and related horticultural information, serving the Green Mountain State of Vermont and the world. This is your original source for herbaceous perennial information and links on the internet!

Weather

• The MSU Agricultural Weather Office (MSUAWO) is jointly sponsored by MSU Extension, Michigan Agricultural Experiement Station, MSU's Department of Geography, and the Michigan Department of Agriculture/Climatology Division.

Marketing

• USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (Fruit) provides current, unbiased price and sales information to assist in the orderly marketing and distribution of farm commodities. Reports include information on prices, volume, quality, condition, and other market data on farm products in specific markets and marketing areas.
• Another useful market resource is the Market Information System (MIS). It is a computer information system established by Dr. John VanSickle at the University of Florida. MIS provides agricultural market information received from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) , Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).

Organizations

• The Michigan State Horticultural Society (MSHS) is an educational organization with a mission "to encourage among the people a greater love for choice fruit products, to awaken a larger interest in Michigan's horticultural possibilities, and to offer practical suggestions along modern cultural and marketing methods".