Fruits & Vegetables

Branched broomrape, a parasitic weed, remains a significant threat in California, particularly to tomato fields.
Photo/Courtesy of University of California, Davis

A greenhouse worker at Westside Transplant’s Huron facility in Fresno County takes an inventory count of vegetable seedlings in production. Transplant nurseries are developing best practices for the industry, which is still considered new to agriculture. The Vegetable Transplant Nursery Association funds research aimed at offering guidance to its member-growers and state regulators.
Photo/Westside Transplant

This Monterey County lettuce field fell victim to impatiens necrotic spot virus in 2022, when severe widespread outbreaks of the virus led to substantial economic losses for Salinas Valley lettuce growers, short supplies of the crop and soaring prices for restaurants and consumers.
Photo/Caleb Hampton

Tensorfield Agriculture’s Jetty moves through a simulated carrot field using its thermal microjetting system.
Photo/Mark Billingsley

University of California Cooperative Extension farm adviser Oleg Daugovish checks on cilantro plantings in a trial looking at the effectiveness of the herbicide Dual Magnum against yellow nutsedge weed. The product is currently not registered for use in California on cilantro.
Photo/Rob McCarthy

Joni Albers operates Los Angeles-based Hungry Gardens Urban Farm, which grows microgreens and edible flowers. She encourages other farmers and home gardeners to try growing microgreens because the young seedlings require little space and pack nutrition. The farm earns part of its income building gardens and farms for various organizations, restaurants and homeowners.
Photo/Lori Fusaro

Tomato yields up as canneries try to reduce inventory
Graphic/Ag Alert; Source/USDA

Twin brothers Andrew, left, and Eric Walker operate Farmboy Organics in Yolo County, where they grow a variety of fruits and vegetables, including okra, which thrive in California’s summer heat.
Photo/Steve German

Sweet corn is harvested by machine in Tulare County near Tipton. The summertime staple is grown commercially for sale to retailers and locally by growers who sell directly to customers at farm stands and farmers markets. 
Photo/Courtesy of Tom Barcellos

Andrew Gibson, president and CEO of Sunrise Organic Farm in Santa Barbara County, picks up harvested Nantes carrots, the farm’s most popular crop for the wholesale market. 
Photo/Courtesy of Sunrise Organic Farm

The Watsonville/Salinas district, with 12,889 acres of strawberries in 2025, remains the state’s top growing region for fall-planted acreage, which produces fruit for winter, spring and summer. The Santa Maria district, however, has the most year-round acreage, with 11,432 fall-planted acres and a projected 7,469 summer-planted acreage, which produces strawberries for the fall. 
Ag Alert file photo

Francisco “Frank” Valle, general manager of Global Mushrooms in Santa Clara County, holds a box of white button mushrooms, which remain the nation’s best-selling mushroom variety.
Photo/Christine Souza

A test plot of established oats at the Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems at the California State University, Chico, was planted last fall as part of a study that looks at the feasibility of planting a winter cash crop of fava beans within an established cover to offset expenses while providing soil cover and reducing erosion.

Photo/Courtesy of Hossein Zakeri

Plant pathologist Shunping Ding, left, and graduate student Emily Lock-Paddon inoculate arugula with the downy mildew pathogen in the lab at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Researchers at the university are studying wild arugula varieties that could offer resistance to the disease. 

Photo/Kallol Das

Steve Gill, co-owner of Rio Farms in King City and its parent company, Gills Onions in Oxnard, stands in a field of red onions ready for harvest in 2023.
Photo/Courtesy of Gills Onions

An automated Agriplanter plants three rows of processing tomatoes at a time in a Yolo County field. It requires three to four employees, including a tractor driver.

Photo/Patricia Lazicki

The Brussels sprouts that farmers grow today no longer taste bitter thanks to breeding efforts through the years to produce sweeter varieties.The trendy vegetable has become a culinary superstar, with farmers ramping up production to meet growing demand.

Photo/Courtesy of Hitchcock Farms

Lettuce breeder Bill Waycott, who owns Nipomo Native Seeds in San Luis Obispo, developed a spinach-lettuce variety that is gaining momentum with chefs. Seeds are available to organic growers through distributor Row 7 Seed Co.

Photo/Courtesy of Nipomo Native Seeds

Carrots grow at a field in Imperial County. California remains the nation’s top carrot producer, with Kern County leading the state in production. 
Photo/University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources

Celery grows on the Southern California coast. University of California researchers adjusted water-use recommendations for the crop to maximize nitrogen going to plants and minimize leaching.

Salinas Valley farmers are on guard against a new variant of the soil-borne fungal disease Fusarium wilt in lettuce. An ongoing trial aims to find genetic sources of resistance to the new strain. 

Photo/Bob Johnson

The fungal disease southern blight impacts a processing tomato field. Growers have limited options for managing the disease, which can cause tomato plants to permanently wilt, reducing yields.

Photo/Alex Putnam/University of California, Riverside

Harvested blueberries line the fields of Porterville-based Homegrown Organic Farms. Sales of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries have overtaken packaged salads as the top organic produce item.

Photo/Homegrown Organic Farms