Quote: With a wealth of available tree fruit information and falling hardware and access prices, the internet is becoming an increasingly useful tool for growers.
Guy Witney
Washington State University Cooperative Extension
400 Washington St., Wenatchee, WA 98801
Presented at the 41st Annual IDFTA Conference, February 21-25, 1998, Pasco, Washington.
In the last two years, the internet has transformed from the equivalent of a Hollywood set with glitzy storefronts without substance into a modern cyber-city with libraries full of information, banks, stores and meeting places. At the same time, the price of access to this information has dropped significantly with monthly subscriptions averaging around $20 and computer prices falling below $1000 for quite reasonable models. These factors have come together making electronic access to information a really useful tool for tree fruit growers. Listed below are some of the most useful internet sites for growers and a description of the information available at each address.
Search Engines
These are sites which allow the user to search for specific topics of interest. For general searches http://www.altavista.digital.com/ is a very fast (and vast) internet search engine which requires a great deal of specificity if you are to find the information you need. In my opinion, it is one of the best for general searches. Infomine is a search engine at the University of California that one can use to access academic information including general horticulture and tree fruit production at http://lib-www.ucr.edu/infomine/exp/. For more specific searches on deciduous fruit topics, Fruit-Bot is a search engine under development and can be found at http://numb.selah.net/fruit/websearch.pl.
To search past issues of Washington’s Good Fruit Grower Magazine try http://www.goodfruit.com/search.html. This provides a quick way of finding past articles of interest on specified topics. If current and past subjects being discussed by apple researchers and growers are of interest, one may search through email messages posted on the apple-crop email subscriber list at http://www.virtualorchard.net/applecrop.html. These are just a few of the many search engines available on the internet but should give most growers a good start.
University Resources
Many state universities and their Cooperative Extension offices have useful homepages. It is impossible to list them all, but here are some of the most useful to tree fruit producers.
http://www.ncw.wsu.edu/–a site designed for North Central Washington growers containing information on horticulture, pest control (including models) and links to other sites.
http://www.tfrec.wsu.edu/–the homepage of the Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee. A outstanding site with the latest spray recommendations, research updates and many other reference topics of interest to growers.
http://frost.prosser.wsu.edu/–the latest weather and pest models from around Washington State made available through subscription to the Public Agricultural Weather System.
http://www.virtualorchard.net–The Virtual Orchard site is a dedicated to sustainable apple production. It provides a forum for research and extension projects dealing with commercial apple production and marketing issues. The goal of this site is to serve as a clearinghouse for apple information for commercial fruit growers.
http://pom44.ucdavis.edu/–University of California’s Fruit and Nut Research and Information Center site. A useful site containing information on both deciduous and subtropical fruit and nut crops.
http://www.reeusda.gov/new/statepartners/usa.htm–a clickable map of the U.S. with links to Cooperative Extension homepages. It takes some work to find tree fruit information but most states with fruit industries have good information posted.
http://www.ento.vt.edu/Fruitfiles/VAFS.html–this is the site of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Fruit Loop: Virginia Fruit Page. Contains extension, research and teaching information from Virginia Tech on fruit crops.
http://www.cce.cornell.edu/programs/ag/fruit.html–An excellent site aimed at New York fruit growers but with good information for all growers.
Newsletters and Magazines
There are many newsletters and magazines available online, and some have well-designed index pages. The availability of reference articles online allows growers to access a huge library of information and print out items of interest.
http://www.ncw.wsu.edu/areawi%7E1.htm–Areawide IPM Update Newsletter. An online newsletter of pheromone-based orchard pest management aimed at growers in western states. All issues are available online.
http://www.goodfruit.com/–Good Fruit Grower magazine online. Contains the current issue and a search engine for access to back issues. A very well maintained and friendly site aimed at Washington fruit growers.
http://www.fruitgrowersnews.com–The Great Lakes Fruit Growers News online edition. This magazine is published monthly and goes to 12,500 fruit growers in 47 states.
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/scafolds/–Scaffolds Fruit Journal is a weekly update on orchard pest management and crop development published by Cornell University with the assistance of Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Other Sites
A few other sites that may be interesting to fruit producers are listed below. While there are hundreds of sites that provide great information, these (and the ones listed above) will hopefully generate enough interest to get more growers connected to this valuable resource.
http://www.weather.com/weather/sat/westsat_450x284.html–A continually updated satellite picture of weather systems reaching the West Coast and western states.
http://www.idfta.org–The International Dwarf Fruit Tree Association homepage. The latest news of programs, tours and other events.
http://www.ashs.org–The American Society for Horticultural Science homepage. Excellent links of a general horticultural nature as well as listings of the services, programs and events of the Society.
With a wealth of available tree fruit information and falling hardware and access prices, the internet is becoming an increasingly useful tool for growers.