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H-2A workers prune a high-density apple block at Joe Rasch Orchards in Sparta, Michigan, in March 2024. Like other Michigan growers, farm managers Manuel and Katie Vargas are figuring out how much to pay their H-2A workers now that the program’s wage floor has been lowered. (Matt Milkovich/Good Fruit Grower)

Compensation contemplations for farm labor

May 11, 2026

Growers sow a productive partnership

May 11, 2026

Looking for rootstock big shots

April 28, 2026
Cornell University fruit extension specialist Mario Miranda Sazo, center, leads a pruning demonstration in Spanish at Joe Rasch Orchards in Sparta, Michigan, on March 28. Orchard manager Manuel Vargas stands just to Miranda Sazo’s right. (Courtesy Michigan Pomesters)

Cutting the language barrier for pruning crews

April 24, 2026
Mitch Lynd

Mitch Lynd: 1942–2026

April 23, 2026
Freestanding apple trees at Alber Orchard & Cider Mill in Manchester, Michigan. Some of the trees at Alber, one of the state’s oldest orchards, are more than 150 years old and yield heirloom apples. (Matt Milkovich/Good Fruit Grower)

Past meets present on a Michigan farm

April 23, 2026
A new blueberry planting with black weed mats at Michigan State University’s Trevor Nichols Research Center in October 2019.

Research to help blueberry growers replant right

April 21, 2026
Rhizomorphs, the black shoestring-like strands attached to the trunk of this blueberry bush, are a symptom of armillaria root rot. The fungal disease is uncommon in Michigan blueberry fields but was found infecting bushes in a field where oak trees previously grew. (Courtesy Tim Miles/Michigan State University)

Bouts with different blueberry diseases

April 14, 2026

Check the fruit first to fight the flies

April 8, 2026
Workers harvest Honeycrisp from Huron Fruit Systems platforms at DeMarree Fruit Farm in Williamson, New York, last September. The DeMarrees leave a headland of 32 to 35 feet between blocks to accommodate the wide turning radius of the platforms. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)

Making room for orchard automation

April 7, 2026