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A view of Clarkdale Fruit Farms in Deerfield, Massachusetts, from a peach block last September. Peaches are a popular and profitable crop but vulnerable to spring frosts. Clarkdale is run by Tom Clark and his son, Ben, and, like other growers in the region, they prefer to grow peaches on hilltops. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)

Farms shifting for success

March 26, 2026
A female Andrena regularis, also known as the regular miner bee, visiting apple flowers at Cornell Orchards in Ithaca, New York. This ground-nesting native bee is an effective apple pollinator. (Courtesy Bryan Danforth/Cornell University)

Winning with home-team pollinators

March 25, 2026
Michigan State University horticulture professor Todd Einhorn discusses apple tree phenology stages and predictive models during the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO in December. (Matt Milkovich/Good Fruit Grower)

Research to reduce weather worries

March 18, 2026
Grower Mo Tougas stands near a row of apple trees, some of them declining, at Tougas Family Farm in Northborough, Massachusetts, in September. He believes the cause is winter injury. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)

Differentiating decline in apple orchards

March 11, 2026
A view of 2 Lads Winery on Michigan’s Old Mission Peninsula. Vineyards and vistas bring visitors to the peninsula every summer and fall. What those visitors can and can’t do at wineries has caused a dispute between the wineries and local government. (Courtesy 2 Lads Winery)

Wine wars on Michigan’s Old Mission Peninsula

March 11, 2026
Michigan State University entomologist Rufus Isaacs, seen here in a blueberry block at MSU’s Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center in June 2022, is studying ways to combat spotted wing drosophila in Michigan blueberries. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)

Data for better spotted wing drosophila control

March 10, 2026
Michigan State University tree fruit integrator Jackie Perkins discusses changing weather and pest patterns during the Great Lakes EXPO in December. Here, she was describing a new MSU website called mifruitdecision.com, which helps growers manage climate-related pest risks. On the right is an illustration of another one of her presentation slides, the 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map of Michigan, which she used to illustrate changing climate patterns. (Photo illustration by Matt Milkovich and TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)

Pest control plans also shift with climate-morphosis

March 3, 2026
Incidence of grapevine red blotch virus has been growing around the world, including in Southwest Oregon, said Oregon State University viticulturist Alexander Levin. (Courtesy Carlee Wormington/Oregon State University)

Red blotch a worldwide vineyard threat

February 23, 2026
Brookdale Fruit Farm employees harvest Foxtrot Gala in September 2025. The New Hampshire orchard uses an autonomous Revo Piuma platform. Six workers, two on the machine and four on the ground, pick the apples by hand and place them on the conveyor belts, which fill the bin below. Compared to ladders, the platform speeds picking and reduces fruit bruising, grower Trevor Hardy said. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)

A strong and Hardy outlook for farming family business

February 19, 2026
Michigan State University tree fruit pathologist George Sundin discusses fire blight during the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO in December. Here, he shows a microscopic view of shoot blight ooze infecting a tree’s parenchyma, the soft tissue that performs multiple functions including storing and transporting nutrients. (Matt Milkovich/Good Fruit Grower)

Doubling down on diseases

February 18, 2026