The pine bark adelgid was introduced from Europe and is now widely distributed in North America, occurring principally throughout the native range of eastern white pine. This insect is also found on Scots and Austrian pine.

From the vegetable transplants, you planted this spring to the shrubs and flowers that decorate the outside and inside of your home, Virginia’s greenhouses and nurseries supply a wide range of crops to regional and local markets. In addition, we have many farmers producing specialty cut flowers to decorate your home and dinner table. After learning about growing ornamentals, you will learn how to create some arrangements for your dinner table.

Pumpkins are Virginia's 20th in the list of the top 20 farm commodities in Virginia. In this session, you will travel to three different pumpkin farms and learn about growing pumpkins for wholesale and for agritourism operations. Then you will learn how to make a family recipe for pumpkin bread.

Seeds themselves are a very nutritious form of food because they contain proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and oils that a beginning plant needs to grow. Many of these nutritious components are increased greatly when the seeds are sprouted.

Globe artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) is an herbaceous perennial that is grown for its tender, edible, immature flower buds. The globe artichoke should not be confused with Jerusalem artichoke, another member of the composite family native to North America, which is grown for its fleshy tubers. Globe artichoke plants can become large: four to five feet tall and wide, with long, heavily serrated silvery green leaves (Figure 1a).

The pepper maggot, Zonosemata electa, is a significant pest of bell pepper in eastern North America, having transitioned from its native wild host, the horse nettle, to domesticated solanaceous plants like bell pepper and eggplant. Infestation levels can be alarming, with near-total crop loss possible from a single maggot per fruit. Control methods primarily involve insecticide applications, posing challenges for organic producers. The pest has a single annual generation, overwintering as a pupa in soil. Monitoring adult populations using yellow sticky traps and oviposition scars is essential for effective management. Cultural practices such as field sanitation, crop rotation, and the eradication of alternate hosts are crucial in mitigating damage. Additionally, trap cropping with hot pepper varieties and perimeter sprays have shown success in reducing damage to bell peppers. Various insecticides are available for pre-emptive control, emphasizing the importance of monitoring to optimize application timing.

The fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), a pest from the Noctuidae family, originates from the tropical Americas and lacks diapause, allowing it to migrate north from Gulf Coast states. This moth has been reported in all U.S. states east of the Rockies and has become a significant pest in other parts of the world. Fall armyworm larvae cause severe defoliation to a variety of plants, especially grasses, and fruit damage to crops like sweet corn, tomatoes, and peppers. Management strategies include using pheromone traps for monitoring, scouting for eggs and larvae, and promoting biological controls. Insecticides are also used, though resistance issues can arise. Effective control requires timely interventions based on thresholds to mitigate economic impact.

Angular leaf spot of cucurbits is caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. lachrymans. The bacterium can attack a wide range of cucurbits including watermelon, melon, squash, cucumber, zucchini, and pumpkin.

Bacterial spot, caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria, is one of the most serious diseases of sweet peppers in Virginia.

Early blight, caused by the fungus Alternaria solani, is one of the most common diseases of tomatoes in Virginia.

Anthracnose is a major disease of the common snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and can occur on other legumes. It is caused by the fungus Colletotrichum lindemuthianum. When environmental conditions are favorable, crop losses can be as high as 100 percent on susceptible cultivars of snap beans.

This guide lists vegetable varieties that are available and are adapted to the mid-Atlantic region, gives an overview of cultural practices, and list chemicals recommended to manage pests, diseases and weeds in vegetable crops. New varieties of vegetables are constantly being developed throughout the world. While all efforts are made to have comprehensive lists, not all varieties that are adapted will be listed.

Vegetable soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merril] is a type of food-grade soybean originating from East Asia. Edamame, pronounced “eh-dah-mah-may,” is an immature soybean, harvested between growth stages R6 and R7 when pods are about 85%-90% filled and bright green. This study is the first to present production and economic considerations for fresh market edamame in the state of Virginia and can be useful to growers considering its production.

This handbook represents a joint effort among Extension specialists and researchers from 15 land-grant universities in the U.S. who work in vegetable production. These specialists and researchers represent a wide array of disciplines: agricultural engineering, agribusiness, entomology, food safety, horticulture (vegetable production), plant pathology, postharvest physiology, soil science, and weed science. This handbook comprises up-to-the-minute information from research and Extension projects conducted throughout the southeastern United States. The key idea behind this handbook is to provide you with a practical resource that conveniently fits on your dashboard. It contains the information that you need to manage your vegetable crops, including which varieties to plant, planting dates, fertilizer recommendations, cover crop selection and conservation tillage options, pesticide selection, grafting, fertigation, plasticulture, postharvest handling, alternative pest management tools, and suggestions, as well as many other topics.

Irrigation scheduling is the process of deciding when and how much irrigation to apply to a field. Applying too little irrigation water can cause crop losses and yield reduction, but applying too much water can waste money, fertilizer, and labor, and can even decrease yields in some cases. The goal of this bulletin is to provide information that can help irrigators schedule irrigation using the checkbook method. It describes some of the benefits of irrigation scheduling and general factors that influence the amount and timing of irrigation needs. It then describes the data needed for checkbook irrigation scheduling and how to get this data, the calculations involved, and software/apps that can be used to help with these calculations.

Pesticide sprays consist of at least 95% water. Water quality plays an important role in pesticide performance. The following issues may indicate a compatibility problem with pesticides and spray water quality: - Pesticide does not work at labeled rates; - Difficulty mixing sprays or clogging of nozzles; - Inconsistent pest control observed in fields or plots; - Pests seem resistant to a new pesticide active ingredient, or - Crops are lower quality or lower yielding. Understanding how water quality characteristics such as pH, water hardness, turbidity, and total suspended solids affect the adsorption and persistence (half-life, storage time) of a pesticide can help pesticide applicators reduce or eliminate compatibility issues and improve pesticide effectiveness

Mixing two or more pesticide products can allow for the treatment of several pests at the same time, improve pesticide performance, and ultimately saving time and money. However, physical and chemical tank mix incompatibilities can occur when combining two or more pesticides. Physical incompatibility is the failure of pesticide products to stay uniformly mixed and can result in layering, products settling out of solution, or clumping. A chemical incompatibility is the result of a chemical reaction between pesticide products. A chemical incompatibility is less visible and can be harder to detect. This publication focuses on basic factors that influence product compatibility (agitation speed and method, water temperature, mixing order, carrier type, and chemical formulations) and summarizes best mixing practices to address these factors.

Spray water problems may arise due to water quality and management decisions. Certain aspects of water quality can reduce the efficacy of the pesticide as well as affect how the pesticide interacts with the plant surface or targets pests. Evaluating and testing spray water chemistry can help identify water quality problems that might otherwise be overlooked. This publication will examine possible solutions to spray water problems, including the use of adjuvants and other additives to enhance pesticide performance.

Allium Leafminer (ALM) (Phytomyza gymnostoma), an invasive pest first detected in the United States in 2015, has spread through onion-growing regions in the Northeast and Midwest. This pest targets commercial alliums such as onions, garlic, leeks, chives, and shallots, causing significant injury to crops.

Assessing On-Farm Produce Safety Risks Modules are a series of nine videos to assist you in creating a food safety program and preparing you for a GAP audit. These videos are based off of a series of seven factsheets (FST-400NP through 406NP) available through Virginia Cooperative Extension. In this module, we are going to explore how food safety can play into market access, the ways market sectors are similar and different from each other in terms of requirements, and why it is important to always recognize that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ for food safety standards across market sectors.

Assessing On-Farm Produce Safety Risks Modules are a series of nine videos to assist you in creating a food safety program and preparing you for a GAP audit. These videos are based off of a series of seven factsheets (FST-400NP through 406NP) available through Virginia Cooperative Extension. In this module, we are going to explore how food safety can play into market access, the ways market sectors are similar and different from each other in terms of requirements, and why it is important to always recognize that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ for food safety standards across market sectors.

Assessing On-Farm Produce Safety Risks Modules are a series of nine videos to assist you in creating a food safety program and preparing you for a GAP audit. These videos are based off of a series of seven factsheets (FST-400NP through 406NP) available through Virginia Cooperative Extension. In this module, we are going to explore how food safety can play into market access, the ways market sectors are similar and different from each other in terms of requirements, and why it is important to always recognize that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ for food safety standards across market sectors.

Assessing On-Farm Produce Safety Risks Modules are a series of nine videos to assist you in creating a food safety program and preparing you for a GAP audit. These videos are based off of a series of seven factsheets (FST-400NP through 406NP) available through Virginia Cooperative Extension. In this module, we are going to explore how food safety can play into market access, the ways market sectors are similar and different from each other in terms of requirements, and why it is important to always recognize that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ for food safety standards across market sectors.

Assessing On-Farm Produce Safety Risks Modules are a series of nine videos to assist you in creating a food safety program and preparing you for a GAP audit. These videos are based off of a series of seven factsheets (FST-400NP through 406NP) available through Virginia Cooperative Extension. In this module, we are going to explore how food safety can play into market access, the ways market sectors are similar and different from each other in terms of requirements, and why it is important to always recognize that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ for food safety standards across market sectors.

Assessing On-Farm Produce Safety Risks Modules are a series of nine videos to assist you in creating a food safety program and preparing you for a GAP audit. These videos are based off of a series of seven factsheets (FST-400NP through 406NP) available through Virginia Cooperative Extension. In this module, we are going to explore how food safety can play into market access, the ways market sectors are similar and different from each other in terms of requirements, and why it is important to always recognize that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ for food safety standards across market sectors.

Assessing On-Farm Produce Safety Risks Modules are a series of nine videos to assist you in creating a food safety program and preparing you for a GAP audit. These videos are based off of a series of seven factsheets (FST-400NP through 406NP) available through Virginia Cooperative Extension. In this module, we are going to explore how food safety can play into market access, the ways market sectors are similar and different from each other in terms of requirements, and why it is important to always recognize that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ for food safety standards across market sectors.

Assessing On-Farm Produce Safety Risks Modules are a series of nine videos to assist you in creating a food safety program and preparing you for a GAP audit. These videos are based off of a series of seven factsheets (FST-400NP through 406NP) available through Virginia Cooperative Extension. In this module, we are going to explore how food safety can play into market access, the ways market sectors are similar and different from each other in terms of requirements, and why it is important to always recognize that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ for food safety standards across market sectors.

Assessing On-Farm Produce Safety Risks Modules are a series of nine videos to assist you in creating a food safety program and preparing you for a GAP audit. These videos are based off of a series of seven factsheets (FST-400NP through 406NP) available through Virginia Cooperative Extension. In this module, we are going to explore how food safety can play into market access, the ways market sectors are similar and different from each other in terms of requirements, and why it is important to always recognize that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ for food safety standards across market sectors.

Background: Hops were grown in Virginia even in the days of Thomas Jefferson, but production eventually shifted away from the east coast in favor of the Pacific Northwest. For the past few decades, hops have not been grown commercially on a substantial level in Virginia. However, beginning several years ago when the craft brewing industry surged, renewed interest in hops production led to a rapid increase in the number of hobby and commercial hops growers. A fall 2014 survey showed approximately 50 growers in the state, but as of 2015 many new growers have been added to the ranks. Much of the production is clustered in Northern Virginia and the I-81 and I-64 corridors, but growers can be found in all regions of the state stretching from Southeast to Southwest Virginia.

Wine making has increased in popularity as a hobby for home gardeners who have taken the science and craft beyond the grape vineyard to the bramble patch, vegetable garden, and flower garden. This article describes the basic steps used in making wine from fruits or vegetables grown in the home garden.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture 2012 Census of Agriculture, sales from greenhouse-grown food crops equaled around $800 million in the U.S. Crops grown included tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, and berries, with hydroponic production operations making up about 64% of the total production (cwt) (USDA Census of Agriculture, 2012). Demand for greenhouse-grown produce continues to increase, providing growers with unique opportunities to tap into this expanding market. Although greenhouse systems provide a more protected environment than field-grown systems, it is important to understand the unique food safety risks and possible sources of contamination when growing produce in these systems. Identifying food safety hazards are necessary to implementing practices that reduce the risk of contamination during the pre-plant, production, harvest, and post-harvest handling stages. Use the checklist below to guide you in asking important questions targeting possible risks at each of the greenhouse system stages.

"Low Tunnels in Vegetable Crops: Beyond Season Extension" is a comprehensive document that delves into the multifaceted benefits of micro tunnels in vegetable cultivation, encompassing not only extended growing seasons but also improved yield, pest management, and resource efficiency, making it an essential resource for modern sustainable farming.

Irrigation management of nursery crops grown in containers can be difficult since many factors influence the decision of when and how much to irrigate. These factors include weather, substrate properties, crop water use, crop canopy, irrigation system performance, and water quality. In making the decision to irrigate, many growers rely on their experience with the crop and the substrate in which it is grown, current weather conditions, or forecasts.

Chemical fruit thinning is commonly practiced in commercial apple orchards to manage and regulate the number of fruit per tree (crop load), which improves fruit quality and production. In this management practice, growers typically apply several sprays of chemical thinners to orchard blocks in the spring when the fruit is small and just beginning to develop. These thinning spray applications result in the abscission, or detachment, of some of the fruit. This intentional fruit abscission or shedding is commonly referred to as “thinning.”

Disease is one of the biggest issues that producers face when growing pumpkins. The three biggest disease challenges for Virginia pumpkin growers are powdery mildew, downy mildew, and Phytophthora crown and fruit rot.

Humans and livestock require a broad range of nutrients to maintain a healthy diet. However, the lack of diversity in diets due to price, geography, and availability makes it difficult to create a well-rounded food supply from staple crops. Biofortification is the process of improving the nutritional quality of food and feed through management practices, plant breeding, and genetic modification. The history, types, and implications of biofortification are discussed with an emphasis on producer, livestock, and human health considerations.

This comprehensive website is intended to provide information about the efforts of the Virginia Fresh Produce Food Safety Team, as well as timely and science-based resources geared to reducing fresh produce contamination risks, beginning at the farm level, progressing through the marketplace to the final end-user, the consumer. The site also includes a blog that highlights our research and extension work on many fronts.

The Peanut Variety and Quality Evaluation (PVQE) program was created in 1968 as a multi-state program for the evaluation of Virginia-type cultivars and breeding lines. The PVQE is the official “pipeline” for Virginia-type peanut cultivar development for the Virginia-Carolina region. The objectives of the PVQE are: 1) to determine yield, grade, quality, and disease response of commercial cultivars and advanced breeding lines at various locations in Virginia and the Carolinas, 2) develop a database for Virginia-type peanut to allow research-based selection of the best genotypes by growers, industry, and the breeding programs, and 3) to identify the most-suited peanut genotypes for various regions that can be developed into varieties. This report contains agronomic and grade data of the PVQE tests in 2024.

According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, U.S. greenhouse vegetable farms more than doubled from 2012 (USDA 2019). Virginia fell within the top 10 states for acreage of vegetables and berry crops grown under protected culture. Protected culture includes greenhouses and structures like high tunnels. With close to two and a half million square feet devoted mostly to tomatoes, vegetables, herbs, and strawberries, the value of Virginia greenhouse sales in 2017 was over 31 million dollars! A lot of this increase in square footage was due to the addition of large operations coming into Virginia.

With the increasing number of controlled environment agriculture farms, Virginia Cooperative Extension is working closely with specialty crop growers to address the challenges of establishing and managing hydroponic greenhouse operations. Growers interested in producing food crops in controlled environments can use several different types of hydroponic systems. One of the most common types of hydroponic systems is called nutrient film technique (NFT).

This factsheet is part of a series of seven factsheets targeting beginning farmers growing edible crops using hydroponic greenhouse systems. There are also five videos that are related to the factsheets and included in the numbering sequence.

In 2022, PVQE included 25 genotypes: 5 commercial varieties, including ‘Bailey II’,’ Emery’, ‘NC 20’, ‘Sullivan’ and ‘Walton’; and 20 advanced breeding lines developed by the North Carolina State University peanut breeding program (Table 1). All breeding lines have the ‘high oleic acid’ characteristic. Cultivars and lines were planted from May 11 through May 24 at five locations: Tidewater AREC in Suffolk, VA, Slade Farm near Williamston, Martin Co., NC, the Upper Coastal Plain Research Station (UCPRS) near Rocky Mount, NC, McDuffie Farm near Council, Bladen County, NC, and the Edisto Research and Education Center (EREC) in Blackville, SC.

The purpose of this publication is to provide performance data of the many soybean varieties offered for sale in Virginia. These data should be of benefit to producers and agribusinesses in making selections of varieties for their use. It is realized that not all varieties that are offered for sale in Virginia are included in these tests. There is no implication that varieties not included are inferior in any way, but only that they have not been tested.

Understanding the fundamental aspects of melon physiology and morphology is essential for optimizing its cultivation, improving yield, and enhancing fruit quality. This document provides a concise overview of the key physiological and morphological characteristics of the basic melon plant, highlighting its growth and development processes. The physiological aspects encompass various essential factors that influence melon growth, including photosynthesis, water relations, nutrient uptake and assimilation, and hormone regulation. Melon plants exhibit distinct physiological responses to environmental stimuli such as light, temperature, and water availability, which directly impact their growth, flowering, and fruiting. An understanding of these physiological processes aids in implementing appropriate cultivation practices and management strategies for maximizing melon productivity.

The publication delves into the critical aspects of potato cultivar selection for Eastern Virginia. It highlights the importance of choosing cultivars well-suited to the region's climate and growing conditions. Factors like temperature fluctuations, precipitation patterns, tuber yield and quality are considered when making these selections. The evaluation process encompasses parameters such as yield potential, vegetative characteristics, and quality attributes like Specific Gravity and chip color. Moreover, the publication explores the use of metrics like NDVI and SPAD for assessing plant health. Detailed results for specific cultivars, such as 'Atlantic' and 'Chieftain,' among others, are provided, emphasizing data-driven decisions for optimal potato production in Eastern Virginia.

This document provides an overview of the potato industry's status in 2022, including key statistics such as acreage, cultivar selection methods, planting practices, and pest control measures. The challenges faced by potato farmers in the region are also discussed, including issues related to fertilization, labor, pests, and market conditions. Additionally, the document outlines the research priorities identified by potato farmers, focusing on soil analysis, weather data accessibility, and irrigation management. It emphasizes the importance of research and innovation for the sector's future growth. Lastly, the document explores communication preferences among potato farmers, highlighting their preference for email and annual conferences as effective means of information exchange.

This project studied how the harvest timing affect the aroma quality of Va hops, and shared some ideas using hop to make value-added products.

These demonstration and research results are a collaborative effort of Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) Agents and Specialists, Virginia producers, and agribusiness. The purpose of this publication is to provide research-based information to aid in the decision-making process for soybean producers in Virginia. It provides an unbiased evaluation of varieties, management practices, and new technologies through on-farm replicated research using producer equipment and time. These experiments enable producers to make better management decisions based on research and provide greater opportunities to improve yields and profits, which improves quality of life for them and their families.

Peanut is a “cash” commodity for Virginians and most farmers grow this crop for certified seed. Seed quality and germination in particular are, therefore, very important. Even though the 2022 results were inconclusive, potential for prohexadione calcium to reduce germination and increase abnormal seedling production was clearly suggested by these data. The inconclusiveness could have been the result of a combination of factors, other than PC, affecting seed quality during storage. A differential response of the cultivars to both, seed aging and PC, was clearly suggested by our preliminary data. Evidence that PC may affect the seed quality, through seed weight, was also notable from the 2022 tests.

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.), also known as fava bean, broad bean, horse bean, or Windsor bean, is a leguminous crop used as food, feed, forage, or cover crop in different parts of the world. This crop can be used for food, feed, and as a ground cover crop. It is highly nutritious and has high protein content, the second after soybean when comparing with the common grown legumes including, dry beans, lentils, peas, cowpeas, and chickpeas. The high protein content makes faba bean an excellent source for plant-based foods, like meat and milk. Compared to the other cool-season legumes such as pea and lupin, faba bean can attain and fix substantially more nitrogen from the atmosphere to soil. Because of temperature increase during summer, a winter crop can ensure cropping system diversification while minimizing the negative effects of summer heat on yield and economic return, and this crop can potentially be faba bean. A USDA-funded project at the Virginia Tech’ s Tidewater Agricultural Research and Extension Center (TAREC) in Suffolk, VA, is focused on introduction of faba bean as a winter seed crop with multiple benefits for the Mid-Atlantic cropping systems. The project includes collaborators from the University of Maryland, University of Delaware, North Carolina State University, and University of Georgia, in addition to the Virginia State University and Virginia Tech. Started in 2023 and lasting until 2027, the project will address objectives related to cultivar development through breeding, genetics and physiological strategies, identification of the best agronomic practices to maximize yield and economic return, economic and marketing logistics, and consumer acceptance. As the results became available, the PI will provide updates on this new crop for the region.

In 2023, PVQE included 34 genotypes: 5 commercial varieties, including ‘Bailey II’,’ Emery’, ‘NC 20’, ‘Sullivan’ and ‘Walton’; and 25 advanced breeding lines developed by the North Carolina State University peanut breeding program and 4 advanced breeding lines developed by the University of Florida (Table 1). All breeding lines have the ‘high oleic acid’ characteristic. Cultivars and lines were planted from May 9 through June 15 at four locations: Tidewater AREC in Suffolk, VA, Slade Farm near Williamston, Martin Co., NC, the Upper Coastal Plain Research Station (UCPRS) near Rocky Mount, NC, and the Edisto Research and Education Center (EREC) in Blackville, SC.

Virginia Cooperative Extension Mentors Growers in GAP Certification Preparation is a series of six videos showcasing Virginia farmers and their stories of working with Virginia Cooperative Extension to have their farms become Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certified. In this video, we speak with Michael Richard and Alex Fayler of Glenmary Farms, Bristol, VA, about their oscillating hydroponic system for growing strawberries and their culture of food safety.

Virginia Cooperative Extension Mentors Growers in GAP Certification Preparation is a series of six videos showcasing Virginia farmers and their stories of working with Virginia Cooperative Extension to have their farms become Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certified. In this video, we speak with Carl Gupton, CEO of Greenswell Growers, about their automated nutrient film technique (NFT) hydroponic system for growing lettuce and arugula, and how they have integrated food safety handling policies and practices as a central focus of their operation.

Virginia Cooperative Extension Mentors Growers in GAP Certification Preparation is a series of six videos showcasing Virginia farmers and their stories of working with Virginia Cooperative Extension to have their farms become Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certified. In this video, we speak with Deborah Morton of Mor-Farms, Halifax County, VA, and how she is revitalizing the family farm where her forebearers grew tobacco in 1906. Growing a diversity of vegetable crops with field and high tunnel production, we discuss food safety practices and how extension can assist growers with their audits.

Virginia Cooperative Extension Mentors Growers in GAP Certification Preparation is a series of six videos showcasing Virginia farmers and their stories of working with Virginia Cooperative Extension to have their farms become Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certified. In this video, we speak with Aaron Puckette of Puckette Farms, Campbell County, VA, about his field-grown produce for his Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and wholesale markets, and explain various aspects of assessing risks for a produce safety audit.

Virginia Cooperative Extension Mentors Growers in GAP Certification Preparation is a series of six videos showcasing Virginia farmers and their stories of working with Virginia Cooperative Extension to have their farms become Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certified. In this video, we speak with Lorrie Barron of Wildwood Berries and Produce, Charlotte, VA. Lorrie shares about her high tunnel and field-grown vegetables and berries sold through farmer's markets and a regional wholesaler, and highlights the food safety policies and practices she incorporates to reduce hazards.

Virginia Cooperative Extension Mentors Growers in GAP Certification Preparation is a series of six videos showcasing Virginia farmers and their stories of working with Virginia Cooperative Extension to have their farms become Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certified. In this video, we speak with Scott and Becky Ramsey of Wyndale Gardens, Abingdon, VA, about their aquaponic system used for growing blue Nile tilapia and leafy greens. The first Harmonized GAP aquaponics farm certified within Virginia, Scott and Becky share their insights and commitment to providing the safest product they can to their retail and school markets.

Along with agronomic and grade information, data on kernel and pod quality are essential for release of new peanut cultivars to ensure acceptability by the entire peanut trade. The present report contains the quality data collected on 5 Virginia-type cultivars that currently are on the market and 29 advanced breeding lines tested in the Peanut Variety and Quality Evaluation (PVQE) small plots in 2023

Mid-season heat and drought stress (HS+DS) severely impacts peanut growth, slashing yields by up to 50% and degrading kernel quality—key factors in market pricing. For Virginia-type peanuts, which command premium prices due to their large kernel size and superior grade (especially the "fancy" classification), HS+DS reduces both yield and percentage of total sound mature kernels (TSMK). This dual loss directly undermines profitability, as poor grades can offset gains from high productivity. With grade standards serving as a critical benchmark for growers and shellers, mitigating HS+DS is essential to preserving both yield and market value. This article discusses the effects of HS+DS on peanut yield and grade and highlights the importance of this combined stress.

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) has a spreading growth habit with lateral branches completely covering the ground at harvest. The current Virginia-type cultivars Bailey II, Emery, Sullivan, N.C. 20, and Walton have shown abundant vine growth under Virginia climate. While this is a positive thing, e.g. more biomass production can support higher yields, growers that do not use RTK guidance may be unable to see the rows for efficient vine digging and inversion. In short, under pressure from inverter set off the rows, pods can shed from the vines and yield can be lost.