" I heard it through the AgLine"

July 6, 2010

 

 

·        Israel pioneers freaky fruits, vegetables

·        Combating return of late blight disease  

·        Chemist urges approval of soil fumigant

·        US growers discover non-native veggies

·        Kiwis love to hate their Brussels sprouts

 

 

Israel pioneers freaky fruits, vegetables

 

(Los Angeles Times) BERURIM, Israel — If Willy Wonka had a farm, it would fit right in in Israel.

 

Want a lemon-scented tomato or a chocolate-colored persimmon? How about some miniaturized garlic cloves for the home chef who doesn't have time to chop or a purple potato that tastes buttery when cooked?

 

There are no chocolate rivers or edible teacup flowers on Israeli farms, but you will find carrots shaped like potatoes, strawberries shaped like carrots, star-shaped zucchini and "watermelon" tomatoes: dark green on the outside with a juicy red flesh.

 

There are also specially bred red peppers with three times the usual amount of vitamins, and black chickpeas with extra antioxidants. Don't forget worm-shaped berries and blue bananas.

 

Though some mock such colorful crops as "frankenfruit," an Israeli tomato breeder, Hazera Genetics, has created a boutique crop worth more than its weight in gold.

 

The former kibbutz developed a yellow cherry tomato that its own researchers feared might turn off shoppers. Instead, the hybrid became a hit in Europe, where the seeds sell for about $160,000 a pound.

 

Bolstered by Hazera's success, a growing number of Israeli farmers, agricultural companies and government-funded research institutions are jumping into the market for freaky fruits and designer veggies, hoping to stumble upon the next big thing.

 

"It's fun, it's interesting and it brings in the customers," said Uri Rabinowitz, a Tel Aviv-area farmer who has developed a national following for his strange-looking crops, including elongated strawberries and round carrots. "You can charge twice as much."

 

Rabinowitz and other Israeli farmers grow exotic fruits and vegetables from imported seeds, including the chocolaty persimmon from Latin America (which makes a tasty ice cream) and the buttery potato from the Netherlands.

 

Some are trying to create foods in the lab. A team of Israeli and U.S. scientists created the lemon-scented tomato by splicing genes from lemon basil into tomatoes, producing an aroma and taste of lemons and roses.

 

Efraim Lewinsohn, who has helped lead the project to develop the lemon tomato at Israel's Volcani Agricultural Research Institute, said the goal was to inject a little spice into tomatoes that had become bland from years of mass production.

 

"People complain that tomatoes don't taste like they used to," Lewinsohn said. "That's the driving force behind this project: attempting to restore the flavor of the past."

 

Because of consumer concerns about genetically modified crops, many in Israel are sticking with old-fashioned cross-pollination in which, for example, two tomato varieties — one known for its fast growth and the other for its long shelf life — are pollinated by hand to create tomatoes that grow quickly and last longer.

 

Israel isn't the only country pushing agricultural boundaries. Japan is producing square watermelons (easier to pack) and kumquat-size grapes (good for giant raisins). The Netherlands and the United States are also leaders in innovative crops, such as yellow tomatoes and miniature watermelons.

 

But thanks to its warm climate and advanced research facilities, Israel is becoming a player in the emerging market for agricultural oddities.

 

"Israelis are a naturally curious people," said Avi Almogi, head of Israel's Exotic Fruit Association, standing beside a display of fuzzless peaches at his trade group's recent exhibition at Kibbutz Givat Brenner in central Israel. "We take fruits, even things that may not be from here, and we play with them to make them better."

 

A few years ago, Israeli farmers imported a Chinese orange tree and cross-pollinated it with other breeds to make the fruit more colorful and easier to peel. "Now we are selling the seeds back to China," Almogi said.

 

Hazera made a splash internationally in the 1990s by breeding a tomato that could be vine-ripened and that stayed red three times longer than ordinary tomatoes. Its seeds sold around the world.

 

Since then, the firm has been "diving into tomatoes," said Alon Haberfeld, Hazera's senior tomato-product manager. The company pumps about 15 percent of revenue into research and development, a level he said was comparable to the pharmaceutical industry's. Drawing on ideas from supermarket owners, farmers and chefs, the company's breeders can devote years to developing a single hybrid. Researchers pollinate the plants by hand and must wait months to see what grows.

 

Hazera's mini-watermelon was created in response to consumer complaints that standard specimens of the fruit were too big to finish.

 

Most of the company's research is targeted at specific goals, such as developing a tomato that tastes sweeter or whose vine has a high yield. But sometimes Hazera encourages breeders to pursue whims.

 

"We let them go crazy," Haberfeld said. "We tell them to surprise us."

 

The results aren't always pretty. A snow-white tomato looked "terrible" and was quickly abandoned, Haberfeld said. A teardrop-shape tomato tasted great but looked unappealing to consumers.

 

So when a Hebrew University professor approached Hazera with a golden-hued cherry tomato, made by breeding regular cherry tomatoes with a rare yellow variety, she was greeted with skepticism.

 

The hybrid, eventually dubbed Summer Sun, had about three times the sugar level of ordinary tomatoes and high acidity, giving it a unique taste.

 

Researchers thought the flavor held promise. But would consumers bite?

 

"It takes time to educate people to eat yellow tomatoes," Haberfeld said.

 

With the rising popularity in the West of cooking shows, more healthful eating and gourmet restaurants, Hazera started marketing its products the way other companies sell sports cars and fancy watches.

 

"A moment of sensual pleasure. A moment to relax and pamper ourselves," reads a company brochure depicting attractive young people munching on tomatoes.

 

In Israel, Hazera advertised the yellow cherry tomatoes dripping in honey to emphasize their sweet flavor and gold color.

 

To Israelis, the fruit didn't look ripe. Only one supermarket chain carries them in Israel.

 

The breakthrough came in Europe, where consumers prefer sweeter produce. The yellow tomatoes are showing up on salad plates in France, Britain and Austria, where buyers are willing to pay up to $11 a pound. Hazera has sold its yellow cherry tomato seeds to a San Diego-based grower for production this summer.

 

That motivated Hazera scientists to redouble efforts to develop what they hope will be their next big hybrid hit: the purple tomato.

 

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Combating the return of late blight disease 

 

(Ohio State University) WOOSTER, Ohio — Late blight and downy mildew — diseases that attack tomatoes, potatoes and vine crops such as cucumbers and squash — have been confirmed in Ohio and many other states in the eastern portion of the US, threatening vegetable farms and backyard gardens across the state.

 

“What’s different this year is that both diseases have appeared in Ohio earlier than we have seen before,” said Sally Miller, a vegetable pathologist with Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC).

 

If left unmanaged, both downy mildew and late blight — which are transmitted via spores — can result in complete destruction of crops. Recent rainy and stormy weather most likely created favorable conditions for these diseases to show up in Ohio, since their spores are carried by winds and they thrive in wet environments.

 

Downy mildew was found June 23 on cucumbers in Wayne and Holmes counties (northeast Ohio), following reports of the disease in Ontario, Canada, the previous week.

 

Late blight was confirmed around the same time on tomatoes on an organic farm in Harrison County (east-central Ohio). This follows confirmations of late blight in potatoes, tomatoes or both in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and New York.

 

“People need to be on the alert for these diseases and prepare for their possible arrival on farms or gardens,” Miller said.

 

Detailed management recommendations for both diseases are available at http://vegnet.osu.edu/news/currentvn1110.htm.

 

Ohio State fact sheets with photos of symptoms and additional disease information can be found at http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/pdf/3127.pdf

 (downy mildew) and http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/3102.html

 (late blight).

 

A video about late blight is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEk3CIlp5_0.

 

Organic farmers wanting to learn more about late blight can register for a free webinar that will take place this Thursday, July 1, at 8 p.m. EST, courtesy of eXtension’s eOrganic educational tool. Go to http://www.extension.org/article/28346 for more information and registration details.

 

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Chemist urges approval of soil fumigant

 

(SFGate.com) – The chemist who developed what environmentalists insist is a dangerous poison for use on California crops urged the state last week to approve his concoction so that farmers can produce the kind of disease- and bug-free fruit that consumers expect.

 

Jim Sims, the organic chemist who owns the patent for methyl iodide, says that California growers have to use the fumigant if they are going to continue feeding the nation.

 

"It is absolutely necessary to continue agriculture in this state, and that is what is at stake," said Sims, who worked in the plant pathology department at UC Riverside for 40 years until his retirement in 2004. "I think methyl iodide can be used safely."

 

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation proposed registering methyl iodide despite widespread concern from scientists, toxicologists, environmentalists and citizens, who claim it causes cancer and thyroid disease.

 

A 60-day public comment period that ended June 29 generated 53,419 e-mailed comments and at least 175 letters. The department has not yet counted the pro and con, "but the con definitely is in the majority," said Lea Brooks, the department spokeswoman.

 

The department recommended methyl iodide for use as a soil fumigant on fruit crops even though the state's own scientists concluded that the chemical posed a potential risk to public health. A final decision is not expected for several months.

 

Sims, who describes himself as a global warming skeptic, began experimenting with methyl iodide in the mid-1990s as a replacement for methyl bromide, which was being phased out because it was found to damage the ozone layer. He obtained a patent for the chemical and worked out a deal with Arysta LifeScience Corp. to sell it.

 

Methyl iodide was approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2007 for use as a fumigant over the protests of more than two dozen California legislators and 54 scientists, including five Nobel laureates, who signed a letter opposing registration of the chemical.

 

It is now licensed for use in 47 states, but it is expensive and used only sparingly in Florida and the Carolinas, mostly on strawberries and occasionally on tomatoes and peppers. California is a key target for Sims and Arysta officials because agriculture is a major part of the economy. Opponents of methyl iodide registration believe Arysta lobbyists put pressure on legislators and the regulatory agency to approve the pesticide despite widespread concern that the chemical is too toxic.

 

"It wouldn't do its job if it wasn't toxic," was Sims' response. "All fumigants are toxic."

 

Organic farmers insist there are better ways to handle soilborne pests than with toxic chemicals. Soil can be sterilized, they say, by injecting high-temperature steam. Mustards can be used against diseases and pesky microscopic worms called nematodes. Plant breeding and crop rotation are also options, they say.

 

Sims discounted such techniques as unworkable on farms that produce mass quantities of fruit.

 

"These techniques don't work in large-scale productions," Sims said. "Large-scale farmers cannot let portions of their land go fallow - which is one of the most effective techniques by organic farmers - because they have bills to pay."

 

Besides, Sims said, none of the potential problems spelled out by opponents has occurred in other states. That's despite the fact that the regulations in other states are much less strict than those proposed in California, where limits on exposure, application rates and large buffer zones are anticipated.

 

State regulators say only trained workers will be allowed to inject the chemical into the soil and treated areas will be covered by impermeable tarps.

 

While opponents wage war against methyl iodide, Sims said, many California farmers are getting special permits to use methyl bromide, which is known to cause environmental damage.

 

"With a gas like methyl bromide you can't see it," Sims said. "Methyl iodide is a liquid you can see. It's inherently more safe."

 

Nevertheless, the effort to prevent registration of methyl iodide got a boost during a recent Senate Food and Agriculture Committee hearing. A panel of scientists at the hearing described how methyl iodide causes mutations, cancer and a myriad of health problems in experimental animals. Groundwater contamination was also mentioned as a concern since a state analysis did not rule it out, concluding instead that methyl iodide is "unlikely to affect water quality."

 

"Methyl iodide is a dangerous compound," said Ed Loechler, a biology professor at Boston University. "Having so many toxic in-points represents a big red flag to me. One of them is going to prove to be a big hazard to those people living or working near where methyl iodide is used."

 

The department will now evaluate the comments and decide whether to proceed with registration, Brooks said. Even if it is approved, she said, the chemical won't be available anytime soon because permits would be required from county agricultural commissioners, a process that can take several months.

 

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US growers discover non-native veggies

 

(AP via Google.com) Maxixe, a Brazilian relative of the cucumber, is relatively unknown in the U.S., but it may one day be as common as cilantro as farmers and consumers embrace more so-called ethnic vegetables.

 

Agriculture experts at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and elsewhere are teaching farmers to grow non-native vegetables that appeal to a growing market of African, Asian and Latin American immigrants. These immigrants and their children already account for more than one-third of produce sales in supermarkets, said Frank Mangan, a plant and soil sciences professor at UMass. And as other customers become more familiar with ethnic foods, experts expect sales to grow even more.

 

The number of Massachusetts farmers markets that carry ethnic vegetables jumped by 25 percent in a year, to 202 last year, said Scott Soares, commissioner of the state's Department of Agricultural Resources.

 

Bob Ehart, public policy director of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, said the organization doesn't track the popularity of ethnic crops, but the trend in Massachusetts appears to be happening in other states as well.

 

Sales of ethnic vegetables have benefited from "buy local" marketing campaigns and federal farm legislation giving states grants to expand specialty crop production, he said. There's also been a greater emphasis on marketing specialty vegetables, with New York and New Jersey starting programs aimed at selling produce to ethnic groups.

 

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Kiwis love to hate their Brussels sprouts

 

(Scoop) – July has been declared Brussels Sprouts Awareness Month by New Zealand Gardener after a nationwide survey found that they were New Zealanders’ most hated vegetable.

 

New Zealand’s most popular green was a close race, with potatoes narrowly beating tomatoes to the number one spot. But when it came to the vege we dislike most, Brussels sprouts were a clear winner, receiving more than twice as many votes as our second most loathed (the broad bean). Only 16 people of the thousands who responded to the survey picked the Brussels sprout as their favourite vege.

 

“This is a vegetable crying out for a makeover,” says the editor of New Zealand Gardener, Jo McCarroll. “People don’t realise that Brussels sprouts can be delicious. Plus they’re great for you, full of fibre, folic acid and cancer fighting compounds. A Brussels sprout contains more vitamin C, by weight, than an orange. That’s why we’ve declared July to be Brussels Sprout Awareness Month. We want to stop sproutism and for people to give these cute little cabbages a second taste.”

 

In an attempt to sex up the Brussels sprouts reputation, Luke Dallow, the owner of Auckland’s chi-chi nightspot Sale Street, has created a Brussels sprout cocktail to encourage Kiwis to enjoy a sprout on their next night out. ‘The Brussels Mary’, which blends two raw Brussels sprouts with, among other things, tomato juice, vodka and Worcestershire sauce, will be sold at Sale Street bar over July to help reinvent our perception of this vege-no-mates and mark Brussels Sprout Awareness Month.

 

So why is the Brussels sprout so despised? The most often cited reason given for disliking Brussels sprouts in the New Zealand Gardener survey was childhood trauma caused by being forced to eat them while growing up.

 

“But we grow different varieties now which are a lot sweeter than they used to be and they are harvested when they are smaller and younger,” says commercial Brussels sprout grower Steph Rollinson who’s joined the New Zealand Gardener’s campaign calling on Kiwis to give sprouts another try.

 

Steph, with her husband Bruce, sells about 20 tonnes of Brussels sprouts a year grown on their Ohakune property, Snow Country Gardens. Sprouts, which are harvested over winter, like wet and cold conditions and it takes a good chill to release their natural sweetness. So frost-prone Ohakune, on the North Island’s Central Plateau, is the centre of New Zealand’s commercial growing operations and the Rollinsons are one of three growers based there (there’s also one commercial grower in Oamaru).

 

The Rollinsons have been on the farm for 11 years but sprouts have been grown on the property for 40 years and in the area for 80, Steph says. Over that time the demand for sprouts has dropped, she admits. “Well, there’s so many other vegetables available at this time of year now. Twenty years ago you wouldn’t have even been able to get broccoli over winter, sprouts were it.”

 

But the team at New Zealand Gardener is determined to see sprouts restored to their rightful place as cabbages’ cuter cousins and a delicious option both for keen winter vege growers and for Kiwi diners.

 

“Try them thinly sliced and pan fried with almonds,” says Jo. “Or just trim the stalk, lose any loose leaves and drop them into boiling, salted water for five minutes. You don’t need to put a cross on the bottom; in fact it often leads to them becoming waterlogged and overcooked. Toss the cooked Brussels sprouts with bacon pieces and roasted walnuts and even the most vehement anti-sproutist will be converted.”

 

There are fashions with vegetables, as with anything else, says Alistair Petrie, New Zealand general manager for the country’s largest fresh produce distributors, Turners & Growers. Brussels sprouts are one of the company’s lowest volume products, he says (“on par with asparagus and spring onions”) so it’s fair to say they aren’t exactly in vogue.

 

“They’re not what I’d call high fliers at the moment,” Alistair admits. “They’re more niche product, like parsnips. There’s a hard core group of people who like them but maybe now we are looking at an older generation. They aren’t what we call a growing category.”

 

But New Zealand Gardener would like to see Brussels sprouts back at the top of the crops.

 

“Give Brussels sprouts another go,” Jo begs. “Stop the sprout drought Eat a sprout today.”

 

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