scholarly journals South and Central America Cut Flower Production and Postharvest Survey

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 898-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian E. Loyola ◽  
John M. Dole ◽  
Rebecca Dunning

Imports of cut flowers into the United States have doubled in the last 20 years and come mainly from Colombia and Ecuador. We surveyed the cut flower industry in South and Central America, focusing on Colombia and Ecuador, to determine their production and postharvest problems. We received a total of 51 responses, of which 62% of the respondents had 100 or more employees. The most commonly grown or handled crops were rose (Rosa hybrids), carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus), chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum ×grandiflorum), alstroemeria (Alstroemeria cultivars), gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii), and hydrangea (Hydrangea species), in order of ranking. The most significant production problem was insect management, with disease management and crop timing the next most important issues. The most important species-specific issues in production were phytosanitary problems, disease (causal organism not specified), leaf miner (Lepidoptera, Symphyta, or Diptera), and thrips (Thysanoptera). The main overall postharvest problem was temperature management, followed by hydration and flower food management and botrytis (Botrytis cinerea). In regard to on-farm postharvest handling, damage to the flowers was the most mentioned issue. For the postharvest during storage and transport phase, temperature management, air transport, damage, and botrytis were the most important problems. The most mentioned customer complaints were damage, botrytis, and phytosanitary problems. The results of this survey can be used by researchers to focus their work on topics of most need. Improved production and postharvest handling will support the continued growth of the cut flower industry.

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 338-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian E. Loyola ◽  
John M. Dole ◽  
Rebecca Dunning

In the United States and Canada, there has been an increase in the demand for local specialty cut flowers and a corresponding increase in production. To assess the needs of the industry, we electronically surveyed 1098 cut flower producers and handlers in the United States and Canada regarding their current cut flower production and postharvest problems, and customer issues. We received a total of 210 responses, resulting in a 19% response rate. The results showed that the main production problem was insect management; crop timing was the second most important problem and disease management was the third. Crop timing encompasses a range of related issues such as determining the correct harvest stage, harvest windows that are too short, flowering all at once, or lack of control when the crop is ready to harvest. The main postharvest problems were temperature management, hydration, and flower food management. Timing and stem length were the two most mentioned species-specific production issues, with each one listed by 10% or more of the respondents for eight of the total 31 species. Regarding on-farm postharvest handling, hydration and vase life were the two most mentioned issues; they were reported for five and three species, respectively. For postharvest during storage and transport, damage and hydration were the most common issues; these were listed for three species each. The most commonly mentioned customer complaints were vase life and shattering, which were reported for six and two species, respectively. These results will allow researchers and businesses to focus on the major cut flower production and postharvest issues and on crops that are most in need of improvement in North America.


Author(s):  
Walter D. Mignolo

This book is an extended argument about the “coloniality” of power. In a shrinking world where sharp dichotomies, such as East/West and developing/developed, blur and shift, this book points to the inadequacy of current practices in the social sciences and area studies. It explores the crucial notion of “colonial difference” in the study of the modern colonial world and traces the emergence of an epistemic shift, which the book calls “border thinking.” Further, the book expands the horizons of those debates already under way in postcolonial studies of Asia and Africa by dwelling on the genealogy of thoughts of South/Central America, the Caribbean, and Latino/as in the United States. The book's concept of “border gnosis,” or sensing and knowing by dwelling in imperial/colonial borderlands, counters the tendency of occidentalist perspectives to manage, and thus limit, understanding. A new preface discusses this book as a dialogue with Hegel's Philosophy of History.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlette Vila ◽  
Elizabeth C Pomeroy

Abstract The purpose of the study was to explore the effects of violence on trauma among forced-immigrant women from the northern triangle of Central America (NTCA) resulting from direct and indirect violence in their country of origin and during the migratory journey through Mexico. In trauma theory the concept of compounding stressors is an important framework for understanding aspects of human development, especially among low-socioeconomic-status and oppressed populations. Authors hypothesized that violence would have an impact on trauma and conducted interviews with 108 women ages 18 to 65 from the NTCA who traveled by land across Mexico before entering the United States. A survey instrument captured demographic information and types of violence experienced in the home country and during the migratory journey. A standardized screening tool was used to measure trauma symptoms. A hierarchical regression model for trauma was entered in the following order: (a) demographics and (b) violence. Violence was found to be a significant predictor for trauma. Findings suggest that having experienced violence in the country of origin and through the migratory journey had a powerful role in predicting trauma symptoms among immigrant women from the NTCA.


2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 267-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Rock Wohl ◽  
Sharon Lu ◽  
Jane Turner ◽  
Andrea Kovacs ◽  
Mallory Witt ◽  
...  

1970 ◽  
Vol 102 (10) ◽  
pp. 1268-1290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Kogan ◽  
E. F. Legner

AbstractExtensive collections of synanthropic fly parasitoids in animal excrement accumulations in the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Chile, Denmark, Israel, and South Africa yielded seven forms of a Muscidifurax complex which were totally or partially reproductively isolated. Morphological studies of female and male parasitoids coupled with biological and zoogeographical information permitted the identification of five sibling species. Muscidifurax raptor Girault and Sanders 1910 is redescribed and four additional species are described as new: M. zaraptor, from the southwestern United States; M. raptoroides from Central America and Mexico; M. uniraptor from Puerto Rico, and M. raptorellus from Uruguay and Chile. Biological notes are added to the descriptions, and it was postulated that the genus is undergoing a process of speciation with local populations slowly becoming reproductively isolated and eventually giving rise to morphologically distinguishable entities. Most evidence suggests the establishment of Muscidifurax in the New World, concomitant with or shortly following the establishment of muscoid flies in accumulated excrement. Scanning electronmicroscopy was used in the analysis of some morphological structures.


1983 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 466
Author(s):  
Robert D. Crassweller ◽  
Walter LaFeber

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 181
Author(s):  
Rabiu O. Olatinwo ◽  
Stephen W. Fraedrich ◽  
Albert E. Mayfield

In recent years, outbreaks of nonnative invasive insects and pathogens have caused significant levels of tree mortality and disturbance in various forest ecosystems throughout the United States. Laurel wilt, caused by the pathogen Raffaelea lauricola (T.C. Harr., Fraedrich and Aghayeva) and the primary vector, the redbay ambrosia beetle (Xyleborus glabratus Eichhoff), is a nonnative pest-disease complex first reported in the southeastern United States in 2002. Since then, it has spread across eleven southeastern states to date, killing hundreds of millions of trees in the plant family Lauraceae. Here, we examine the impacts of laurel wilt on selected vulnerable Lauraceae in the United States and discuss management methods for limiting geographic expansion and reducing impact. Although about 13 species belonging to the Lauraceae are indigenous to the United States, the highly susceptible members of the family to laurel wilt are the large tree species including redbay (Persea borbonia (L.) Spreng) and sassafras (Sassafras albidum (Nutt.) Nees), with a significant economic impact on the commercial production of avocado (Persea americana Mill.), an important species native to Central America grown in the United States. Preventing new introductions and mitigating the impact of previously introduced nonnative species are critically important to decelerate losses of forest habitat, genetic diversity, and overall ecosystem value.


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