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New urban farm opens in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood

On Oct. 30, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh joined the owners of We Grow Microgreens, elected officials and community members to celebrate Hyde Park’s newest small business, which will bring healthy greens to grocery stores, restaurants and farmers markets across the city. The urban farm was made possible thanks to land made available by Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development and Community Preservation funds.

“I am proud of the city of Boston’s commitment to the revitalization of this vacant land, creating a new farm and a new gathering space that all of Hyde Park can enjoy,” Walsh said. “I want to thank the owners of We Grow Microgreens for investing in Readville and their community.”

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Photo courtesy of the city of Boston

UF/IFAS launches research to reduce pepper disease

Pamela Roberts, a UF/IFAS plant pathology professor, has been awarded a four-year, $3-million grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, an arm of the USDA, to lead research into ways to reduce bacterial diseases in peppers. Scientists from UF/IFAS, North Carolina State University, the University of Georgia, the Ohio State University, Auburn University and a USDA lab in South Carolina will participate in the pepper disease research.

Plenty of diseases can harm peppers. Most bell peppers are resistant to bacterial spot, but other types of peppers are not, said Roberts, a faculty member at the UF/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center in Immokalee, Florida.

“Bacterial spot is one of the most damaging and difficult diseases to manage on peppers,” Roberts said. “Yield losses in severely affected crops can reach 100%.”

>> Read the full story here.