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The Lee County Ledger, Wednesday, November 17, 2010, Page 5C
Georgia farmers getting taste for pomegranates
Special to the Ledger
By Stephanie Schupska
University of Georgia
In southeast Georgia, an
area of the state known for
its blueberries, Brantley
Morris of Morris Nursery
in Alma, Ga., gets calls
at least once a week from
farmers who want to grow
pomegranate trees.
“Right now I can’t supply
the plants to the people
who want them,” he said.
“There’s such a demand for
them.”
Some Georgia farmers
are looking to bank on the
multi-seeded, high-value,
hard-to-peel fruit, which
has surged in popularity
in recent years, said Dan
MacLean, a researcher with
the University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences
based in Tifton, Ga.
“Pomegranate is moving
beyond a curiosity crop in
Georgia, and now farmers
are making a go of estab
lishing a solid industry,”
MacLean said.
Cash crop
The demand for trees is
a reflection of the demand
for the fruit. From juice
to energy bars to salad
dressings, pomegranates
have found their way into
supermarkets and kitchens
across the country.
The interest in pomegran
ates, especially around
Alma, comes from “blue
berry farmers wanting to
diversify,” Morris said.
Blueberry farmers finish
their harvests in the sum
mer. Adding pomegranates
to their fields would give
them another harvest in the
fall - and a way to balance
the books in any given year
if the blueberries don’t pro
duce like they had hoped.
But it’s not just blueberry
growers who are adding
pomegranates. MacLean
has worked with a farmer
who grows corn silage and
pomegranates in the same
field. Other farmers he
knows have cleared out a
few acres of peach trees to
make way for pomegran
ates.
Currently, most pome
granates grown in the
United States come from
California. Most of the
production is vertically
integrated, MacLean said,
meaning that orchards are
owned, fruits are pro
cessed, and products are
marketed all through a
single corporation. This
leaves plenty of opportuni
ties for Georgia growers
to sell their fruit to other
companies.
“One of the growers I
know has already secured
a market for his fruit,” Ma
cLean said. “The company
he’s talked to told him to
‘let us know when your
orchards start producing,
and we’ll buy everything
you have.’”
Pomegranate study
On the UGA campuses in
Tifton and Athens, Ma
cLean and plant pathologist
Harald Scherm are trying
to figure out how to keep
pomegranates in the best
shape possible. Disease
pressure brought on by
Georgia’s humid climate
isn’t making it easy.
Photo by Brad Haire/UGA
Dan MacLean, an assistant professor of horticulture
on UGA’s Tifton campus, checks a pomegranate for
ripeness.
Dan MacLean demonstrates the easiest way to pick a pomegranate
Scherm and graduate
student Lucky Mehra have
found Cercospora fruit spot
on pomegranates MacLean
picked from several test
plots in Tifton, Byron and
Alma. Fruit spot doesn’t
hurt the arils, or the fruity
flesh inside, but it does
make the fruit look bad.
“It’s a new disease in
Georgia,” Mehra said. “It’s
been reported in India. It’s
easy to control, but we don’t
have chemical products
registered for pomegranate.
Getting them registered -
that’s a big deal.”
Controlling diseases is
one of many aspects of
production that Scherm and
MacLean hope to
work out. So far,
they’ve only been
able to look at the
pomegranate fruit
at harvest time.
“On the pathol
ogy end, we like
to look at fruit
in a season-long
fashion,” Scherm
said. “How do you
actually manage
them? There’s a
lot that needs to be
done.”
“There are a ton
of production-issue
questions to look
at,” MacLean said.
“We’ve looked at
the fruit, but not at
Photo by Brad Haire/UGA
with a pocketknife.
Photo by Stephanie Schupska/UGA
Lucky Mehra holds two pomegranates that have been infected with
Cercospora fruit spot. The one on the right is a different variety and
does not have the disease.
the trees themselves.”
From hundreds of pome
granate cultivars, MacLean
and Scherm have been able
to find about 20 that do
well in Georgia. Fruit from
these cultivars are being
evaluated for juice-making
potential and antioxidant
contents by Casimir Akoh
and Karina Martino in the
CAES Department of Food
Science and Technology in
Athens.
Regional meeting
At the end of Septem
ber, 50 people gathered in
south Georgia for the first
Southeast regional pome
granate meeting. MacLean
coordinated interested
industry and university
faculty from South Caro
lina, Georgia and Florida.
“We’re approaching
pomegranate production
more on a regional level,”
he said.
Thirty people stayed the
next day to learn more
about pomegranates in
Byron. “If that’s any indi
cation, I think there’s a real
solid interest in the crop,”
MacLean said.
“We have a big potential
for a big market,” Mor
ris said. “We’re where we
were 20 years ago with
blueberries. Over time, I
think we can build an in
dustry in Georgia that will
last like blueberries.”
(Stephanie Schupska
is a news editor with the
University of Georgia Col
lege of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.)
USDA-NRCS Announces Application Period
For Farm And Ranch Lands Proection Program
Specicd to the Ledger
James E. Tillman, Sr.,
State Conservationist for
the USDANatural Resourc
es Conservation Service
(NRCS) in Georgia today
announced that the NRCS
has is accepting applica
tions for financial assis
tance through the Farm
and Ranch Lands Protec
tion Program, (FRPP).
Although participants
can apply at any time, in
order to be considered for
funding during this fiscal
year, applications must be
received by December 10,
2010.
The FRPP is a volun
tary program designed to
protect agricultural use
and related conservation
values of eligible land by
limiting non-agricultural
uses of the land. The
program provides match
ing funds to state, tribal,
or local governments and
non-governmental organi
zations with existing farm
and ranch land protection
programs to purchase con
servation easements for the
purpose of protecting the
agricultural use and limit
ing non-agricultural uses of
the land.
NRCS enters into coop
erative agreements with
eligible entities that have
active farm and ranch land
protection programs to
acquire conservation ease
ments. The entity must be
authorized to hold conser
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vation easements. Some
examples of eligible enti
ties include county Board
of Commissioners, Land
Trusts, and Land Conser
vancies.
NRCS is authorized
to facilitate and provide
matching funds (up to
50%) for the purchase of
conservation easements on
eligible land that is subject
to a pending offer from
an eligible entity. These
permanent conservation
easements prohibit the
conversion of farm and
ranch land to nonagricul-
tural uses, and ensure that
the agricultural capacity of
the soils remains viable for
future generations.
The FRPP is a voluntary
program that helps farmers
and ranchers keep their
land in agriculture. FRPP
is a competitive program,
where farms are ranked
based on national and state
ranking criteria. Funding
levels vary every year.
To apply for the FRRP,
contact a local eligible
entity or your local NRCS
office to find out more. Or
for more information on
eligibility or how to apply
please visit our Web site
www.ga.nrcs.usda.gov/
programs/frpp.html
Submitted Photo
Mrs. White’s class raised the most money during the Lee County Primary School Box Tops
contest. The school as a whole raised $1,420.