Mid-Atlantic Regional Fruit Loop





The Mid-Atlantic Regional Fruit Loop is a cooperative World Wide Web presence for information on all aspects of deciduous tree fruit production in the mid-Atlantic region. Cooperating state universities include Virginia Tech, West Virginia University, the University of Maryland, Penn State University, and Rutgers University. The goal of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Fruit Loop is to provide information resources that are useful to commercial fruit producers, county and regional agricultural agents, fruit industry professionals, Master Gardeners, and home orchardists. Content for the "Loop" has been provided by fruit professionals from Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, the USDA/ARS, Virginia, and West Virginia. The information content of the "Loop" at Virginia Tech is focused on entomology, with an extensive collection of color photographs and fact sheets on fruit pests. The Virginia Tech site also has an extensive collection of links to fruit professionals and the agricultural industry, as well as frequently updated weather information of importance to fruit producers. You can also find out "What's Hot" - here you can read about some of the current issues of importance to the fruit industry for various commodities. The West Virginia University site has plant pathology as its focus, with an extensive collection of high-resolution color photographs and disease fact sheets. Learn about disease cycles and access tables of cultivar relative susceptibilities to various disease-causing organisms. View a monthly in-depth treatment of a specially selected disease or insect pest, or find out what the "Current Conditions" are in Kearneysville. Have a disease and don't know what it is? Use the online Key for Disease Diagnosis with color illustrations to help with disease identification, or try the Visual Gallery of Images. Research abstracts of the entomology and plant pathology programs at Kearneysville are available, also. The Penn State Fruit Research and Extension Center website offers a window into the facility and personnel, a look at the current pest status during the growing season, a repository of publications and meeting presentations, and links to other resources available to the fruit industry. The Virtual Orchard, online since November, 1995, is co-sponsored by Win Cowgill, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, and Jon Clements, Michigan State Cooperative Extension. The Virtual Orchard hosts regional fruit information, as well as updates on regional research projects (NC-140 and NE-183) and IDFTA information. They also host the online edition of The Fruit Grower News, and the Virtual Orchard is the host for the E-mail discussion group apple-crop. The USDA Appalachian Fruit Research Station was the first of the federal agriculture labs to have a web site. The Station's mission is to identify critical problems of temperate fruit production; develop the science, technology, and genetic base needed to maximize productivity and quality of fruit crops; and minimize the adverse effects of biotic and environmental factors on these crops. The web site provides research updates and profiles staff members. If you can't find what you're looking for at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Fruit Loop, or if you have suggestions on how we can improve our sites, please let us know.

Douglas G. Pfeiffer, Professor of Entomology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg

Win Cowgill, Area Fruit Agent and Professor, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, and
Jon Clements, University of Massachusetts Cooperative Extension.

Alan R. Biggs, Professor of Plant Pathology, West Virginia University, Kearneysville

Greg Krawczyk, Post Doctoral Scholar, Dept. of Entomology, Penn State University, Biglerville

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