Introduction

This report provides you with some of the latest information concerning vegetable research conducted this last year by The University of Arizona’s College of Agriculture personnel. These individuals have Cooperative Extension appointments, research appointments, or both. Their assignments are at the county, area or state levels.

If you have comments or questions, it is suggested that you contact the individual responsible for the research directly. Their addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses are listed in this publication.

We have attempted to present the products of their research in the most timely fashion possible. This research is meant to add to the ability of the Arizona vegetable grower to produce viable and marketable crops. If you have any comments concerning the direction of future research, again, please feel free to communicate these ideas to any of the authors of this report. You may also want to speak with other College of Agriculture personnel.

The latest agricultural statistics for Arizona show that vegetable crops were planted on 100,000 acres in 1997 at a value approaching $400,000,000. This is a significant increase over the situation of twenty years ago when these crops were grown on just 54,000 acres in Arizona, with worth of $119,500,000. The situation in Yuma County dramatizes the shift in production. In 1978 95,000 acres of cotton were grown there, along with 29,000 acres of lettuce. In 1997 Yuma County harvested only 28,000 acres of cotton while lettuce was harvested from 52,000 acres. The production of vegetables in the Southwest is likely to continue to expand. Given the importance of vegetables to the agricultural economy in the Southwest, we all hope to continue to contribute to this effort.

David N. Byrne
Professor and Editor