Strawberries and Caneberries

Very important news for organic berry growers, actually all organic crop growers.

As we continue on our thought study on what might be a successful approach to machine harvest of berries: Great little note from The Economist on the limits of AI in the physical world.

To concentrate people's minds on what Fusarium tolerance in strawberry can and can't do, consider the first photo below which is part of a crop termination trial I set up with a grower collaborator last fall and now coming into production this year.

Below is a picture of what hail can do to strawberry. A friend forwarded me these pictures of what a freak hailstorm a few days ago over his field left behind. Shredded leaves, pitted and bruised fruit right down to pretty undeveloped green ones, even on the flower.

I wouldn't assume many of the readers of this space are enthusiasts of the game of Go, a game popular in Asia that has some pretty simple rules but is remarkably complex partly because of the large board and consequently a huge number of possible moves.