AgNet DEMO

Author: Clint

  • USDA Announces National Watermelon Promotion Board Appointments

    UGA CAES photo/Watermelons being researched on the UGA Tifton Campus. 6–6-17

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the appointment of nine members to serve on the National Watermelon Promotion Board this week. The appointees will serve three-year terms from Jan. 1, 2021, to Dec. 31, 2023. 

    Members newly appointed or reappointed are:

    • District 1 Producer: Kyler Bishop, Punta Gorda, Florida
    • District 1 Producer: Chad Chastain, Punta Gorda, Florida
    • District 1 Handler: Stephen R. Nichols, Lakeland, Florida
    • District 1 Handler: Rob Gibson, Vero Beach, Florida
    • Importer: Matthew N. Tanner, Pompano Beach, Florida
    • Importer: Christopher M. Dyer, Mission, Texas
    • Importer: Christian Murillo, Nogales, Arizona
    • Importer: Jeff Fawcett, Edinburg, Texas
    • Public Member: Craig A. Stokes, San Antonio, Texas

    The National Watermelon Promotion Board now has 30 members composed of 10 producers, 10 handlers, nine importers and one public member. Approximately one-third of the board members are appointed each year. Members can serve up to two consecutive three-year terms.

    More information about the National Watermelon Promotion Board, including a roster of members, is available on the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) National Watermelon Promotion Board webpage and on the board’s website at www.watermelon.org.

    Since 1966, Congress has authorized industry-funded research and promotion boards to provide a framework for agricultural industries to pool their resources and combine efforts to develop new markets, strengthen existing markets and conduct important research and promotion activities. AMS provides oversight to 21 boards. The oversight ensures fiscal accountability and program integrity, and is paid for by industry assessments.

  • Wish Farms Expands Florida Strawberry Farm

    Chris Parks, Farm Manager, holds a strawberry.

    Plant City, FL – International grower and year-round marketer of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, Wish Farms, is adding acreage to its Florida strawberry farm operation.

    Founded in 1987, G&D Farms is named as a tribute to the original founders of the company, Gershon and Daniel. Before the land addition, it was already widely considered to be the largest contiguous strawberry farm in the world.

    The purchase adds just more than 800 acres of land, around 600 of which will be designated for farming. The remainder is natural wetlands, which will be left undisturbed for biodiversity and environmental sustainability.

    Farm manager Chris Parks said, “This expansion is very exciting for our team. Not only is the land directly adjacent to our current farm, but we can immediately start farming organically. The ground hasn’t been utilized for many years, so we can bypass the regulated waiting period. It gives us a lot of flexibility with rotation, ensuring that we are good stewards of the land.”

    Wish Farms is farming 55 acres of it this coming season, with a gradual ramp up of usage in each season following.

    While the farm is more than 90% of the popular and successful Sweet Sensation variety, the company is always on the hunt for the next best tasting strawberry. Several rows are dedicated to 100 new variety and seedling trials. Nearly seven acres have been planted with the highly anticipated white strawberry. Wish Farms has branded them Pink-A-Boo Pineberries.

    “I believe there will be strong demand for Pink-A-Boos in the coming years, and this land will allow us to expand that program without having to reduce our red strawberry acreage,” said owner Gary Wishnatzki.

    G&D is also employing some innovative techniques that help reduce its usage of non-organic pesticides. The releasing of predator Persimilis Mites (Phytoseiulus persimilis) started as an organic method to control Two-Spotted Spider Mites (Tetranychus urticae).

    Parks added, “The same effective organic method has worked really well for our non-organic crop. This season we started experimenting with drones that scout and release. If it works, it could be a major boost to our farm’s efficiency.”

    About Wish Farms:

    Feel Good. Eat Berries. Make A Difference.

    It isn’t just a catchy phrase, giving back is engrained in the company culture. Through the Wish Farms Family Foundation, a portion of profits are dedicated to their three pillars of giving: Food Insecurity, Youth Education and Community. With a defined mission, they hope to make the world a better place.

    Founded in 1922, Wish Farms is a fourth-generation, family operated company. As a year-round supplier of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, it grows both conventional and organic varieties. Nationally recognized for innovation, Wish Farms utilizes patented traceability technology to ensure quality and safety by tying consumer feedback to specific information from each day’s harvest. 

    For more information, please visit www.wishfarms.com.

  • Clemson Extension Agents Provide Crop Updates

    Clemson Extension agents provide updates in the The South Carolina Grower this week about the status of various crops being produced throughout the state.

    Weekly Field Update

    This will be the final update of 2020. We will pick back up on Jan. 4, 2021. Be sure to keep an eye on the upcoming events tab give us a call if you need anything. Happy Holidays from the SC Grower team!

    Coastal

    Zack Snipes reports, “A chilly week in the Lowcountry took out or really slowed down some of our fruiting crops like pepper, tomato, and cukes.  The brassicas and strawberries are loving this weather. One thing I have noticed lately is lots of worm damage on brassica. After talking to many growers, I hear that many are not using adjuvants in their spray tanks.  Adjuvants can help your pesticides work better. A common one I would recommend on brassica crops is the use of a spreader-sticker. Brassica crops have a waxy leaf which repels water. The use of a spreader-sticker will help stick the pesticide droplet to your leaf and the spreader will help reduce surface tension so that the droplets spreads out on your leaf. You will be amazed at how much better coverage you will get with a spreader-sticker and how much better your pesticide will work (organic or conventional pesticide). Adjuvants are cheap, so consider adding some to your tank today.  For more on adjuvants and spray tips, join us on Tuesday night from 6-8 pm for the Organic/Sustainable Farm Meeting via Zoom. The registration link can be found here.“

    Many crops have a waxy surface that cause pesticide mixtures to bead up on the plant.  The use of a spreader-sticker would have helped these pesticide droplets spread out and stick to the leaf which helps overall efficacy of your product. Photo from Zack Snipes.

    Midlands

    Justin Ballew reports, “We had two nights last week where temperatures dipped below freezing. After a long fall growing season, the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and squash are done. Now, growers will be focusing on strawberries, greens and herbs. Strawberries in some fields had developed blooms as a result of the late warm weather. Now that the cold has killed them, it will be important to sanitize them before the spring, as dead blooms can become a significant source of grey mold inoculum. As always, don’t let up on scouting for caterpillars in greens.”

    Due to a warm fall, several strawberry fields have developed some early blooms that have been/will be killed by the cold. Be sure to sanitize these blooms to keep grey mold from having dead tissue to develop on. Photo from Justin Ballew.
    As the cold weather has finished off other fall crops, growers will be focusing more on greens now. This mustard is off to a great start. Photo from Justin Ballew.

    Sarah Scott reports, “Brassicas are being harvested. Pest pressure is relatively high this season, including aphids and diamondback months. Peach fields are being prepped for new plantings. In areas where armillaria root rot has been an issue in past crops,  growers will use a plow to create burms to plant trees on. Rain has slowed plowing down but there is a dry forecast for the next 7 days.”

  • Pecan Harvest Season Nearing End

    georgia pecan
    File photo shows cracked pecans.

    According to the USDA Pecan Report, growers are about 90% finished with harvesting their pecan crop this season. An estimated 50% have been sold, with the rest that are of good quality and size will be stored to sell later when prices have improved.

    The Pecan Report states, “Prices are about steady, and interest has increased as the push for holiday retail and domestic sales has come into play.”

    Not Much Change in Prices

    The updated prices are consistent with what Lenny Wells, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension pecan specialist, said they were last week.

    “What I’ve been hearing, they’ve been fairly stable for the last two or three weeks. Good nuts have been selling in the range of a $1.15 to $1.35 (per pound), mostly, somewhere in that range. It doesn’t really matter what variety it is or anything. If it’s a decent nut, it’s selling in that range. Of course, the poor-quality stuff is well below $1,” Wells said.

    Prices paid to Georgia growers as of Tuesday, Dec. 8 at buyers delivery point or F.O.B. the orchard including direct sales to end users, cents per pound in-shell of generally good quality in lots of 20,000 pounds or less unless otherwise stated:

    Cape Fear, meat yield 53-56%, $1.25-$1.31

    Desirables, meat yield 49-52%, $1.30-$1.43; meat yield 46-47%, $1.15-$1.23; yard tree lots $0.80-$1.00

    Elliott, yard tree lots $0.90-$1.00

    Excel, meat yield 52-55%, $1.21-$1.25

    Farley, yard tree lots $0.70-$0.80

    Native/Seedlings, yard tree lots $0.40-$0.50, occasional lower

    Stuarts, meat yield 48-51%, $1.21-$1.29; yard tree lots, $0.50-$0.75, mostly $0.70-$0.75, few high as $0.90

    Sumner, meat yield 51-53%, $1.28-$1.38, yard tree lots $0.70-$0.80

    Lots over 20,000 pounds including truckloads:

    Cape Fear, meat yield 49-52%, $1.23-$1.36

    Desirables, meat yield 49-52%, $1.30-$1.43; meat yield 46-47%, $1.23-$1.36

    Stuarts, deliveries insufficient to quote

    Sumner, meat yield 51-53%, $1.28-$1.38

    Georgia has experienced freezing temperatures throughout the state with wind chill factors in the teens. The rest of the week is forecasted for temperatures in the 30s-to-mid-40s with daytime temps in the low 50s-to-high 60s.

  • UF/IFAS-Developed Blueberry App to Help Growers Battle Diseases, Pests

    UF/IFAS photography

    By: Brad Buck, bradbuck@ufl.edu, 352-875-2641 (cell)

    A new University of Florida app will help the state’s blueberry growers identify and manage disease and insect injuries commonly encountered in Florida before their crop is ruined.

    Collectively, blueberries are a $60 million-per-year crop in Florida.

    Patricio Munoz, the UF/IFAS blueberry breeder and an assistant professor of horticultural sciences, came up with the vision for, and supervised the development of, the UF/IFAS Blueberry Growers Guide phone app, released on Dec. 1.

    “Dr. Munoz saw the need for a field scouting guide for southern highbush blueberries that growers could use on their phones,” said Doug Phillips, statewide blueberry Extension coordinator. “Previously, the only blueberry scouting guide available was a paper guide for northern highbush blueberries, covering diseases and insects typically seen in more northern states.”

    The new UF/IFAS app (type in “UF/IFAS Blueberry Growers Guide”) is available for both iOS and Android operating systems at the Apple Store and the Google Play Store, and it should help farmers who grow blueberries in the Sunshine State.

    Phillips, who works at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Balm, led this project. He prepared the content and layout for the guide in collaboration with other UF/IFAS scientists: plant pathology Professor Phil Harmon, entomology Professor Oscar Liburd, horticultural sciences Associate Professor Peter Dittmar, and horticultural sciences Professor Jeff Williamson.

    Phillips got help from Jose Delgado, a UF undergraduate who conducted early software development on the app. Delgado earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering in 2019.

    The guide, which will ultimately be divided into multiple modules, is designed to help blueberry growers with various production issues on southern highbush blueberries. Currently, the app serves as a blueberry scouting guide to help farmers scout for diseases, insect pests, nutrient deficiencies and other damage, Phillips said.

    Guide Resources

    Resources in the guide include a diagnostic key, descriptions of symptoms, disease/insect life cycles, recommended management practices, an image gallery and links to UF/IFAS blueberry Extension publications. Users can access this information by using the diagnostic key to help identify symptom or injury causes and the image gallery to compare pictures of symptoms to observed symptoms.

    They also can use a reference listing of diseases, insect injuries, nutrient deficiencies and other symptoms or injuries.

    More functions will be added in the near future, Phillips said. They include a module with detailed information on all UF southern highbush blueberry cultivars.

    “The UF/IFAS Blueberry Growers Guide will help Florida’s growers more easily manage damage from disease, insects, and other causes, and in the future will be a valuable resource for other production issues, including choosing which UF varieties are likely to perform well on their farms,” Phillips said.

  • Avoiding a Shutdown: H-2A Help Essential in Harvesting Crops Next Spring

    Growers take steps to protect farmworkers’ health so they can continue to ensure an abundant, safe food supply is available to U.S. consumers. Image source: The Pajaronian

    The early onset of the coronavirus pandemic spelled doom for certain sectors of the agricultural industry. Restaurants shut down, unemployment rose, and suddenly, fruit and vegetable producers across the Southeast faced a decreased demand for their produce.

    There was also temporary concern among farmers about how suspended travel from foreign countries would impact H-2A workers trying to get in the country to help harvest the crops when they were needed the most.

    Could the country experience a similar shutdown once President-Elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20, especially since COVID-19 cases continue to surge?

    No Shutdown Planned

    According to media reports, Biden has said he wouldn’t put the country through another national shutdown to try to slow the virus’ spread.

    This would be great news for those producers who will rely on H-2A workers to be in place to harvest their crops next spring, according to Allison Crittendon, Director of Congressional Relations at the American Farm Bureau Federation.

    “I think when we had the shutdown back in March, we had no idea what this virus really was or how it spread. It’s crazy to think back in March masks weren’t known as what you had to do. Now we certainly have more information and more clarity about how to go about trying to achieve essential operations like food production as safe as possible,” Crittendon said.

    “I hope that with all of the information we’ve now gathered over the last several months that we could avoid a shutdown. But I wouldn’t be surprised if there were further requirements for employers to adhere to when it comes to mitigating the spread once folks are on the farm and have traveled over here from their home country.

    “Hopefully, since we now have more information about the virus, we won’t have to revert to those early practices of shutting everything off completely when it comes to travel of our essential workers.”

  • U.S. Horticulture Operations Report $13.8 Billion in Sales

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2020 – Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released the 2019 Census of Horticultural Specialties report, the only source of detailed production and sales data for floriculture, nursery, and specialty crops for the entire United States.

    The data show that horticulture operations sold a total of $13.8 billion in floriculture, nursery and specialty crops in 2019, down fractionally from the sales in 2014. The number of horticulture operations in the United States decreased 11% during this time to 20,655.

    “First conducted in 1889, the horticulture census provides data on sectors for which there are no other comprehensive data sources,” said NASS Administrator Hubert Hamer. “It is a valuable tool to highlight the contribution horticulture growers bring to our local, state, and national economies as well as changes in the industry over the past five years.”Horticulture Map

    Horticulture production occurred primarily in 10 states, which accounted for 66% of all U.S. horticulture sales in 2019. California ($2.63 billion), Florida ($1.93 billion) and Oregon ($1.02 billion) led the nation in sales.

    The top commodities in U.S. horticulture sales in 2019, and compared to 2014, were:

    • Nursery stock, $4.55 billion, up 7%
    • Annual bedding/garden plants, $2.24 billion, down 13%
    • Sod, sprigs and plugs, $1.27 billion, up 12%
    • Potted flowering plants, $1.2 billion, up 11%
    • Potted herbaceous perennials, $923 million, down 2%
    • Propagative horticultural materials, bareroot, and unfinished plant materials, $720 million, up 4%
    • Food crops under protection, $703 million, down 12%

    Other key findings from the 2019 Census of Horticultural Specialties report include:

    • Family- or individually-owned operations made up the largest number of operations, accounting for 52%, but corporately-owned operations accounted for 75% of sales ($10.3 billion).
    • Total industry expenses were up 6% since 2014, with labor being the largest cost, accounting for 42% of total expenses in 2019.

    The Census of Horticultural Specialties is part of the larger Census of Agriculture program. It provides information on the number and types of establishments engaged in horticultural production, value of sales, varieties of products, production expenses and more. All operations that reported producing and selling $10,000 or more of horticultural crops on the 2017 Census of Agriculture were included in this special study.

    For more information and to access the full report, visit www.nass.usda.gov/AgCensus.

  • UF/IFAS Findings Show Less Need for Pesticide to Control Strawberry Pest

    Photo shows strawberries damaged by chilli thrips. Photo is “courtesy, Babu Panthi.”

    By: Brad Buck, 352-875-2641 (cell), bradbuck@ufl.edu

    It’s harvest season for Florida’s $300 million-per-year strawberry season, so those who grow this fruit need help to control pests such as the tiny (up to 2-millimeters long), destructive chilli thrips.

    Farmers often use pesticides to control thrips, but they would like to use minimal chemicals. University of Florida scientists may have found a good reason to use pesticides at lower volumes and less frequently.

    Chilli thrips usually arrive in Florida strawberry fields after plants bear new leaves, a couple of weeks after they are planted. Adult thrips come to the strawberry field from nearby crop fields or from vegetation. They feed on new strawberry plants and cause bronzing and darkening of leaves, which stunts the plant’s growth and reduces yield.

    When these bugs feed on strawberry plants, they don’t stay in one place.

    In a new study, University of Florida research shows chilli thrips tend to stay in one basic area for about two weeks, then move and infect nearby plants. That can be a fortuitous two weeks for growers.

    With this finding, farmers can use less pesticides to control the bugs. Farmers who use less pesticides save money on chemicals and help preserve the environment, UF/IFAS scientists say.

    “Our findings will reduce the overall input costs of strawberry production and, therefore make Florida strawberry growers competitive in the market with strawberries from Southern California and Mexico,” said Babu Panthi, a former doctoral student in entomology and nematology at the UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and now a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon State University.

    Specifically, the study’s findings mean Florida strawberry growers can reduce the number of insecticide applications by spraying the areas infested with chilli thrips and delay insecticide application by at least a week after they discover the bugs, said Sriyanka Lahiri, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of entomology at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC).

    Additionally, the findings should help strawberry growers with their overall approach to mitigate pest damage.

    “With very few effective products available for insecticide rotation, this approach will assist with integrated pest management practices to control chilli thrips and create opportunity to include biological control agents more effectively,” Lahiri said.

    Panthi cites these reasons to reduce insecticide use:

    • Excessive reliance on chemical insecticides is not sustainable to control thrips.
    • Strawberry growers must determine whether limited applications of highly effective insecticide products per season should be used against chilli thrips early in the season or reserved for flower thrips later.

    Because chilli thrips confine their damage to Florida strawberries, these findings impact only the state’s growers. But because it’s an invasive species that’s rapidly expanding its geographic range, strawberry growers in other U.S. states can learn and prepare to manage this pest in the future, Lahiri said.

    Panthi did his doctoral studies under the supervision of Lahiri, Justin Renkema, a former UF/IFAS assistant professor of entomology at GCREC and Oscar Liburd, an entomology Professor at UF/IFAS in Gainesville. His research wasn’t limited to a pesticide finding. Panthi looked at managing chilli thrips from a wider perspective.

     “I established a threshold for chilli thrips and developed a sampling plan to make control decisions,” Panthi said. “Such a plan allows growers to make accurate control decisions with fewer samples compared to whole field scouting and avoid making unnecessary insecticide applications. This is more important for Florida strawberry growers since the early-season chilli thrips population is not widespread in the field and still low to cause any significant damage.”

  • Control Insects Now; Don’t Wait Until Spring

    File photo shows a cabbage field. The cabbage butterfly is a major nuissance for farmers.

    The time is now to control insects in brassica crops like cabbage, broccoli, collard greens, kale and turnips. According to Ayanava Majumdar, Extension Professor in Entomology and Plant Pathology at Auburn University, they are still going to be a problem in the spring.

    “The emphasis should be on preventing buildup of these insects on your farm because it only gets worse in the spring. It’s not going to go away,” Majumdar said.

    One insect Alabama vegetable producers need to be wary of is the imported cabbage worm, also known as the cabbage butterfly.

    “The cabbage butterfly, its caterpillar is like a sluggish, velvety caterpillar. It’s a very smooth looking caterpillar. It doesn’t move much, but it devastates a crop by direct feeding and also a lot of contamination happens from the feces of the caterpillar,” Majumdar said. “It may feed alongside with diamondback moth and loopers. But in my test plots the imported cabbage worm or cabbage butterfly is the predominant caterpillar that I see.

    “That will be one insect to watch out for.”

    Majumdar also cautions producers about the potential consequences of applying too much pesticides on your crops.

    “Don’t overspray because then you are pushing insecticide resistance issues, especially if you have diamondback moth. It’s very notorious for resistance to pesticides,” Majumdar said.

  • Potential Frost in Forecast for Areas in Florida

    Graphic shows temperature outlook for December.

    In an email, Gary England, UF/IFAS Extension Agent IV Emeritus, cautions Floridians about potential frost that could linger in some areas throughout the week.

    Lows in South Georgia and along the I-10 Corridor are expected to bottom out in the low-to-mid 30s tonight and mid-to-upper 30s in the Hastings area and further south.

    “NWS/JAX is including patchy frost as Tuesday morning approaches for south Georgia on down to the Ocala area tonight. Tuesday night and Wednesday morning should be the coldest weather for the week, with potential for a light freeze from south Georgia down to Gainesville and low-to-mid 30s further south to central Florida,” England said. “Widespread frost is in the forecast for the middle of the Florida Peninsula down to the Marion/Lake County line for Wednesday morning; patchy frost in the Hastings area.

    “Temperatures should remain slightly below normal for the week, with some improvement by Friday. Could be a little more frost for north Florida Wednesday night/Thursday morning and we’ll have a better idea in a day or so.”