University of Georgia photo compares Pawnee varieties to Desirables and Stuarts.
Pecan producers will soon be planting trees throughout the Southeast. But first, growers must decide what variety they’re going to plant.
Scab susceptibility is the No. 1 factor that should influence what variety producers plant this year, according to Shane Curry, University of Georgia Appling County Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources agent.
If growers are going to plant a variety like Cape Fear, it is going to require a high input of spray applications to protect against scab disease. If producers want low input varieties, they can choose Avalon, Excel or Lakota. Those varieties don’t require as much spray applications.
Producer’s Preference
It’s just a matter of how much time a grower wants to devote to taking care of their trees and whether they possess the spray equipment to make the necessary applications.
“They definitely have a lot they have to consider. Or I guess really, one thing in particular, and that’s are they going to be able to spray as far as what we would say a high input of sprays from a fungicide standpoint or are they not going to be able to do that?” Curry said.
“Obviously, if somebody is planting 50 trees, they’re probably not going to go buy a $20,000 or $30,000 sprayer, and some of those even cost more than that. Money’s just not going to work out on the end in small acres. A lower input variety would be more of the way to go. If someone is set up to spray, meaning they already have them or they’re going to put in enough to justify the equipment, they’ve got a few more options.”
Early Varieties
Lakota and Pawnee are the two varieties that produce a crop the earliest, which might generate a higher market price. However, Pawnee is very susceptible to scab disease, so it will require a high input spray program.
“If pecan prices are high and quality is great, we can offset those costs. Every year (though) that’s not the case,” Curry said.
Curry said planting is normally done during December and January when the trees are dormant.
RALEIGH – The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced the recipients of more than $1.25 million in funding from the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. The funding will be used for projects that enhance the quality of specialty crops grown in North Carolina.
Troxler
“North Carolina is one of the most agriculturally diverse states in the nation, and much of that has to do with the variety of specialty crops we are able to grow,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “This year, 12 projects were selected that focus on pest and disease control, improved breeding and branding initiatives. These projects seek to improve specialty crops and strengthen our agricultural economy.”
Grant proposals were submitted by nonprofit organizations, commodity groups, government agencies and universities. The following organizations and projects received funding:
N.C. A&T State University – Bianchetto Truffle Production by Small Farmers; Micropropagation of Disease-Free Hazelnut for Truffle Production;
N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services – Spotted Lanternfly: A Threat to North Carolina Agriculture;
N.C. Potato Association – Continuing Expansion of N.C. Potato Markets;
N.C. Sod Producers Association – N.C. Sod Brand Awareness Campaign;
N.C. State University – Breeding Tomatoes for Spotted Wilt Resistance; Drone Use to Improve N.C. Pumpkin Production; Genome Editing for Superior Christmas Trees; Improved Management of Primocane-Fruiting Blackberry; Management of Grape Trunk Diseases; Managing European Pepper Moth in Nurseries;
N.C. SweetPotato Commission – Controlling Root-Knot Nematode in Sweet Potatoes.
The Specialty Crop Block Grant Program is administered by the department and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the 2018 farm bill. More information about the program is available at www.NCSpecialtyCropGrant.org.
According to Georgia Farm Bureau, Georgia pecan corn, hay, peanut, oat and wheat producers are set to harvest significantly larger crops in 2020 than they did in 2019, according to the October Crop Production Report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
NASS forecast Georgia pecan production in 2020 at 125 million pounds, an increase of 71% from 2019. If realized, this would be the state’s largest crop since 2007.
Georgia corn growers are forecast to yield a record-high 182 bushels per acre. Corn for grain production in 2020 is forecast at 69.2 million bushels, up 24% from 2019.
Hay producers in Georgia are expected to produce 1.8 million tons in 2020, up 19% from 2019.
Alabama farmers interested in producing blueberries or any other containerized plant are encouraged to plant now, says Gary Gray. The Alabama Regional Extension Agent emphasizes the importance of keeping them watered, however.
Gray
“I do prefer now. If you’ve got containerized plants, plant them now and they’ll have a head start on spring. They’ll be ahead of the game, as opposed to, lets say you’re planting them in February or March,” said Gray, who also emphasizes the importance of plants being watered consistently, especially if there are prolonged dry conditions.
“In October, if we’re dry and we are right now, you’re going to need to keep them watered because we’re still hot and dry. Hopefully, it won’t be long and that’ll be a different situation.”
Current Weather Situation
According to the US Drought Monitor, parts of Alabama are classified as “D0” or abnormally dry, including Choctaw County, Sumter County and Pickens County in the western part of the state; and Tuscaloosa County, Jefferson County and Walker County in the central part.
Gray said if growers wait until the spring to plant, they risk the plant succumbing to the hot temperatures when the young plants are in the early stage of production. He estimates that growers have a little more than a month left to plant this fall.
“Our soil temperatures are still warm. We’re not in the heat of summer, although we’ve got some pretty warm days right now. But getting into November for example, we’re usually past all that heat, but we still have warm soil temperatures,” Gray said.
“So, over the next six weeks, we will have some good planting time. Now, if I was planting blueberries, whether you plant them in the fall or spring for example, you definitely want to irrigate those especially in the first year, because they will die on you. A blueberry plant will dry out and die pretty quick. It’s very important to make sure you’ve got those irrigated, especially in that year of establishment.”
It’s never too early for Vidalia onion growers to start thinking about bacterial diseases that are problematic this time of year; especially Center Rot.
While Southeast Georgia is the perfect environment for onion production, it also presents different challenges for onion producers. There are many plant diseases that can impact production. According to a UGA Extension publication, during this time of year of seedling and transplant growth, the warmer temperatures favor diseases like Xanthomonas blight and center rot.
Symptoms
Water-soaked lesions that expand and span the length of the leaf blade are foliar symptoms of Center Rot. This leads the leaf to become bleached and blighted. As the disease worsens, there is severe wilting and blighting of the foliage. This can result in death of the plant tissues above ground.
Bacteria move from the foliar tissue into the bulb, causing decay. This has been demonstrated experimentally with Pantoea ananatis, one of four Pantoea species associated with center rot. UGA Extension emphasize the importance of protecting onion leaves, which can reduce bulb rot incidence.
Management
For producers to control Center Rot, they’ll need to apply an integrated approach that targets reducing potential sources of inoculum. This counters the spread of the bacteria, according to a UGA Extension publication. UGA Extension strongly advises onion producers to use certified onion seed to avoid introducing inoculum into the field.
UGA Extension also recommends early-maturing and mid-maturing cultivars. Epidemics are favored by high thrips pressure and hot and humid conditions, which are encountered more with late-maturing cultivars. Early-maturing cultivars are better equipped to avoid conditions that are suitable for bacterial disease development.
Thrips control is also effective in reducing center rot incidence. Disease management options are limited once in season. Weed control can potentially reduce initial inoculum.
When the U.S. government announced its decision to suspend visa processing in Mexico on March 18 to combat the spread of COVID-19, growers around the country immediately expressed concerns that the action could have a major impact on agriculture and the U.S. food supply. The concern, of course, was due to the vital role that foreign workers play in the U.S. agriculture sector, as more than 90% of H-2A workers come from Mexico.
In response to growers’ concerns, the Trump administration provided several flexibilities to the H-2A program, allowing the program to continue without significant disruption.
Updates and initiatives for the H-2A program were discussed during the 46th annual Agricultural Labor Relations Forum presented by the Florida Specialty Crop Foundation. Brian Pasternak, administrator for the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) and Shane Barbour, center director of the Chicago National Processing Center, addressed this topic.
According to OFLC, the H-2A program allows agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring non-immigrant foreign workers to the United States to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature.
As a result of continued disruptions and uncertainty to the U.S. food agriculture sector amid COVID-19, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) deemed it necessary to temporarily extend the amendments to certain regulations regarding temporary and seasonal agricultural workers, and their U.S. employers, within the H-2A non-immigrant classification.
In the new rule, DHS extended the provision that temporarily allows all H-2A petitioners with a valid temporary labor certification to start employing certain foreign workers who are currently in the U.S. and who possess a valid H-2A status. DHS also extended the provision that allows H-2A workers to change employers and begin work before the new petition is approved by the USCIS.
The final rules are effective through Aug. 19, 2023. However, employers may request the flexibilities under this rule by filing an H-2A petition through Dec 17, 2020.
For more information regarding H-2A program updates, click here.
Ashley Robinson, AgNet Media communications intern, wrote this article.
Fred Gmitter is seen at a research farm at the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred, Florida. He’s looking over a Flying Dragon trifoliate orange, a special trifoliate orange because of its curved stems and thorns. As a rootstock, it behaves a bit differently from other trifoliate oranges because it results in dwarfed trees.
University of Florida scientists achieved a major milestone in their quest to develop a citrus greening-resistant tree by sequencing the genome of a fruit plant that’s a close cousin to citrus trees.
You’d need to print 54,000 pages of copy paper to see the complete genome sequence. But within it, scientists believe they’ve found genes to lay the groundwork to make citrus more tolerant and even resistant to certain diseases, including citrus greening.
UF/IFAS researchers sequenced the genome from trifoliate orange, in collaboration with scientists from the University of California at Berkeley, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute and UF’s Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research. The new genome will help those who breed new citrus trees that will survive under today’s challenging conditions, including invasive pests, viruses and changing climates. Their research provides a powerful new tool to control the deadly consequences of the greening disease, which has severely damaged the state’s multibillion dollar-a-year citrus industry.
“Very importantly, trifoliate orange and its hybrids have genes that can confer high tolerance to citrus greening and resistance to the Asian citrus psyllid, the insect that transmits greening to citrus,” said Zhanao Deng, a senior author on the new UF/IFAS-led study. “This genome can be used as a reference template to sequence widely used trifoliate orange hybrid rootstock varieties.”
“Most people – even citrus growers – rarely see trifoliate orange. This is because they usually are the rootstock part of the tree, mostly underground,” said Fred Gmitter, a UF/IFAS professor of citrus breeding genetics and a co-author on the study.
Trifoliate oranges or their hybrids are grown at nurseries, and farmers use them as rootstock to grow the citrus that’s above ground. Trifoliate orange and its hybrids were used as the rootstock for more than three million citrus trees in Florida alone in 2018-2019, UF/IFAS researchers say.
Trifoliate orange and its hybrid rootstocks accounted for 82% of the top 20 rootstocks used in the 2018-2019 citrus propagation cycle in Florida.
“Our trifoliate orange genome will allow scientists to develop new tools that can more speedily transfer beneficial genes into sweet oranges, grapefruit and breeding of new scion cultivars, which grow above the ground,” Deng said.
“Releasing the first trifoliate orange genome can be valuable for our citrus gene-editing efforts,” Gmitter said. Scientists are using gene editing to produce canker-resistant and greening-tolerant citrus.
“Because of our high-quality genome, re-sequencing of trifoliate orange hybrid rootstock varieties will be much easier, much quicker and much more cost-efficient,” said Deng. “Re-sequencing will enable development of new breeding tools, such as DNA marker-based selection, genomic selection of new rootstock varieties with resistance and tolerance to citrus greening, citrus tristeza virus and citrus nematodes. The new varieties might give higher yield and fruit quality.”
Citrus breeders want to introduce desirable genes from trifoliate orange into sweet orange, grapefruit and other varieties. It took decades to produce the first citrus scion variety (‘Sun Dragon’) from crossing trifoliate orange and transferring some of its genes across multiple generations into sweet orange. With this new information from genome sequencing, that timeline can be dramatically reduced.
This project was funded by two grants from the Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) and a grant from the USDA/NIFA Citrus Disease Research and Extension (CDRE) program.
Weather has wreaked havoc on one South Georgia farmer’s fall vegetable production.
Sam Watson, managing partner of Chill C Farms in Colquitt County, Georgia, said his crop has not progressed as far along as it should have by this point in the growing season. He’s concerned a potential frost could derail his plans for a productive fall season.
“We’re Oct. 9 and not even halfway with our crop. It’s all going to depend on the weather. If we get an early frost, then we’re all going to be in trouble. It’s not going to matter what the market is because we’re not going to get our crop harvested,” Watson said. “(I’m a) little bit nervous about that. Everybody is just really late.”
Vegetable Production
Watson produces squash, zucchini, bell pepper, cabbage, eggplant and cucumbers in Colquitt County, Georgia, one of the leading vegetable-producing counties in the state. From the first day of planting until now, though, almost a month removed from the remnants of Hurricane Sally, weather challenges have been almost unbearable for producers like Watson.
“Our stuff, it was stressed when we put it out because of the high heat temperatures. Then it got saturated. It wouldn’t quit raining. Then it turned off cold,” Watson said. “When it’s overcast and cloudy, bees don’t pollinate, the stuff doesn’t grow. It’s got to have sunshine. It’s been like the rest of 2020, it’s been crazy.”
The unpredictability of the weather has delayed progress of Watson’s vegetables and has put them at risk if there is an early frost. According to weather.com, the upcoming forecast for Moultrie, Georgia includes low temperatures of 56 degrees F on Friday and 55 degrees on Saturday.
“We should be at the halfway point and blowing and going. We just started (last week) with pepper. I should have been in pepper probably two weeks ago,” Watson said.
“We’ve got some squash that we just started, we’ve got squash that we haven’t even started yet. We’ve got a lot of stuff that we haven’t even touched yet. They’re talking cooler weather (this week). I don’t know, we’re just going to have to see what happens.”
Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries photo.
MONTGOMERY, Ala.- The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI) will accept hemp applications from eligible growers and processors/handlers, using a new online application system starting, today, Oct. 13, 2020. Applications are available at agi.alabama.gov/hempapp. The final day to apply for a hemp license is Nov. 30, 2020 by 5:00 pm (CST).
In 2016, the Alabama Legislature passed the Alabama Industrial Hemp Research Program Act, Section 2-8-380 Code of Alabama 1975, tasking ADAI with the development of a licensing and inspection program for the production of industrial hemp. The program launched in 2019, after The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (i.e. Farm Bill) declassified hemp as a schedule I drug and deemed hemp as an agriculture commodity. This legislation defines hemp as all parts of the plant containing less than 0.3% THC, including derivatives, extracts, and cannabinoids.
“As the hemp industry continues to grow in Alabama, critical research data is being collected and evaluated,” said Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Rick Pate. “This is the department’s third year to administer the hemp program. It has always been our goal to manage the program in a fair and timely manner to benefit Alabama farmers and hemp producers and develop industrial hemp as an alternative crop.”
The 2021 university/college affiliation license application information will be forthcoming before the first week in November 2020.
For more information and updates, please visit agi.alabama.gov/hempapp. ADAI will receive Industrial Hemp applications until 5 pm (CST) on Nov. 30, 2020.
Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA) board members and staff recently participated in United Fresh’s Virtual Washington Conference.
With travel still limited and much of Washington remaining shut down because of COVID-19, produce industry representatives from across the country gathered virtually on Sept. 21-25 to advocate for fruit and vegetable growers on issues impacting the industry.
Meetings with USDA officials and elected representatives, normally held in person, were conducted via Zoom. While certainly different than face-to-face visits, the format allowed GFVGA members to share concerns on issues ranging from trade concerns, labor and the continuing impact the coronavirus has had on produce production and sales.
GFVGA members thanked the Georgia delegation for their continuing support of initiatives including USDA’s Farmers to Family Food Box Program and CFAP. Georgia growers also urged representatives and officials to bolster their support for fair trade and initiatives aimed at supporting American businesses during these unprecedented times. See the full story in GFVGA’s fall Grower News.
