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  • USDA Announces $76.8 Million in Grants to Strengthen Specialty Crop Industry

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced on Wednesday it has awarded $72.4 million in grant funding through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) and $4.4 million in grant funding through the new Micro-Grants for Food Security Program (MGFSP). Both are authorized by the 2018 Farm Bill and awarded to eligible states and territories through a non-competitive application process.

    SCBGP supports farmers growing specialty crops, including fruits, vegetables, tree nuts and nursery crops. The 56 grant recipients include agricultural agencies and departments in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five U.S. territories. The recipients sub-award projects to increase demand for agricultural goods of value to farmers in their respective state or territory. States are encouraged to award projects pertaining to specialty crop industry issues such as enhancing food safety and improving the capacity of all entities in the specialty crop distribution chain to comply with the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act; investing in specialty crop research, including research to focus on conservation and environmental outcomes, developing new and improved seed varieties and specialty crops, pest and disease control; increasing child and adult nutrition knowledge and consumption of specialty crops; and improving efficiency and reducing costs of distribution systems. The grant is awarded for a three-year period beginning Sept. 30, 2020 and sub-awards cannot exceed the award period.

    MGFSP is a new program specifically designed to realize USDA’s commitment to support communities across the U.S. that have significant levels of food insecurity and import significant quantities of food. These grants will assist agricultural agencies or departments in Alaska, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Hawaii, and the United States Virgin Islands increase the quantity and quality of locally grown food through small-scale gardening, herding and livestock operations. The recipients competitively distribute sub-awards to eligible entities in communities within their areas that have significant levels of food insecurity and import a significant quantity of food. The grant is awarded for a four-year period beginning September 30, 2020 and sub-awards cannot exceed three years.

    The AMS Grants Division works to improve opportunities for U.S. growers and producers. AMS works with a variety of organizations to support rural America and the nation’s agricultural sector. For additional information, visit the AMS Grants & Opportunities web page.

  • U.S. Sugar Announces 90th Sugarcane Harvest Season

    Clewiston, Fla. – U.S. Sugar announced on Wednesday it will celebrate its 90th sugarcane harvest season, scheduled to start Thursday. In addition, the company released its “State of Our Air” Report to the community describing the safe and successful 2019/2020 sugarcane harvest season. This inaugural report compiles air quality data from the region and confirms the Glades communities’ air is safe, healthy, and clean.

    Buker

    “The Glades communities have some of the best air quality in the state,” said Robert Buker, U.S. Sugar President and CEO. “The health, safety, and well being of our community continues to be a foundational commitment in everything we do. We hope this report will be a helpful resource for the families in our community.”

    The full report, available here, compiles and analyzes publicly available data from two Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) air monitoring stations in Palm Beach County (one located in Royal Palm Beach and one in Belle Glade) that collect fine particulate matter (otherwise known as PM2.5). The report shows the air quality in the Glades communities was consistently better than suburban and urban neighboring areas.

    • This year, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) announced the “cleanest air on record” and that Florida meets “all ambient air quality standards.”
    • The data show the air quality in the Glades community is categorized as “good,” which is the best air quality classification; the Glades communities’ averages fell well within the required air quality range set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
    • The air in the Glades community is safer, cleaner, and of better quality compared to the West Palm Beach area; average levels of PM2.5 are consistently higher in the West Palm Beach area compared to the Glades communities (Figure 1); the EPA defines particles in the air as particulate matter (PM) and PM2.5 describes fine, inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller.
    • The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s 2020 report continues to show that air quality in the Glades community is better than other areas of the state; particularly more densely populated, Northern communities.
    • Since the start of 2019-2020 Harvest Season, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has introduced two rounds of improvements to pre-harvest sugarcane burns; the most recent round included updated local zones based on community population growth and certification of all burn managers to ensure that sugarcane burning remains a safe, controlled procedure for our workers and our community.

    “At U.S. Sugar, we go above and beyond what is required of us to protect our environment because we live here,” said Michael Ellis, U.S. Sugar’s Vice President of Strategic Environmental Affairs. “Our land, water, air, and natural resources are part of our legacy and promise for the future—something that we are all proud to be part of today.”

    With the 2020/2021 harvest season set to begin – the 90th harvest season for U.S. Sugar – our commitment to sound environmental stewardship remains strong and our commitment to the community remains even stronger.

    U.S. Sugar was founded in 1931 by Charles Stewart Mott, a visionary businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist.  He combined his interest in agriculture with sound investments in people, science and technology—a strategy that continues to guide the business today.  The heart of the company has always been its family of farmers and its commitment to community. 

  • North Carolina to Continue Under Industrial Hemp Pilot Program

    According to the North Carolina State Extension, the NC Industrial Hemp Pilot Program was set to expire on Oct. 31, 2020. However, Congress passed a law (Wednesday) that allows states to continue their pilot programs until Sept. 20, 2021.

    For the time being the rules for growing hemp, licensing, compliance testing, etc. will remain the same in NC. NCDA&CS has notified all growers who currently hold a hemp license of this update. There is additional detail in the letter NCDA&CS sent to growers, which is posted below:

    “Dear North Carolina Hemp Licensee, Today, the United States Congress passed a continuing budget resolution which included a provision to extend the ability for states to continue operating a hemp pilot program under the provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill until Sept. 20, 2021. This was originally put forward by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) at the annual meeting of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture in February of 2020. NCDA&CS and others in NC hemp industry have worked with our NC congressional delegation on this issue since that time and am thankful to them for their attention on this issue. NCDA intends to continue operating our North Carolina Industrial Hemp Pilot Program as we have been until at least Sept. 30, 2021. NCDA&CS does not currently have statutory authority from the General Assembly to submit a state plan to USDA to operate under the Interim Final Rule (IFR) for hemp as issued by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Moreover, several provisions in the IFR are problematic for hemp farmers and exceed the resources of NCDA&CS to administer. USDA has reopened the comment period for the IFR and we encourage hemp farmers to submit comments. So, what does that mean for NC hemp licensees? Until at least September 30, 2021, we anticipate operating the NC Industrial Hemp Pilot Program as it has been operated in past years. If your license will expire during that time frame and you want to continue growing hemp, you will need to renew your license with the NCDA&CS Plant Industry Division. If circumstances change, we will provide you with as much notification as possible. NCDA&CS will continue to engage with USDA and other federal agencies on issues surrounding hemp production. We will advocate for reasonable federal guidelines and development of the overall market. Thank you for your continued support of the hemp industry in North Carolina. For new applicants, the Industrial Hemp Commission will resume meeting to approve qualifying individuals for licenses to cultivate industrial hemp.

  • South Georgia Producers Facing Mounting Obstacles This Fall

    Kichler

    South Georgia vegetable farmers are facing their share of challenges this fall. Between heavy whitefly infestations, increased disease pressure and extreme cloud cover over the past two weeks, producers continue to deal with obstacles during this fall production season, according to Jeremy Kichler, University of Georgia Colquitt County Extension Coordinator.

    “When (Hurricane) Sally came through, we got anywhere from 5 to 6 inches. We finally dried at the end of last week,” Kichler said. “The weather started getting rainy and misty. (Wednesday) was finally the first clear day we’ve had in a while. It’s been challenging the last 10 days from a weather standpoint.”

    Sally brought intense rainfall and high winds to parts of Southwest Alabama and Northwest Florida but also excessive moisture to areas in Georgia. With little sunshine to dry fields out over the last two weeks, excessive moisture led to a flare up in certain diseases like PCAP in squash and powdery mildew.

    “Anytime you have moisture, excessive moisture, it tends to flare up things. When you have a lot of rainfall like we had, it tends to knock down adult whiteflies, but it also brings on disease problems, too,” Kichler said.

    Sally’s presence on Sept. 16, helped knock back whitefly populations, which was needed. It’s the worst whitefly outbreak since 2017.

    “Every fall we just kind of hold on tight. We’re starting to deal with these whiteflies with more timely insecticide applications. We’re getting a lot more comfortable with our management schemes with that,” Kichler said. “But it’s a still a challenge with silverleaf and some of these yellow squash and zuchinnis.”

    “We are holding our own. I think prices are pretty good right now from what I’ve been told. The silverleaf pressure has been pretty bad because of the whitefly pressure that we’ve had. It’s been challenging.”

  • Abnormally Wet Fall Challenging for Alabama Pumpkin Producers

    Credit: Photos by Small Ang / Shutterstock.com

    An abnormally wet September has required Alabama pumpkin farmers to maintain strict fungicide applications, especially following Hurricane Sally’s trek through the state on Sept. 16.

    Neil Kelly, Alabama Extension Regional agent in Southeast Alabama, said the lack of consistent sunshine over the last two weeks has created disease concerns for pumpkin growers.

    “We haven’t really had a real good break in the weather and things really haven’t dried out very much since Sally came through,” Kelly said. “It’s just been important that they stick to the spray schedule and try to make weekly fungicide applications and stick with it. We’ve carried out extra spraying more so than normal. We kind of back off on some of our fungicide sprays once people start to walk through the fields.

    “We had sunny warm weather leading up to this event. We’ve been getting plenty of rain and of course we irrigate. The pumpkin crop was a little bit ahead of normal. They mature out a little quicker and the vines are starting to go downhill, and then we got this wet weather. It was important for people to stick with a fungicide spray program.”

    Region of Responsibility

    Kelly is responsible for the Southeast part of Alabama including Barbour County, Bullock County, Coffee County, Covington County, Crenshaw County, Dale County, Geneva County, Henry County, Houston County and Pike County. He attests that certain diseases become a factor if pumpkins are growing in fields with increased moisture.

    Such diseases include phytophthora, fusarium and downy mildew.

    “Plant diseases and certain fruit rots become more of an issue when the pumpkins stay wet for an extended period of time. (Sally) caused some issues but it was more from plant disease issues more so than flooding,” Kelly said.

    “Obviously, if the weather does not dry out a little bit, the first of October when everybody gets started with the pumpkin patches and things like that, it’s going to create some issues getting in and out of the field.”

  • China ‘Behind’ in Phase One Trade Agreement Responsibilities

    China is on the clock with regards to the Phase One Trade Agreement, which was signed earlier this year between China and the U.S. Veronica Nigh, American Farm Bureau economist, said China has fallen behind in its initial purchasing goal and questions linger about the country’s ability to fulfill its initial obligation.

    Nigh

    “Thus far, both the U.S. and China have remained committed to fulfilling the Phase One agreement, which covers both 2020 and 2021. I think there’s some concerns that China won’t be able to import the dollar amount that was agreed to for 2020,” Nigh said. “Thus far, they’ve been continuing to make some fairly sizable purchases. All of the language that is coming out of China is, ‘Yeah, hey, we’re still committed to this thing.’”

    Telling Three Months

    Nigh believes the last few months of this calendar year will go a long way in seeing if China can and will fulfill its initial goal.

    “I think we all know that China makes the big percentage of their sales in the last three months of the year; somewhere upwards of over 50% of their purchases have been those last three months. We’ve certainly seen some big commitments on commodities of late for deliveries later in the year. I think anything can happen at this point,” Nigh said.

    “For January through July, China has imported almost $8 billion of Ag products. Which means to reach their commitment, they’re going to need to import about $23 billion in that August through December time period. It’s a big number, about twice what we’ve ever done in recent history. There’s a lot of lifting left to do. It’s a big country with a pretty deep pocketbook. I think anything can happen at this point.”

    Impact in Pecans

    China’s renewed interest in U.S. pecans could be pivotal this year to American producers enjoying a profitable harvest season. Southeast farmers are expecting a bumper crop this year but need China to remain a loyal buyer.

    “If that Phase One Agreement were to go away, you’d have to be concerned about China’s desire to purchase commodities products from the U.S. if they can get it from somewhere else. There’s certain crops that maybe they have to have. Maybe they have a specific taste for pecans from the Southeast U.S. and they say, there’s no reason for us to punish our own citizens for this. We’ll go ahead and keep buying these,” Nigh said.

  • Troxler Announces COVID-19 Assistance for Farmers Market Operators, Local Food Hubs

    RALEIGH – Beginning Oct. 1, farmers markets operators and local food hubs can apply for assistance through the COVID-19 Emergency Aid for Farmers Market Operators and Local Food Hubs program. A total of $750,000 will be available from federal COVID-19 funds earmarked for North Carolina.

    Troxler

    Funding is meant to assist with losses from reduced number of vendors, plus offset additional expenses associated with offering personal protective equipment, hand sanitizer and handwashing stations, and added COVID-19 educational materials.  Eligible categories for emergency aid include, but not limited to, labor, technology or software upgrades, infrastructure enhancements, COVID-19 education materials, PPE and test kits.

    “The deadline to apply is Oct. 22, which is a fairly short application period. It is imperative that operators submit their applications quickly, so we can distribute the funds quickly to meet the federal rules,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “The pandemic has shown us the important role farmers markets and food hubs provide in communities. I am grateful the General Assembly approved the use of the CARES Act funds to ensure these sites continue to operate and exist.”

    Two meetings are scheduled to help with application questions. They will be held Oct. 7 from 10-11 a.m. and Oct. 8 from 7-8 p.m. To join either session, use this link or call 1-984-204-1487, then enter Conference ID 144 849 187 followed by the # key when prompted.

    The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in serious and substantial impacts on the food supply chain, including farmers markets and local food hubs across North Carolina. Some markets were not able to open due to state or local orders, and others had to reduce the number of vendors to ensure proper social distancing. Additionally, local food hubs lost sales opportunities due to mandated school closures and food service disruptions.

    Statewide there are over 250 farmers markets, over 160 roadside stands and 20 USDA registered food hubs.

    Details regarding the COVID-19 Emergency Aid for Farmers Market Operators and Local Food Hubs, including definitions of markets and food hubs, are available at http://www.ncagr.gov/disaster/documents/COVID-19.htm. 

  • American Blueberry Growers Alliance Welcomes U.S. Trade Representative’s Request for Safeguard Investigation

    Today, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) formally requested that the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) initiate a Section 201 global safeguard investigation regarding imports of blueberries into the United States. 

    The American Blueberry Growers Alliance (“ABGA”) applauds USTR’s request and expects that the investigation will result in a remedy that allows the domestic industry to recover from the harmful effects of surging blueberry imports. 

    The ABGA is an ad hoc association of blueberry growers from across the United States. Over the past few years, ABGA’s members have lost market share and sales to massive increases in imports and have been forced to accept unreasonably low prices due to the competing prices of foreign blueberries. Imports of fresh and frozen blueberries have increased from 423 million pounds in 2015 to over 684 million pounds in 2019. Recognizing the harm that American blueberry growers have faced and will continue to face, USTR previously committed to request a Section 201 investigation on blueberries as part of the plan of multiple federal agencies announced on September 1, 2020 to help U.S. farmers of seasonal and perishable fruits and vegetables.

    “On behalf of U.S. blueberry growers, I want to thank the Administration for taking this critical action. The flood of foreign imports of blueberries has caused significant damage to growers from coast-to-coast and across the heartland of this country,” stated Jerome Crosby, Chair of the American Blueberry Growers Alliance. “At a time when domestic food security is especially critical, this action is essential to preserve American farms, our families’ way of life, and our communities, and we look forward to working with the ITC in conducting its investigation.”

    The ITC will immediately commence its investigation to determine whether the U.S. blueberry industry is seriously injured or threatened with serious injury by increased imports. The ITC must make this determination within 120 days of receiving USTR’s request, and this period may be extended to 150 days in extraordinarily complicated cases. The ITC will issue a report with its findings to the President of the United States within 180 days of receiving USTR’s request. 

    If the ITC’s injury determination is affirmative, the ITC will recommend one or more remedies to the President. Available temporary remedies include tariffs, quotas, and a combination of tariffs and quotas, among other options. The President will then decide whether to grant relief and what the remedy will entail.

  • Shallow Subsurface Drip Irrigation for Organic Growers

    Figure 1. Shallow subsurface drip irrigation is laid with a drip tape layer to a depth of 4 to 5 inches in organically grown lettuce.

    By Tim Coolong

    Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) has been around for many years in a variety of different iterations. Most typically, SDI refers to a permanent drip system installed fairly deep (18 inches) and is used for irrigating agronomic crops such as corn or cotton.

    In many cases, vegetable crops are too shallowly rooted for a traditional SDI system, but some processing tomatoes are grown using SDI. However, a shallow SDI system, where drip tubing is buried at a depth of 4 to 6 inches (Figure 1), may be a tool that both conventional and organic vegetable growers can use.

    ADVANTAGES

    For organic growers, the ability to use shallow SDI offers two main advantages. The first is that crops can still be shallowly cultivated during the season without worrying about cutting drip tape. Second, having drip irrigation buried can allow for wetting of the root zone without excessive wetting of the soil surface. During dry seasons, this can reduce weed pressure (Figure 2).

    Figure 2. Acorn squash is grown with shallow subsurface drip irrigation (left) and surface drip (right). While this crop was grown conventionally with herbicide, notice the lack of grass weeds in the shallow subsurface drip irrigation plot compared to the surface drip. Earlier in the season, when this picture was taken, the surface drip-grown plants were slightly larger, but that difference subsided later in the season.

    Studies have also reported an increase in rooting depth and fertilizer use efficiency with shallow SDI. Many companies make drip tubing layers. University of Georgia (UGA) research has even used bed shapers/plastic layers to form beds and lay buried drip tube without using plastic mulch. In studies conducted with shallow SDI during a single season, no difference was seen in flow rate or clogging due to roots growing into the emitters. To keep costs low, 10-mil thick drip tubing was used since researchers only planned to use it for a single season. More permanent SDI systems use much thicker walled tubing.

    LIMITATIONS

    While shallow SDI can be a good tool for helping organic growers reduce weed pressure and improve cultivation, there are some potential limitations. UGA studies found that when comparing shallow SDI to surface drip, transplants with smaller (i.e., shallower) root balls initially grew quicker when planted into surface drip plots — particularly when weather conditions were dry and hot — promoting stress.

    Many of the studies were conducted on loamy soils. It is likely that the lack of capillary movement of moisture on sandy soils may limit the use of shallow SDI in those situations. Further, the shallow SDI system did not wet the surface adequately to germinate seeded crops.

    Lastly, although leaks were not common, rodents did chew into the buried drip tubing on occasion. Nonetheless, based on experience working with shallow SDI, it is a useful tool for organic vegetable farms.

    More details on the role of shallow SDI on weed management can be found online (see www.intechopen.com/books/weed-and-pest-control-conventional-and-new-challenges/using-irrigation-to-manage-weeds-a-focus-on-drip-irrigation) in “Using irrigation to manage weeds: A focus on drip irrigation.”

  • Broad Mites Big Problem for Vegetable Growers

    Whiteflies are not the only insect wreaking havoc on vegetable crops this fall. According to Stormy Sparks, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension vegetable entomologist, broad mites are a problem for vegetable producers.

    Sparks

    “I’ve had several calls on broad mites, which are a problem primarily in peppers and eggplant,” Sparks said. “Unlike spider mites, spider mites like the middle of the summer because they like hot and dry weather, broad mites don’t like cold weather but they like it a little bit cooler and humid, which is what we have now. They tend to be a fall pest. Ten years ago, you never heard about them. But I’d say in the last three to five years, it’s almost an annual event.”

    Large Host Range

    According to UGA Extension, broad mites have a large host range, consisting of 60 families of plants. Along with peppers and eggplants, broad mites’ vegetable hosts include beets, beans, cucumbers, potatoes and tomatoes.

    Damage is especially severe in bell peppers. The damage is caused by secretion of a plant growth regulator or toxin as the mite feeds, and extensive damage can happen at very low pest density.

    “They make it look like the plant has a virus, same thing with eggplant. You get distorted growth. You get distorted fruit. It makes it unmarketable,” Sparks said.

    Some acaricides provide excellent control of broad mites. Examination of plant terminals is necessary to evaluate control success. Damage can continue for two weeks after successful control.