The Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association (FFVA) is pleased with the USTR’s decision to implement a Section 201 investigation into blueberries. Mike Joyner, president of FFVA, said the investigation was best for blueberry producers, mainly because of its global approach.
Joyner
“When you watched the testimony of the two hearings, there were a number of blueberry growers. We knew this already but when you look at blueberries and the impacts that they’re seeing, yes Mexico is having an impact on them, but other countries are probably having a bigger impact; Peru, Chile,” Joyner said. “It became very apparent that a Section 201 was probably going to be best for blueberries. The thing about Section 201 is it’s a global approach. It looks at all the countries.”
Hearings
Florida and Georgia blueberry producers were able to state their concerns about imports from other countries and the impact they have had domestic production, especially market prices, during two days of hearings in August. Joyner said the government’s decision to initiate a 201 investigation speaks to the magnitude of how it perceives the concerns brought forth by farmers.
“When the government self-initiates, when they bring it to the International Trade Commission, it sends a signal that this is an important issue. The blueberry growers still have to put on the case. But just the fact that the U.S. Trade Reps Office said we’ve seen enough here that we’re going to self-initiate a 201, it just speaks volumes,” Joyner said. “I do think the 201 is the right trade tool for blueberries.”
Section 201
A Section 201 investigation is part of the Trade Act of 1974. It allows the International Trade Commission to investigate where domestic producers have been harmed by imports. They must be seriously injured, meaning that level of injury to their marketing opportunities. Typically, it must be completed within 120 days after filing.
File photo shows how whiteflies can infest fall cucurbits.
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension vegetable entomologist Stormy Sparks is more optimistic about the ongoing whitefly problem that farmers are facing this fall – especially more than what he was feeling two weeks ago. His reason for optimism? Remnants from a hurricane and a drop in temperatures.
Remnants from Hurricane Sally and cooler weather this week should help knock back some of the whitefly populations, which were wreaking havoc on fall vegetable crops.
The rain amounts were extreme in certain places last Thursday when the storm moved across the state. More importantly, the rain was widespread.
“I would anticipate that the weather knocked down the adult populations and this cool weather will greatly delay or reduce the amount that they rebound. That’s what I would think would happen,” Sparks said. “The main thing was (the rain) was everywhere. We got some everywhere. That probably has much more impact than those local heavy rains that we normally get.”
Weather Conditions
According to the UGA Automated Weather Network, Cordele, Georgia received 5.3 inches on Thursday, Sept. 17, while Moultrie, Georgia received 2.36 inches.
Temperatures also dropped from 81 degrees Fahrenheit on Sept. 16 to 67 degrees F on Monday, Sept. 21 in Moultrie.
Whitefly Infestations
Whiteflies have been a problem all year, dating back to early spring. An abnormally mild winter did not kill off many of the wild hosts that whiteflies overwinter on. The result was they became mobile earlier this past spring.
Whiteflies cause feeding injury issues in vegetables and transmit two viruses: cucurbit leaf crumple virus and cucurbit yellow stunting disorder virus. Vegetables like squash, zucchini, cucumber, cantaloupe and snap beans are highly susceptible to these viruses. Commercial cultivars that have resistance or tolerance to these pathogens are not available.
UGA CAES photo/Ashfaq Sial is leading a multistate team of researchers to develop and implement long-term sustainable strategies to control spotted wing drosophila.
By Emily Cabrera for CAES News
The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) has been awarded a $5.4 million grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop long-term, sustainable methods for controlling the spotted wing drosophila (SWD).
Native to Asia, SWD is a tiny fly that was first detected in California in 2008 and has since emerged as a devastating pest of small and stone fruits throughout the U.S., valued at $5.8 billion in damage annually. It affects soft-skinned fruits such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries and others.
Blueberry entomologist and coordinator of the UGA Integrated Pest Management Program, Ashfaq Sial is leading a multistate team of researchers from 10 land-grant universities and the USDA to develop and implement long-term sustainable strategies to control SWD.
The pest has caused blueberry crop losses of up to 20% annually. Blueberries are Georgia’s top fruit crop and ninth-largest agricultural commodity with an estimated $300 million in value, according to UGA agricultural economists.
This project builds on previous work to develop control strategies in response to the crisis situation created after the detection and widespread distribution of this devastating invasive pest in all fruit-growing regions of the U.S. The team made substantial progress by refining monitoring tools, developing effective insecticide-based management programs, identifying effective cultural controls, and screening native and exotic biological control agents to address the drosophila invasion.
“The progress we’ve made is great, but SWD management is still highly insecticide dependent and is further challenged by secondary pest outbreaks, insecticide resistance and increased input costs,” explained Sial. “Because SWD has become established as a keystone pest throughout the U.S., it’s critical to develop more sustainable strategies to manage it.”
The goal of this new project is to pivot away from crisis response to build a long-term, integrated and systems-based approach to managing SWD. The team will work with region- and crop-specific teams of growers to implement best management programs, evaluate alternatives to insecticides, assess and reduce the risk of insecticide resistance development, and develop and disseminate actionable recommendations that enable producers to optimize pest management decisions for sustainable SWD management. They will also develop economically based decision aid tools to increase profitability and evaluate the impact of these initiatives.
The team aims to develop and deliver systems-based integrated management programs to berry and cherry growers that are cost effective and environmentally sustainable for long-term management of SWD in the U.S. Ultimately, implementing these solutions will directly contribute to the long-term profitability and sustainability of farms and farmers nationwide.
Joining Sial on this project is Kay Kelsey, a professor and evaluation expert in the CAES Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication. Other collaborators and their institutions include Hannah Burrack, North Carolina State University; Kent Daane, University of California Berkeley; Rufus Isaacs, Michigan State University; Greg Loeb and Miguel Gomez, Cornell University; Cesar Rodriguez-Saona, Rutgers University; Philip Fanning, University of Maine; Elizabeth Beers, Tobin Northfield, Karina Gallardo and Gwen Hoheisel, Washington State University; Vaughn Walton, Oregon State University; Joanna Chiu and Frank Zalom, University of California Davis; and Kim Hoelmer and Xingeng Wang, USDA Agricultural Research Service in Newark, Delaware.
Although a winter crop, strawberry production in Florida still falls victim to heat stress. With extreme heat during establishment, cool temperatures during the early and mid-harvests, and high temperatures during the late harvest, the crop is subject to dramatic seasonal temperature variations.
Traditionally, the state’s strawberry growers have used black plastic mulch to achieve adequate wintertime soil warming and optimal fruit production. However, black mulch can intensify the negative impacts of high temperatures, leading to greater heat stress, especially when growers advance planting dates (e.g., late September) to improve earliness. Some of the negative effects of heat stress on the plant include greater susceptibility to pests and diseases, nonuniform growth and soft fruit.
On the other hand, reflective mulch films don’t provide enough soil warming during the winter for the plant, so researchers have had to look for a happy medium.
To resolve this issue, researchers at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) are looking at the effects of using reflective mulch films; essentially, adding a black center stripe to reflective silver mulch.
Shinsuke Agehara, assistant professor of horticulture at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC), gave an overview of his research on reflective mulch for strawberry production at the recent Vegetable & Specialty Crop (VSC) Expo.
“The idea is to have the dual benefits of black mulch and reflective mulch,” Agehara says.
According to Agehara, metalized mulch films have the potential to improve early-season fruit development by alleviating heat stress conditions during the establishment period.
Field trials at the UF/IFAS GCREC showed significant early-season yield increases of up to 59% and total season yield increases by up to 30% with reflective mulch films. Other beneficial effects of reflective mulch films include reduced damage from rot, total season yield increases and fruit size increases.
Although there are many benefits to the reflective film, one drawback that Agehara warns growers about is what can happen if your water from your sprinkler irrigation has a high pH.
“Sprinkler irrigation with high pH water, when the pH is greater than 7.5, it can fade aluminum coatings on metalized films,” he says.
If fading of aluminum coatings are an issue, Agehara recommends trying white-on-black mulch, which should perform better than black mulch and nearly as well as metalized mulch.
To view Agehara’s full presentation from VSC Expo, click here.
Colossus has a later blooming time and very large fruit.
By Patricio Munoz and Doug Phillips
The University of Florida (UF) blueberry breeding program has a long history of developing superior southern highbush cultivars for the commercial blueberry industry. Beginning in 1949, the program has produced more than 40 cultivars, all of which exhibit a lower chilling hour requirement and adaptation to the higher temperatures and disease pressure experienced in Florida’s climate.
There are several desirable traits that are the focus of blueberry breeding efforts, including fruit quality (firmness, flavor, size, color, scar size, etc.), plant vigor, disease resistance and machine harvestability (fruit firmness, detachment force, plant architecture, concentrated ripening, etc.).
ADVANCEMENTS ACHIEVED
Blueberry breeding programs have historically used the recurrent phenotypic selection method, which is still used today. Selection of superior candidates is based on the cross-pollination of plants with favorable traits, the progeny of which are grown out and go through a series of successive selection, with favorable plants both advancing to the next stage and being used as parents for the next breeding cycle.
From an initial planting of 20,000 seedlings, each cycle’s population is narrowed to 10 to 15 percent, of which only a few may ultimately be released. With this method, the development of a new cultivar from cross-pollination to release can take between 10 and 12 years.
However, since the original selections from the wild at the beginning of the program until today, significant improvement has been achieved. In 2018 the UF blueberry breeding lab demonstrated by an extensive review of the literature (Cappai et al., 2018) that firmness has been steadily improved, reaching levels that make almost all new cultivars acceptable for machine harvest, and that, in general, southern highbush cultivars are firmer than northern highbush.
More recently, advanced methods including quantitative genetics and molecular information have been introduced, which have the potential to shorten the breeding cycle. These methods include using statistical methods to model molecular markers linked to genes associated with favorable traits. This can be done much earlier in the breeding cycle, instead of waiting until a plant becomes mature to observe whether certain traits will be present.
Optimus is an excellent choice for machine harvesting and exhibits good production in both deciduous and evergreen systems.
In 2019, the UF blueberry breeding lab performed a proof of concept experiment of these methods and demonstrated their feasibility (Oliveira et al., 2019). The focus during 2020 has been on optimizing these methods, which will be reported in studies to be published in the near future.
Other areas of research in the UF breeding program include flavor perception, container production and alternative season production.
FLAVOR PERCEPTION
The UF breeding program recently finished performing studies to demonstrate that consumer “liking” perception can be predicted when using the unique chemical makeup of each new cultivar. The idea is to avoid bias in the selection process associated with the breeder in charge of creating and releasing new cultivars.
In this area, discoveries have been made regarding which chemicals are favorable to the flavor perception and which ones are detrimental. This work started many years ago, and now with more information some of the findings can be validated.
CONTAINER PRODUCTION
Production in containers has become a global trend, primarily to produce high yields on marginal land because these soilless systems do not depend on native soil. The UF breeding program has been performing experiments as a proof of concept of this system for conditions in Florida. Results of second-year experiments show that, while these systems require high investment, they could become an attractive alternative for some Florida growers. The lab is in the process of refining the results to deliver some recommendations to growers.
In addition, the breeding program supports and collaborates in blueberry-related research in pathology, entomology, management and pollination.
RECENTLY RELEASED CULTIVARS
As always, the UF breeding program is closely watching elite selections to release new cultivars. A major focus has been placed on consistency across locations and years, as well as on precociousness (the capacity to produce harvestable fruit the first year after planting).
The most recently released cultivars from the UF program, Colossus and Optimus, have started to gain traction with growers.
Colossus was released in 2019. It has exhibited a later blooming time with a short bloom to ripening period, and has better performance with low doses of hydrogen cyanamide. The fruit is very large to jumbo sized, is very firm, has good color and bloom and a small picking scar. Colossus has performed well in both North Central and Central Florida trial sites. The best fruit is obtained by allowing it to hang on the bush until the preferred sweet and acid balance is achieved. In 2019, the yield in North Central Florida was approximately 12 pounds per bush. Colossus can be machine harvested if needed.
Optimus was released in 2018 as an excellent choice for machine harvesting. It has good timing for the Florida market window, with high yields and natural early leafing. Optimus has firm, medium-sized, high-quality berries. It has performed well in machine-harvesting trials and exhibited good production across Florida in both deciduous and evergreen systems. Optimus yielded 14 pounds of fruit per bush in 2019 in North Central Florida.
Other recent releases, heavily used in the evergreen system, include Arcadia and Avanti, which were released in 2015.
Arcadia has high yield and vigor, very low chilling requirements and disease-tolerant foliage. Several growers have reported good fruit production in the first year after planting. Arcadia has shown susceptibility to bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum), with severity varying significantly from farm to farm.
Avanti has potential for above-average yields, with early fruit maturity, very low chilling requirements and very sweet fruit. It has shown some susceptibility to mite damage and algal stem blotch, which require good management programs.
Pictured is a stink bug, an insect that farmers can target with trap cropping.
Ayanava Majumdar, Extension Professor in Entomology and Plant Pathology at Auburn University, touts trap cropping as being effective in controlling unwanted insect pests while also significantly reducing insecticide applications.
“Not all insects will trap crop work. Trap crop works for insects that typically stay in clusters or have a strong border effect. For example, our sucking insect pests like the stink bugs, aphids; they all show a very clumped distribution and have a very high edge effect and then they spread,” Majumdar said. “Those are the insects, especially the migratory insects, that you can arrest; stopping them from going into the main crop.”
Trap crops are sacrificial crops planted around a field that are not meant to be harvested. Producers plant them to draw pests away from the real crop. There is no universal trap crop available. Different insects require different trap crops.
Insects love different kinds of plants. Stink bugs will attack tomatoes, so if farmers provide a distraction like sorghum, they will go to that distraction and stay away from tomatoes.
Majumdar said the trap crops evaluated in Alabama include sorghum and sunflower for leaffooted bugs; sunflower, browntop millet and pearl millet for stink bugs; okra, bell peppers and ornamentals for aphids; New England Hubbard squash for squash insects.
He recommends growers plant a trap crop two weeks ahead of a main crop, for a perimeter trap crop where it envelops an entire field.
Some advantages include farmers can use existing farm equipment; there is minimum new investment (seed); producers can reduce damage to the main crop; and it attracts and conserves beneficial insects.
“The challenge is to become efficient in doing it, not devoting more than 10% or 15% of the total area in trap crop so that you don’t cut back on the land and main crop,” Majumdar said.
Pam Knox, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Agricultural Climatologist, said the latest map shows several tropical centers of activity. Wilfred has declined to a tropical depression and should not be a threat to anyone. Alpha (off the map to the east) made landfall in Portugal, bringing rain to that region. Hurricane Teddy is still a category 2 hurricane and is moving northward. It may cross over Bermuda before hitting the Canadian Maritime Provinces later in the week. At the moment the only impact we see from Teddy is very high waves along the East Coast. Post-Tropical Storm Paulette is still hanging out in the eastern Atlantic and has a chance of making a comeback there. And there is a small area of rotation over the Florida peninsula moving west which has a small chance of developing into a tropical depression as it moves over the Gulf.
Tropical Storm Beta is our next biggest issue. It is currently in the northwestern Gulf and is expected to make landfall in Texas before making a sharp right turn and following the coast into Louisiana and then swinging northeast through Mississippi later in the week. It will be another big rainmaker for the areas it passes by. In the Southeast, we are currently seeing some high-level clouds from the storm in southern Alabama and Georgia. By Thursday, we could see some rain from the storm in northern Alabama and Georgia as it moves out to the northeast.
The Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference includes a trade show of hundreds of exhibitors. Photo courtesy of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.
It has proven almost impossible to hold in-person conferences and trade shows amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference is the latest to announce its intention to transition to a virtual event in 2021.
Charles Hall, executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association confirmed in an announcement on Monday that the event scheduled for Jan. 5-7, 2021 will be held virtually.
“The Savannah conference is a unique conference, and everybody enjoys that conference because of the networking and the opportunities to see folks and the education quality and tradeshow and industry folks there. It became quite obvious that as we worked through how we do the conference in this Corona-19 guideline, it just became an impossibility,” Hall said. “If you look at one of our classrooms where we expect to have 100 people in there, if you social distance, you can get 19 people in that room. What happens is if we work to go forward with that, you’ve got 19 people getting an education and 80 people not getting an education.
“The effectiveness and ability with the conference to function is just not possible to have it.”
Normal Attendance
A normal attendance for the conference is between 3,200 and 3,500 people. The event targets fruit and vegetable crops like watermelons, peaches, blueberries and hemp with educational sessions led by University of Georgia Extension specialists.
Over the next two weeks, the organization will provide more information on exhibiting, sponsoring and attending the virtual event in January.
One benefit of this virtual format is that educational sessions will stay online for four months.
“There’s a lot of positives to the change but the networking and atmosphere of the Savannah conference is going to be missed this year,” Hall said.
Clemson Extension agents provided updates in The South Carolina Grower this week about the status of various crops being produced throughout the state.
Weekly Field Update-9/21/20
Coastal
Zack Snipes reports, “Cooler temperatures have finally arrived in the Lowcountry! We had a good bit of rain in certain areas last week, and some fields are soggy. I saw lots and lots of silverleaf disorder in squash this past week. Silverleaf disorder is caused by whiteflies. The nymphs of the whitefly feed on the newly developing tissue which causes the upper epidermis of the leaf to separate, thus giving the plant a silver appearance. I am still seeing heavy whitefly pressure in most crops throughout the Lowcountry so keep up with spray programs and remember to rotate chemistries. For more information on the whitefly, click here.
Silverleaf of squash is a symptom of whitefly feeding. Photo from Zack Snipes.
Midlands
Justin Ballew reports, “These cooler temperatures that have arrived following the rain feel great, but they are going to slow crop development some. Folks are already picking fall brassicas, though some may be a little small. Just trying to keep up with demand. There are plenty of caterpillars out there. I’m seeing diamondback moths (of course) as well as cabbage loopers and a few corn earworms. Be sure to rotate your insecticides when spraying for caterpillars. Folks are continuing to prep fields for the rapidly approaching strawberry season.”
Cabbage loopers are showing up. Loopers frequently rear up like a cobra when disturbed. Photo from Justin Ballew
Pee Dee
Tony Melton reports, “Rain, rain, rain. It came quickly, so most drained off quickly, if drainage was adequate. Need to dig sweet potatoes as quickly as possible to keep down the amount of rot. Greens, pickles, and peas are struggling to survive the rain – some are drowned. Ponds are back in the fields. Some strawberry plastic is already down, but the rest of the folks are just beginning this week. Transplants are scarce and most likely will be late getting here this year.
Upstate
Kerrie Roach reports, “There has been a significant rise in wine grape production interest over the last month or two in the Upstate. Each week seems to bring another caller asking for recommendations. While climates here are relatively good for grape production overall, high humidity and heat make disease control difficult. Pierce’s Disease is one of the deadliest to deal with; prevention requires intense insect vector control and control means the complete removal of the affected plant. Recent studies have brought new cultivars to the forefront which are helping southern growers become more successful in this niche industry.
‘Traminette’ with leaf scorch symptom of Pierce’s Disease. Photo from Kerrie Roach.
Georgia pecan farmers escaped serious damage last week following Hurricane Sally’s trek through the Southeast. Alabama producers were not so lucky, however.
University of Georgia Extension pecan specialist Lenny Wells said Baldwin County, the heart of Alabama’s pecan production, was one of the counties hit hardest by Sally’s Category Two Hurricane status. According to the UGA Extension pecan blog, Wells said he has spoken with growers and pecan specialists in the area. The damage is worse than Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
“From the ones I’ve talked to down there, they’re going through the same thing we went through with Michael (in 2018) and the same thing they’ve been through before with Ivan and so many other storms,” Wells said. “It sounds pretty bad over there. I think it’s worse on one side of the bay than the other. I think the east side of the bay got the worst of it. But it’s pretty bad.”
Growers reported 25% to 75% of their trees down. That area received more than 20 inches of rain with 100 mph winds. Trees were laid on the ground and leaves and nuts were knocked off trees.
Impact on Georgia pecans
While Alabama producers were dealt a double whammy with excessive rainfall and high winds, Georgia’s pecan orchards experienced mainly flooding. There was between 6 to 8 inches of rainfall in some areas, according to the UGA Extension pecan blog.
“There wasn’t a lot of wind damage that I’ve heard about or seen yet,” Wells said.
Wells said this development may delay some growers from getting into orchards where Pawnees were ready for harvest. That is normally the earliest variety that is harvested. The remaining varieties will be ready in a few weeks.
“We’re probably three weeks away, maybe two, but two to three weeks away from really getting started with Elliott and some of the early October varieties that we harvest. Probably by mid-October, I imagine everything will be ready this year,” Wells said. “Crop is a little early.”
