July 2013 - Page 3 of 6 - California Agriculture News Today

Blue Card Program Program Discussed

Kern County Meeting Focuses on Immigration Reform

Congressman David Valadeo (R-CA) attended what could be characterized as a Town Hall meeting in Bakersfield over the weekend. The meeting was organized by social welfare groups, along with members of United Farm Workers (UFW).

The big topic was how to manage the issues faced by undocumented farm workers, such as how to be humane with the workers, with the fairness they deserve, while negotiations continue on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform discussion.

Brian Little, who oversees labor relations for the California Farm Bureau Federation, attended the meeting and noted that it was about how to get undocumented farm workers, documented.

UFW, which supports Western Growers Association and Farm Bureau regarding the Blue Card program, would allow the vast majority of current farm workers to obtain legal status if they chose to remain in agriculture.

After a minimum of five years, workers who fulfill their Blue Card work requirements in U.S. agriculture would become eligible to apply for a Green Card, providing they have no outstanding taxes or convictions. In addition, a new agricultural guest worker program would be established to guarantee a flow of agricultural workers in future years.

The proposed agreement specifies wages for various agricultural work. There would be a visa cap for the first five years for current workers participating in the Blue Card program. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture would have a mandate to modify that cap as circumstances dictate in future years.

The take-home message, according to Little, was that the organizers wanted people in the Kern County community who have an interest in helping farm workers to speak with their Congressman about Immigration Reform, during the August recess.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:47:09-07:00July 23rd, 2013|

Navel Orangeworm Update

Joel Siegel, USDA ARS Reports
Navel Orangeworm is High This Season

Almond and pistachio growers appear to be more on top of Navel Orangeworm control this season compared to last year. “It’s human nature because all the people who got burned last year are paying a lot more attention this year,” said Joel Siegel, USDA ARS entomologist based in Parlier, Calif.

Siegel said that in the areas where he works, he is seeing the same type of population levels as he saw last year. These areas are normally under very high NOW pressure–where almonds, pistachios and figs are close together such as in Madera County–causing a perfect storm of pressure year after year.

Joel Siegel is USDA ARS Research

Entomologist based in Parlier

“I am also seeing growers with traps showing very low levels of populations, so NOW is bouncing around quite a bit this year,” Siegel said.

What causes a high pressure year? Siegel suggests three things:

Heat Unit Accumulation
Overwintering Populations
Nut Development Rate

This year, there were probably a lot of overwintering populations.

In terms of heat units, from the NOW point of view, we are about 17 days ahead of last year,” Siegel noted. “But harvest is going to be much earlier this year than last year. “If we were going to have a late harvest with all these moths out there, there would be greater damage due to crop exposure,” he said.

“However, if everyone is harvesting two to three weeks earlier, growers may be able to dodge the late pressure,” he said.

If pistachios prices continue to hold and growers are committed to that second shake maybe deep into September, there could be a lot of NOW pressure. Pistachio harvest this year may start as early as the last week of August, and the early almond harvest may be starting this week.

Siegel said the Suttera BioLure has been very helpful this year. “It is every bit as good as my virgin female traps,” he said. “The advantage of BioLure is that if you are running live females in a trap and there is a spray operation, the moths would be killed, and those traps will not be attracting males. With BioLure, you will still be catching males,” Siegel said.

Adult Navel Orangeworm

This past spring, UC farm advisors and other researchers held an urgent meeting in Visalia to warn growers of the assured high NOW pressure this year. Researchers said that it would be very important for growers to apply a May spray to beat back the early NOW populations. “But the pressure is there, and I have not seen a real drop this year,” Siegel said.

Siegel noted that during the hot weather which occurred in late June and early July, male population numbers dropped. “But when the heat broke around July 6, the capture rate tripled. I had traps that were catching 30 per trap, and within three days, they were catching 149 per trap,” he said. “Most of the males hunkered down for days during the heavy heat and once daytime temperatures dropped, their normal nighttime activity picked up,” Siegel said. “Interestingly, gravid females were still laying eggs during the heatwave, and egg traps did not have the same level of depression.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:47:10-07:00July 22nd, 2013|

Growers Prepare for Nitrogen Reporting

Water Coalitions Stand by Growers

Improving Surface and Ground Water Problems

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

Parry Klassen is Executive Director and Board Chairman for the East San Joaquin Water Quality Coalition (ESJWQC), a watershed coalition with 3,950 grower members farming 706,336 acres in Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Tuolumne and Mariposa Counties. Since 2003, Klassen has led coalition efforts to develop approaches for solving water quality problems from agriculture in the region.

Klassen noted that there are about 180,000 acres of unrepresented growers in the region he oversees. “These growers will need to sign up for an individual permit or the regional water board will round them up over the next six months with threats of fines,” he said.

Parry Klassen

“We operate with a group permit, representing our growers’ interests to the State Water Board,” Klassen said. “We are more in the line of a cooperative because this group permit has specific things that are not covered by a commodity group or organization; there are simply no entities out there to do this. We fill this void. We represent the interests of our members to the State Water Board.”

Klassen said, “The third party approach of the coalition is good in that it has the flexibility to respond to what we find and then work on those problems. We can adjust solutions to meet local needs and provide the information to the Water Board to aid in their decision-making.”

The ESJWQC was the first group in the state to get waste discharge requirements (WDR), and were the first to go to battle with the State Water Board regarding mandates on surface and ground water regulations.

“At the ESJWQC, we are all getting ready for the new waste discharge requirements,” Klassen said. He noted that the group has provided a service to growers who are not accustomed to dealing with the Water Board. “The Water Board is not going away. They are here to stay. And their requirements are quite serious and will be around a lot longer than we are.”

Since 2004, the ESJWQC has spent about $50 million on surface water monitoring, negotiating with the State Water Board, writing reports and doing outreach. “This has all come out of the growers’ pockets because there is no grant money,” said Klassen, who also farms peaches in Fresno County.

And expanded story on the ESJWQC will appear in the September 2013 issue of Pacific Nut Producer magazine.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:47:10-07:00July 21st, 2013|

CAPCA Meetings Help with Nutrient Management

Nutrient Management Education

Seminars Scheduled

The California Association of Pest Control Advisers (CAPCA) has scheduled a series of nutrient management education seminars for Certified Crop Advisers (CCA), farm managers and growers. The seminars underwritten by CAPCA’s supporting members, Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers and Great Salt Lake Minerals Corporation will be coordinated by CAPCA ED, the continuing education division of CAPCA.

Topics will include macro, secondary and micronutrients, current agronomic practices, and improvements in fertilizer technology & application that will allow for the efficient use of fertilizer and protection of the environment. Terry Stark, CEO/President of CAPCA has stated “The increased awareness being placed on sound nutrient stewardship demands that agriculture become more informed and involved in identifying solutions to protect our drinking water and CAPCA wants to be a responsible partner with the growers and CCAs to accomplish this task.”

The seminars will provide the more difficult to acquire CEUs for Crop Adviser renewal requirements (nutrient management, soil/water, and crop management). The seminars, which will run from 7:30 am to 2:30 pm, are scheduled for:

August 20th – Veterans Memorial Building, Exeter

August 21st – Monterey UC Cooperative Extension, Salinas

September 11th – Harris Ranch, Coalinga

November 19th – Heidrick Ag History Center, Woodland

Registration cost: $60.00 Pre-registration, $80.00 at-the-door.

Registration and additional information will be available in the near future at https://capcaed.com/

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:47:10-07:00July 21st, 2013|

Asian Citrus Psyllid Update

BREAKING NEWS
From Tulare County

Porterville ACP Update

Five Mile Quarantines To be Announced

Gavin Iacono, Deputy Ag Commissioner Tulare county, overseeing Standards and Quarantines, notes that the state is waiting for the USDA sign-off on a new plan that proposes five-mile quarantines around the two blunder trap sites where six Asian Citrus Psyllids were found June 25-26.

The quarantines would overlap each other since the traps were about two miles apart.

Iacono said this is a proposed change from earlier quarantine protocols. “Originally all quarantines were county-wide, and the USDA, with justification, shrunk it down to a 20-mile radius. Now the state is proposing a five-mile radius, which is a big change of what it has been in the past,” he said.

No fruit can move out of the quarantine areas unless it has been treated and/or free of stems and leaves.

In the proposal, the state is going to require preharvest spray treatments not only for the proposed quarantines in Porterville but for all active ACP quarantine areas in the state.

There will also be an 800-meter eradication zone in place around each site. “What this means is that all citrus within 800 meters around the trap sites must be treated with control sprays,” Iacono said.

“Quarantines are automatically for two years. Within the two years, if nothing is found, the quarantine will be lifted. But no ACP quarantine in California has ever been lifted. We have been close, but then we find something just before the quarantine can be lifted,” Iacono said.

“On June 17, 2013, the state lifted a restricted zone in the Strathmore area following ACP trappings in mid-November 2012. And now, not a month later, we trapped more ACP in the nearby Porterville area,” Iacono said.

Based on science, the new finds are suspected to be more serious due to the possibility of a breeding population in the area. “But we are not able to find it. This is why there are mandatory spray programs in place,” said Iacono.

Officials are not sure why inspectors are finding the ACP in commercial orchard areas in the Valley. “In southern California, they first found the Psyllid in the urban area, and then it spread out from there into the commercial areas. In the Valley we keep finding it in the commercial areas,” Iacono said.

“Intense inspections of traps in the City of Porterville, so far, have found no Psyllids. In fact, inspectors surveyed more than 300 residential properties yesterday and did not find anything,” noted Iacono.

Inspectors are fanning through orchards with white beat sheets that have been sprayed with soapy water. They beat branches three times and observe anything that falls on the white sheet. Because the inspectors are trained, they can quickly determine if a Psyllid has fallen on the sheet. The water holds what falls in place on the sheet. After each inspection, the water is wiped off and reapplied for the next inspection.

Many of these crews are coming up from Southern California where they have been doing this extensively for the past five years.

Iacono said that nurseries are also going to be affected in the quarantine area. “Unless it’s under a screened area, the nursery stock cannot be moved out of the restricted area. There are several small nurseries in the area, and one very large nursery that has part of its operation under screens,” Iacono said. “And you also have the nursery centers at the Home Depot and Lowes locations that will be affected. The state will begin to put Hold Notices on all citrus trees in nurseries that are not under screens.”

It’s important that everyone inspect his or her trees for the ACP. If you find it, act fast. Time is critical.

The ACP Hotline number is (800) 491-1899.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:47:10-07:00July 19th, 2013|

At UC Kearney Ag Center in Parlier

Grape Day, August 13

Half-day Event at Kearney Ag Center

Grape growers, packers, wine makers, and others interested in the production of grapes and wine in the San Joaquin Valley are invited to the University of California’s Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, on Tuesday, 13 August 2013, from 7:30 am until 11:00 am for Grape Day.

Grape Day is a biennial event where UC scientists and their collaborators from other institutions showcase research results that are relevant to local viticulturists and enologists.

Topics to be discussed this year will include: Effects of water deficits on water relations and productivity of numerous red wine grape cultivars grown in the San Joaquin Valley, Ecology of Mycotoxin-Producing Aspergilli in Raisin Vineyards, Effects of pre-harvest Calcium chloride and Chlorine dioxide applications on fruit quality of Crimson Seedless table grapes, Wood disease management options for grapevines in the San Joaquin Valley, Movento in Table Grapes: understanding use patterns and expectations, and Understanding Wine Oxidation.

1.5 hours of DPR continuing education credit hours have been applied for.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:47:10-07:00July 19th, 2013|

Immigration Reform Update

From Western Growers Association

Nassif In Washington to Push for Immigration Reform

With the urgent need for the House to act on immigration reform, Western Growers Association President and CEO, Tom Nassif returned to Washington this week for several meetings in the House and Senate, urging action.

On Wednesday this week, he met with the House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor and emphasized the need for the House to act, particularly as it relates to agriculture. He also had the opportunity to sit down with Congressman Paul Ryan, who has been an active participant in bi-partisan immigration talks underway in the House. With both these meetings, Nassif underscored that the House doing nothing is not an option, and agriculture is supportive of the House working its will but that must result in legislation passing the House.

Nassif along with other conservative leaders from the Business and Faith communities also met with the Senate Gang of 8 (Senators Schumer, Durbin, Menendez, Bennet, McCain, Graham, Rubio, and Flake) to discuss outreach and strategy to move legislation with the House.

Nassif also met with California Rep. Jim Costa and in addition to discussing Democrat support for however the House proceeds on immigration, also discussed the CA water crisis and challenges growers face with Affordable Care Act implementation.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:47:11-07:00July 18th, 2013|

Postharvest Produce Program

UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center

Offers Produce Certificate Program

Participants in the Produce Professional Safety Program at UC Davis

Photo by Penny Stockdale, UC Davis Post Harvest Technology Center.

It takes a lot of knowledge and training to successfully handle produce from farm to plate. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a mechanism that helped produce industry employers recognize qualified applicants and helped applicants validate their postharvest qualifications?

Now there is, thanks to the UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center’s new Produce Professional Certificate Program, the first of its kind in the world. Led by a cadre of the most respected experts in postharvest technology, the certificate program covers everything from safety, new technologies, physiology, harvesting, cooling, transportation, ripening, marketing fresh produce and more.

“It’s fantastic,” said Leo Kelly, a product development specialist with Monsanto Vegetable Seeds who focuses on developing tomatoes, peppers, melon, broccoli and other commodities with improved traits like flavor, nutrition, color and convenience. When the Postharvest Technology Center first started offering the Professional Certificate Program in early 2013, Kelly was among the first in line.

“I had attended some of their other courses and I really admire the instructors’ knowledge and expertise,” Kelly said. “This certificate program gives me a deeper understanding of the science behind postharvest technology, the reason you do the things you do, like store tomatoes at a different temperature than onions.”

Kelly has a Ph.D. in cereal biochemistry, 20 years experience in the food industry, and five years experience with Monsanto. And, he says, there is still so much more to learn.

The program allows participants to customize their curriculum through an a-la-carte menu of classes in addition to three core classes — the Postharvest Technology Short Course, the Produce Safety Course and either the Fruit Ripening and Retail Handling Workshop or the Fresh Cut Products Workshop. Some of the customized classes can be taken online and you have four years to finish.

“That’s very convenient for working people like me,” Kelly said. “You can keep your job and get the education.”

The program is designed for anyone in the fresh produce industry, no matter their specialty or level of experience. Postharvest technology involves people all along the supply chain — growers, shippers, packers, retail and others — and Kelly says participants benefit from that diversity.

“You network with people throughout the industry and from all over the globe,” Kelly said.

The produce professional certificate program will help employers, job-seekers and anyone who wants to expand their postharvest expertise, said Beth Mitcham, director of the Postharvest Technology Center and a postharvest biologist and Cooperative Extension specialist with the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis.

“When produce industry employers are hiring, candidates with a Produce Professional Certificate will have an advantage over other candidates,” Mitcham said. “When you know the candidate has learned and demonstrated knowledge of best practices for produce handling, you’re confident they will be an assist to your company.”

Depending on which courses you chose, the certificate program will cost about $7,500 over four years. For more details, check out the Postharvest Technology Center website at http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/

or contact the center staff at (530) 752-6941 or postharvest@ucdavis.edu.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:47:11-07:00July 17th, 2013|

In Monterey County

July 17, 2013

United Fresh Recall-Ready Workshop
Sept. 18-19 in Seaside, Calif.

United Fresh is offering its hands-on educational course, “Recall Ready Training Workshop” at Embassy Suites in Seaside, CA. This two-day, hands-on training program, September 18-19, will help you understand the fundamentals of a product recall, including your rights and responsibilities, the role of the FDA, liability limitation and customer expectations management. In addition, United Fresh will focus on how to build an in-depth customized communication plan in the event of a recall, and how to effectively communicate with the industry, customers, consumers and the media.

This course is designed for produce recall teams for companies throughout the produce supply chain including Growers/Shippers/Packers, Processors, Wholesalers & Distributors, Retailers, Restaurant Operators and Industry Organizations (including commodity boards and associations).

At the very least, your recall team should include management, technical staff and marketing/communications staff. In addition, United Fresh recommends attendance by Operations Staff, Food Safety Staff, Q&A Staff, Customer/Member Services Representatives, and your company Crisis Management Team.

Remember, a poorly managed product recall can quickly turn into a crisis situation. This course will combine recall protocols and communication management principles to ensure that all staff work together effectively and efficiently during product recall.

For more information please contact: Erin Grether, Government Relations Coordinator, United Fresh Produce Association, at (202) 303-3400 or egrether@unitedfresh.org, http://www.unitedfresh.org/recallready

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:47:11-07:00July 17th, 2013|

From Santa Clara County

July 17, 2013

Guava Fruit Fly Under Treatment

In Santa Clara County

Edited By Laurie Greene, Associate Blogger

In the past few days, the California State lab confirmed three detections of Guava Fruit Fly in San Jose in Santa Clara County. As a result of these finds, the Secretary of Agriculture issued an emergency proclamation authorizing an eradication project.

Treatment is scheduled to begin today, Wednesday, July 17, 2013 in a 19 square-mile area surrounding the discoveries using the “male attractant” technique. This technique uses ground-based, spot applications of minute amounts of insecticide and feeding-attractant lure. The treatment is applied as small, dollar-sized spots on inanimate objects such as street trees and utility poles approximately 8 feet off the ground to prevent accessibility and disruption to the public. The male fruit flies are attracted to the lure on these spots, and they die from feeding on the mixture.

The Guava Fruit Fly infestation in San Jose marks the tenth time of detection in 17 years. Eradication projects were conducted in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, and now in 2013. The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) successfully eradicated the Guava Fruit Fly in each instance using the male attractant technique.

The Guava Fruit Fly is known to occur in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. If allowed to establish in California, the fly has the potential to become a major pest of citrus, peach, and several kinds of tropical and subtropical fruits. Fruit damage occurs when the adult female fly lays eggs in the fruit which hatch into larvae or maggots that tunnel through the flesh of the fruit, making it unfit for consumption.

These infestations are likely the result of contraband fruit smuggled into California. All those entering California should notbring fruit or vegetables back from your travels. Exotic fruit flies threaten California’s multi-billion-dollar agricultural industry and its native and urban environments as well.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:47:11-07:00July 17th, 2013|