New Added Value Use of Smaller Avocados

Gator Eggs Discovered At Fresh Summit

Avocados packed in what looks like an egg carton are now being marketed as “Gator Eggs” by Shanley Farms in Morro Bay. We found them at the recent Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit in New Orleans.

Megan Shanley is director of marketing and sales for Shanley Farms.

“We are marketing the gator eggs to shoppers with an option that they rarely see. It is a 6 pack of size 84 avocados packed in a carton similar to a half dozen of eggs,” she said.  “This is about 1/3 cup size that people can eat as a serving for one sandwich or one salad.  There is no waste or the need to put the other half in the refrigerator where it often turns brown.” 


The nationwide launch will be in December.

For an avocado farmer, the smaller size would fetch a lower price, but when packaged as a Gator Egg, there is added value that provides more profit for the retailer and the farmer. 

The product is marketed and shipped by Shanley Farms from their 8,000 tree ranch, from August through October. “We will source out avocadoes from other producers to enable year-round availability,” said Shanley.


The family operation will also be shipping their Sierra Sweet Kiwi, which are grown in Tulare County and are left on the vine longer for more sweetness. That product will be shipped starting in January.

2016-05-31T19:44:17-07:00October 23rd, 2013|

RISK ASSESSMENT ON SALMONELLA AND TREE NUTS

FDA Extends Comment Period for Salmonella and Tree Nuts
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition extended the period for submission of comments, and for scientific data and information related to its planned assessment of human salmonellosis associated with eating tree nuts. The new deadline is December 16, 2013.

The risk assessment seeks to quantify the public health risk associated with eating tree nuts potentially contaminated with Salmonella, the bacterium that causes salmonellosis, and to evaluate the impact of risk-based preventive controls.

A call for comments, and for scientific data and information for the assessment was published in the Federal Register of July 18, 2013. The FDA has extended the submission period in response to requests for an extension to allow interested persons additional time to submit information.

The need for this assessment is underscored by outbreaks of human salmonellosis linked to tree nuts over the past decade, by product recalls, and by Salmonellaisolation from tree nuts during surveys. In recent years, contamination with Salmonellahas been found in almonds, cashews, pistachios, pine nuts, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts and walnuts, among other types of tree nuts destined for human consumption.

The assessment will inform FDA policy and may be useful for owners and operators of tree nut processing plants and other post-harvest facilities, among other stakeholders.

For resources related to the planned assessment, information on how to make submissions, and links to the Federal Register notice, visit the FDA Risk & Safety Assessment web page.

2016-05-31T19:44:17-07:00October 23rd, 2013|

RETRAINING JOBLESS FARM WORKERS

State Grant To Prepare Laid Off Farm Workers For New Careers

A $6.4 million grant from the California Employment Development Department (EDD) will retrain 1,187 jobless migrant and seasonal farm workers statewide for promising new careers in the allied health field, industrial maintenance, retail trade/service, and the green and renewable energy sector.

“The recession dealt a heavy blow to farm workers statewide, a population already struggling with high unemployment,” said EDD Chief Deputy Director Sharon Hilliard. “This grant will help them move from jobs with few opportunities for advancement into new careers with bright futures. They will receive the training needed for a broad array of jobs, including positions in green and renewable energy.”


The grant was awarded to La Cooperativa Campesina de California, the statewide association of service providers implementing Workforce Investment Act Title I (a framework for the nation’s workforce development system) and the Community Services Block Grant (which provides funds to alleviate the causes and conditions of poverty in communities, particularly farmworker service programs. 
La Cooperativa provides services that focus on self-sufficiency through training and employment for farm workers throughout California, but especially in rural areas where farm workers live and work.

Funding for the program is drawn from the Governor’s 25 percent portion of Dislocated Worker Funds, Title I of the Workforce Investment Act, and is under the administrative authority of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency’s EDD.

For more information about this project, please contact Marco Lizarraga, La Cooperativa Campesina de California, at (916) 388-2220.

2016-05-31T19:44:17-07:00October 23rd, 2013|

INNOVATIVE HANFORD DAIRY

Milk Company Delivers Sustainability, Wholesomeness, Accountability


Rosa Brothers Milk Company aims to expand the milk-drinking population. Their flavored milks may encourage not only children to drink the milk they need for essential vitamins and minerals, but adults also, and without high fructose corn syrup. And, the company takes sustainability seriously, very seriously.
The Rosa Family

For 60 years, three generations of the Rosa Family have been building their Hanford, Calif. dairy farm. M.F. Rosa Dairy started in 1953 by the first Rosa generation, the brothers’ grandparents. When their dad, Manuel, returned from service in the Korean Conflict, he and his new wife, Eva, bought the farm from his parents. Then, in 1998, the two brothers, Noel and Rolland, purchased the farm. Additional family members are involved in the business.

Rosa Brothers Milk Company received the People’s Choice for Best New Product Award this year at the Fresno Food Expo.

Their milk products include whole, reduced fat, skim, Chocolate, Strawberry and Half and Half Creamer. Newer milks include root beer, which tastes like the bottom of a root beer float, and orange cream, which tastes like the 50/50 popsicle. Eggnog milk will be introduced next month for the holidays.
Ice Cream flavors include the basic vanilla, chocolate, strawberry; standards like chocolate chip, pistachio, rocky road; and more creative types such as banana, coconut and chocolate, and nut and honey.
Just last year, the dairy built a creamery in Tulare where they bottle their milk in glass containers and make their ice cream.  
The glass milk bottle keeps cold milk colder, protects the environment through recycling, and while other containers such as paper, plastic or metal transfer flavors to the milk, glass containers do not transfer outside flavors into the milk. 

Buying Rosa Brothers milk is unique; first-time buyers pay a $2 deposit for the glass bottle. When consumers return for a refill, they bring back the empty bottle and pay for a new bottle of milk—without the deposit. This easy system helps keep large quantities of plastic out of landfills.

 

Rosa Brothers are genuinely interested in recycling beyond using glass milk containers. Some of the animal feeds are by-products of human foods such as distiller grains, canola meal and almond hulls. These are very good sources of essential nutrients and are blended in under the supervision of professional nutritionists.

Cow manure is distributed as fertilizer on fields near the dairy for growing hay and grains that, in turn, feed the cows. 

The Dairy uses sand for cow bedding; then it is washed and reused.

Water is reused four consecutive times to cool the milk as it comes from the cow; slightly warmer, to wash the cows before they are milked; to pump into concrete “flush lanes” to keep clean the area where the cows stand to eat; and finally, to irrigate and fertilize the crops that feed the cows.
 

Noel and Rolland Rosa


The creamery was built and continues to be repaired with recycled materials previously used in the oil drilling industry. Old tires hold down cattle feed covers.

Distribution is local and reaches 60 stores currently between Bakersfield  and Fresno. The milk is typically delivered from the cow to the fridge within a few days.

Rosa Brothers offers 100 percent accountability in that visitors can tour the dairy where the milk is produced, watch the milk going into the bottle at the creamery (through a glass window), be assured that the milk is never “pooled” with other farms, requiring additional processing to make the milk uniform. Plus, the company throws in family-oriented activities for their visitors.

2016-05-31T19:44:17-07:00October 23rd, 2013|

INNOVATION FOR CALIF. HORTICULTURE GROWERS

Bayer Debuts Serenade Optimum to Control Diseases and Resistance 
Bayer CropScience introduced Serenade® Optimum fungicide and bactericide, its newest innovation for horticulture growers in California, among other states, during the 39th Annual CAPCA Conference in Reno, Nevada, yesterday. It is part of a collection of biological fungicides and insecticides from Bayer CropScience that gives growers more options in their integrated disease management programs to help fight resistance and optimize the marketability of their crops.

Rob Schrick

“As a global market leader in crop protection, we continuously invest in innovations for new technologies that improve the health, quality and yield of horticulture crops,” said Rob Schrick, Strategic Business Management Lead – Horticulture, Bayer CropScience. “With the addition of Serenade Optimum, we further our commitment to delivering innovative solutions that aid growers in producing quality crops.”


Based on a unique patented strain of Bacillus subtilis, Serenade Optimum works in multiple ways to provide effective suppression of challenging fungal diseases, such as Botrytis and Sclerotinia, and bacterial diseases, such as Xanthomonas and Erwinia. The fungicide’s novel, multi-site mode-of-action makes it very difficult for diseases to develop resistance, empowering growers with a new tool to combat fungicide resistance and enhance existing integrated disease management programs.


Serenade Optimum is a flexible tank-mix option and is compatible with registered products such as copper, sulfur, micronutrients, insecticides and fungicides. Serenade Optimum has a four-hour re-entry interval and a zero-day pre-harvest interval, and is exempt from the requirements of residue tolerance.

Serenade Optimum is best used to suppress early season outbreaks, right after rain when pressures flare, or right up to and including the day of harvest to maintain tight harvest schedules, and has just a 4-hour re-entry interval and zero-day pre-harvest interval. Serenade Optimum is available for use on grapes, leafy and fruiting vegetables, strawberries and potatoes.


Bayer is a 150 year-old global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of agriculture, health care and high-tech materials. Bayer CropScience, is responsible for the agricultural business and is one of the world’s leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of seeds, crop protection and non-agricultural pest control. 

Source: © 2013 Bayer CropScience LP


2016-05-31T19:44:17-07:00October 23rd, 2013|

FDA Extends Comment Period

Risk Assessment on Salmonellosis and Tree Nuts
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended the period for submission of comments, and for scientific data and information related to its planned assessment of human salmonellosis associated with eating tree nuts. 

The new deadline is December 16, 2013.  The FDA has extended the submission period in response to requests for an extension to allow interested persons additional time to submit information. 

Please see the Constituent Update for more information.

2016-05-31T19:44:18-07:00October 23rd, 2013|

POTENTIAL RELIEF FOR CALIF. PASTURE AND RANGELANDS

Hope for Needed Winter Moisture


USDA reported TODAY that California is a major area of concern over its pasture and rangeland conditions.


Two very bad years in much of the state have caused the situation to be as rough as it is, as the cool season months approach.

The wet season has already begun in the Pacific Northwest, so as we head into November and December, we await possible seasonal rain and high elevation snow to arrive before we reach about the halfway point of the year in January.
2016-05-31T19:44:18-07:00October 22nd, 2013|

Ag and the Local Economy Features in Video

Video Highlights Importance of Ag

 For Communities

On Oct. 3, local businesses and ag entities were part of an event in an alfalfa field, west of Firebaugh in Fresno County. The goal of the event was to show how important an alfalfa crop is to the economy of a local community. It highlighted everything involved in producing a field of alfalfa from fertilizers to PCAs to the milk produced by the cows who will eat the alfalfa.

The impact of not producing an alfalfa field due to a zero water allocation next year is highlighted in the video, which was produced by the California Farm Water Coalition.

Be sure to watch the video link to see how the agriculture community came together to obtain this wonderful visual of the many businesses affected by ag.

The video links are available at:

2016-05-31T19:44:18-07:00October 22nd, 2013|

USDA PROGRAM PAYMENTS

Enrolled Calif. Farmers to Receive USDA CRP, Direct and ACRE Payments
USDA has begun distributing Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) annual rental payments to participants across the country, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced TODAY.

USDA will also distribute 2013 direct payments and 2012 Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program payments beginning Oct. 24. Payments were originally to be issued earlier in the month, but were delayed due to the lapse in Federal funding.

“Farmers, ranchers and rural landowners across the country count on USDA programs and the payment delays due to the shutdown were an unnecessary burden,” Vilsack said. USDA will schedule these payments without further delay. “Farm Service Agency staff have worked hard to get this assistance out the door as quickly as possible,” he added.

CRP

California producers hold a total of 508 CRP conservation contracts for their farmland and will receive an average of $35.11 per acre for their habitat and environmental protection measures. Statewide, California producers will receive $4,421,800 in conservation payments for 125,934 acres.
  

U.S. producers will paid for nearly 700,000 CRP contracts on 390,000 farms covering 26 to 31 million acres, making this FSA voluntary program the largest public-private partnership for conservation and wildlife habitat in the nation. Specifically, the program helps ag producers safeguard environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and provide millions of acres of habitat for game and non-game wildlife species, while improving water quality.

USDA also issues non-rental CRP payments throughout the year. These payments for certain contracts include a 50 percent expense reimbursement for establishing and managing cover as well as incentive payments for enrolling eligible high priority conservation practices. Nationally, CRP reduced runoff and leaching of nitrogen and phosphorus into waterways by an estimated 605 million pounds and 121 million pounds, respectively, in 2012, and soil erosion reductions totaling 308 million tons in 2012.

DCP and ACRE

The 2013 DCP and ACRE programs are issuing direct payments to the more than 1.7 million farms and ranches across the nation enrolled in the Farm Service Agency’s programs. Producers with base acres of certain commodities are eligible for DCP payments. These commodity stabilization programs form a safety net for farm and ranches to deal with the rise and fall of both market prices and production costs and to stabilize production in key crops in the U.S.

2016-05-31T19:44:18-07:00October 22nd, 2013|

NEWMAN SERVED IN VENTURA AND SANTA BARBARA COUNTIES

UC Farm Advisor Julie Newman

Retires after 28 years

By Pamela Kan-Rice, UC ANR
She helped growers and nurseries in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties solve pest and water problems

Julie Newman’s first exposure to Cooperative Extension occurred while pursuing her undergraduate degree in Seattle and working for Vista. “My position as community garden project coordinator for Vista’s University Year for Action Program gave me the opportunity to work with Cooperative Extension during the establishment of our nation’s first Master Gardener program,” Newman explained. “The work was exciting and it inspired me to pursue an extension career.”

UC Farm Advisor Julie Newman Retires
Newman, University of California Cooperative Extension advisor in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, retired in July after 28 years of providing research and educational programs in environmental horticulture.

Newman completed her B.S. in botany at the University of Washington and then earned her M.S. in horticulture from Washington State University. After graduation, she taught ornamental horticulture classes at California State University, Chico and volunteered on UC Cooperative Extension projects in Glenn, Alameda and San Mateo counties. In 1985, Newman began her career as a UCCE advisor.

Early on, a focus of Newman’s research and extension program focused on integrated pest management, or IPM, for ornamental crops. She collaborated with other UC researchers to evaluate sampling strategies, monitoring methods, biological control and reduced-risk pesticides.

“We developed IPM demonstration sites in commercial nurseries and bilingual scouting training programs throughout the state,” Newman said. “We documented reductions in pesticide use in nurseries where IPM programs were implemented.” Scouting and the use of nonchemical approaches are now standard practices in the industry.

Later, Newman turned her attention to water quality issues and brought in over $4 million in grant funding. She worked with other UC Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists to develop water quality projects that assisted more than 200 growers, representing more than 21,000 farm acres draining into Ventura County watersheds. These research and extension activities resulted in substantial improvements in water use, irrigation efficiency, infiltration rates and reduced runoff from nurseries, farms and orchards.

“Water is a major issue for California growers,” said Fred Van Wingerden, president and CEO of Pyramid Flowers in Oxnard and advisory board member of the UC Hansen Agricultural Research and Extension Center. “Julie helped nursery growers in Ventura and Los Angeles counties to be proactive by establishing a cost-share program for improvements and providing on-farm assistance in implementing BMPs.”

One nursery that participated in Julie’s cost-share program was Plants Plus Growers Nursery in Somis.  “Julie helped me update the irrigation system and showed me how to do it right,” said José Acevo, owner and president of the nursery.  The grant funding enabled Acevo to install a system for capturing and recycling irrigation water.  Plants Plus states on its website that it now operates with zero runoff from irrigation and catches 100 percent of storm runoff for reuse.  

Newman expanded her understanding of water quality issues through a sabbatical study in Australia and New Zealand, which led her to work with researchers in other states on national water quality programs. She was the technical editor and an author of UC ANR’s “Greenhouse and Nursery Management Practices to Protect Water Quality,” which has been consulted by growers and researchers all over the world.

Newman was a leader in efforts to establish the UC Nursery and Floriculture Alliance (UCNFA). This program, associated with the UC ANR Floriculture and Nursery Workgroup, delivers workshops, hands-on demonstrations, field days and tours that benefit flower and nursery growers statewide. Many of the programs are presented in both English and Spanish. Newman has served as chair of the educational committee and co-editor of the newsletter.

“Julie’s coordinated efforts with UCNFA and our nursery association have been extremely valuable in providing programs and expert speakers that address key issues facing our industry,” said June Van Wingerden, president of the Santa Barbara County Flower and Nursery Growers Association and vice chair of the California Cut Flower Commission.

Over her career, Newman won numerous accolades. This included the Western Extension Directors’ Award of Excellence for team farm water quality project in 2008, California Association of Farm Advisors and Specialists Distinguished Service Award in 1994, Outstanding and Creative Academic Teamwork Award from ANR four times, and the prestigious Alex Laurie Award in 2007 for most outstanding team floriculture research paper. She also received two awards from the interior landscape industry for her pioneering work in the development of statewide educa­tional programs for interior landscapers and for establishing the California Interior Plantscape Association (now known as the Plantscape Industry Alliance). Most recently, she received the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers 2013 Research Award for her work benefitting the nursery industry. The award was presented at the California Nursery Conference in Etiwanda on Oct. 9.

“One of the most rewarding aspects of my career has been the opportunity to work as a team with other UC CE advisors and campus researchers to solve real industry problems and develop cutting-edge technologies,” Newman stated.

Barbara Allen-Diaz, UC vice president for Agriculture and Natural Resources, has granted Newman emeritus status. “I hope to continue to have positive impacts through my work as a Cooperative Extension advisor emeritus,” Newman said. She is currently working on the “Container Nursery Production and Business Management” manual as technical editor and an author. UC ANR plans to publish the manual next spring.

2016-05-31T19:44:18-07:00October 22nd, 2013|
Go to Top