Pyrethroids Under Review

EPA Reviewing Pyrethroids

Ag Industry Urged to Comment

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

The pyrethroid insecticide class is in review for ecological risk assessment by the Environmental Protection Agency. John Cummings, Registration and Regulatory Affairs Manager at chemical company FMC believes that the assessment could have a large impact on producers.

Agricultural leaders have urged all to comment on the need to keep this chemistry available. Please share your thoughts by clicking here.

“At FMC, we’re very concerned with the content of that risk assessment that they’ve identified that there’s high risk concerns to certain aquatic organisms, not necessarily fish or anything like that, but small aquatic organisms,” Cummings said. “Our concern, as a company who manufactures these pyrethroids, which are used in California, is that the EPA has not used the best science that’s available. They’ve done a very high level simple cursory risk assessment that has identified these concerns.”

More than 3,500 registered insecticides contain a pyrethroid. Many pyrethroids are household products and are not limited to agricultural usage.

“Our hope, as a pyrethroid company, is that EPA will consider better data which FMC and our industry consortium, the Pyrethroid Working Group, are developing to incorporate into this risk assessment. We need the EPA to look at the real world of how these products are used. With that, that risk assessment should look much better and remove any of these risk concerns that EPA currently has,” he said.

There have been other actions conducted by the EPA around the use of the best available data and the best science in risk assessment. These kind of precedents will impact production agriculture in the U.S. as well as California.

“EPA should be using the best science to make the right regulatory decisions while protecting the environment,” Cummings said. “It is very important, and I think it’s important, too, that EPA understand the implications of taking a conservative approach and making regulatory decisions that may impact production. I think EPA needs to understand how important it is to consider the benefit of production agriculture in feeding the world.”

It is important to keep many pest control products available to prevent the overuse of one product. Pesticide resistance is a growing problem, and it is essential that producers are able to keep all of their options open.

“Pyrethroids are a very important element of integrated pest management, as well as resistance management. Growers today are facing very complex insect control problems,” Cummings said.

“It’s necessary to have many tools in the toolbox to control insects. We have multiple classes of chemistry, but based on regulatory decisions, the EPA could potentially remove some of these important tools, which puts more pressure on other tools that remain in the toolbox, and insects may become resistant to many of these tools,” Cummings explained.

“Pyrethroids are a critical broad spectrum insecticide that are very affordable and control a lot of different insects that are economically important,” Cummings said.

Bob Klein, the manager of the Pistachio Research Board, agrees that pyrethroids are essential to pest management.

“The use of pyrethroids goes hand-in-hand with the use of soft chemicals like the growth regulators, or some of the neonicotinoids, or some of the other new chemistries we have,” Klein said.

“It guards against resistance development in those other chemicals as well. The inclusion of pyrethroids by the University of California, and many other Integrated Pest Management manuals, shows that pyrethroids are an important part of any IPM program. IPM programs are the way that people control pests in their orchards,” Klein said.

The risk assessment is currently open for comment and will remain open until March 31^st.

Comment: Here

Patrick Cavanaugh2021-05-12T11:05:43-07:00January 26th, 2017|

Citrus Industry Fighting Argentine Lemons

Argentine Lemons May Bring Disease

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

California lemon growers are feeling the squeeze due to the startling news of the USDA’s ruling to allow Argentine lemon imports into the U.S. Those lemons from Argentina could be carrying an invasive insect, along with a disease not found in California.

“It’s a big concern,” said Joel Nelsen, President of the California Citrus Mutual based in Exeter. One of the main issues of concern is the citrus black spot and a certain mite that can vector another citrus disease called leprosis. “I’m not too worried about the Huanglongbing disease from Argentina because fruit doesn’t vector that, but the mites, they hide under the calix end of a naval orange, and the citrus black spot is on the surface of skin, and there’s no known cure for either one of them” Nelsen said.

Of course, neither this pest or disease is present in California’s agriculture. Nelsen thinks that, “being a fresh-oriented industry, both of those two – pest and disease – could be very detrimental to our fresh production in California. We’re very disappointed with the USDA ruling.”

Citrus with black spots would be quite the eyesore in the produce aisles of California. “It’s a vehement disagreement between the USDA and us. Citrus black spot does exist in Florida,” Nelsen said. “It was introduced there, but no one knows how. It was discovered, and it has been spreading. Now, instead of having one block of fruit, one county, you have over a dozen different counties with citrus black-spotted citrus.

“It’s not as draconian in Florida as it would be here because the Florida product is mostly juice, whereas ours goes fresh” Nelsen said. “No consumer wants to go to the store and find black spots on citrus. Plus, the disease leads to early decay on the exterior of the fruit. It would be a devastating disease to us.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2017-01-15T22:45:31-08:00January 15th, 2017|

Orange County Farm Bureau Endowment

$1 Million Endowment For Orange County Farm Bureau

By Melissa Moe, Associate Editor

The University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Orange County Farm Bureau have partnered up to ensure agricultural education activities in Orange County are funded for years to come through a million-dollar endowment.

Glenda Humiston, Vice President of UC Ag and Natural Resources had this to say about the recent partnership: “What Orange County Farm Bureau did today by creating an endowed chair, putting half a million dollars into the endowment – which was matched by [UC President Janet Napolitano] with another half million – is going to create an endowment that’s going to fund agricultural education activities in Orange County and the surrounding region for decades to come.”

The UC is hoping that it just doesn’t stop in Orange County. Partnerships like the one made in Orange County could benefit counties all over the state.

“This is a way for us to make sure the resources we need are there and that they’re targeted for the needs identified by individuals at their local area,” Humiston said.

Humiston said the UC worked very closely with Orange County to determine how that endowment would work.

“A million-dollar endowment typically will create between $40,000 and $45,000 a year. In this particular case, what Orange County Farm Bureau designated was for the funding to go to the director of the South Coast Research Extension Center. That director will use it for agricultural educational programming at the site,” she said.

Patrick Cavanaugh2017-01-12T14:54:00-08:00January 12th, 2017|

Combatting The Water Board’s Plan

Water Diversion Could Cause Businesses to Leave, Group Says

By Brian German, Associate Broadcaster

The State Water Resources Control Board recently held a public hearing to receive input on its Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan. The proposal would force the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts to dedicate 40 percent of unimpaired flows along the Tuolumne River to benefit fish and wildlife. David White is the CEO of Opportunity Stanislaus, a company that is all about improving the economic vitality of Stanislaus County. He noted how the proposal will negatively impact the local economy.

“We’re going to lose at least 14,000 jobs, good paying jobs. … They didn’t take into consideration all the processors we have here,” White said.

The Bay-Delta Plan is required to be updated every three years by the State Water Board. The purpose is to identify the best use of water supplies and set quality objectives for the Bay-Delta. The Plan also establishes a system of implementation for achieving those water quality objectives. The effects of the proposal would be detrimental to some of the major operations in the area.

“You talk about E. & J. Gallo. You think about Del Monte, Seneca, Stanislaus Food Products. We have multi-billion dollar companies here that depend on water as their life blood. If they don’t have their water … they might have to leave. They’re going to have to go where they can find that natural resource,” White said.

Historically, Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts have managed surface water and groundwater in a natural, interdependent manner to keep groundwater quantity and quality sustainable. Because of their policies, both districts’ groundwater sub-basins are the only ones in the San Joaquin Valley that not listed in conditions of critical overdraft. The current proposal from the State Water Board would make it nearly impossible for the region to establish groundwater sustainability. It will also cause some operations to consider relocating.

“You can’t process food without water, and you can’t build an economy, you can’t sustain an economy like we have here, without water. It’s a vital resource,” White said.

Opportunity Stanislaus is an economic development organization that provides services to businesses that will help them expand and succeed. “Our job is to help local businesses grow, help attract new businesses and help really drive a workforce, helping to improve the workforce here locally,” White explained.

Fighting back against proposals like the one from the State Water Board is exactly what the organization stands for. “We’re totally behind defeating this. … Our board, our investors, we’re all about trying to sustain our local economy,” White said.

For more information go to https://worthyourfight.org

Patrick Cavanaugh2017-01-10T21:18:33-08:00January 10th, 2017|

Borlaug: Innovation is Critical to Scale up Food Production

If You’re Anti-Innovation, Bring a Solution!

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

The use of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, is an important topic to many consumers. We recently talked with Julie Borlaug, granddaughter of Norman Borlaug who earned a Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his contributions to world food production and supply, to shine some light on volume of contradictory information available.

Julie Borlaug said, “I think our industry has not done a good job communicating and being transparent. The first [GMO] products we brought were not really for the consumer; they were more for the farmer. We also had scientists doing the speaking, and that is just not great. I mean, to moms, female voices are really more important.”

Julie Borlaug

Borlaug noted the preponderance of public misinformation can be a serious problem. “I saw something a few years ago by the Food Babe where she was telling people not to buy frozen vegetables because they were not healthy. That is totally incorrect. You are telling someone who is low income and who wants to provide vegetables and nutritious food for their child, that the option for frozen food is off the table and they can buy only fresh organic. They don’t have the capacity to do that. That is just false. That is fear, and I have a really big issue with that,” noted Borlaug.

California Wheat

In addition, many non-government organizations (NGOs) condemn the use of GMOs. Nevertheless, the use of genetically modified wheat varieties has helped to transform agricultural production in Mexico, Asia, and Latin America, thanks to Norman Borlaug.

Like her grandfather, who established the World Food Prize thirty years ago, Julie Borlaug supports proactive action, rather than spreading misleading information. “You cannot be anti-hunger and anti-innovation. If you are against innovation, bring a solution to the table,” Borlaug said.

“Quit spending millions and millions of dollars on PR campaigns that sell fear and hate, and create chaos. Come with a solution of your own, because we’re open to any system as long as we can feed people and the food is healthy, sustainable and nutritious,” she said.

California Ag Today2017-07-20T19:45:01-07:00December 7th, 2016|

Winegrape Legacy of Nat DiBuduo

Nat DiBuduo Has Long History of Growing Winegrapes

By Laurie Greene, Editor

A 16-year member of the Fresno-based Allied Grape Growers, a statewide marketing cooperative for winegrape farmers from major winegrape growing regions of California, Nat DiBuduo currently serves as the organization’s president and CEO. Likewise, Nat DiBuduo’s family has a long history of growing winegrapes and was the first family to plant varietal winegrapes in the San Joaquin Valley more than 40 years ago.

Eager to discuss this year’s crop, DiBuduo said, “Harvest 2016 is upon us. We started to harvest Pinot Grigio grapes last week that will be going into wine. We’ll be starting Thompson Seedless this week that will go into low-sugar wine and champagne programs,” he noted, adding, “We’re looking forward to it, we are ready for it, and we’ll go forward.”

Established in 1951, Allied Grape Growers has been providing competitive marketing services, including price negotiations, ever since to its members, which now total nearly 600 from major winegrape regions of the state. DiBuduo summed it up by saying, “There’s plenty of demand, and we think pricing will be better than last year. We’re optimistic.”

Allied also sponsors events aimed at improving workplace health and safety, which also reduces workplace injury and illness costs. In light of the recent heat wave in California, DiBuduo noted one of their top priorities is heat illness prevention. “That’s why most of the winegrape harvesting will be done at night time, which helps the workers,” he said. “So for those people who are picking table grapes or doing other work in the field, we want to make sure that they’re out of the field before it gets hot; practicing good, safe heat stress prevention; and getting plenty of water, time out, and shade.”

“We’re dependent on our labor force,” DiBuduo encapsulated, “and we want to make sure we’re protecting them. And preventing heat stress is important to us,” he said.

California Ag Today2016-08-05T09:51:46-07:00August 5th, 2016|

Ricchiuti on World Nut & Dried Fruit Conference

Ricchiuti is Positive on Almond Industry

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

Pat Ricchiuti, a third-generation diversified fresh fruit, olive and nut crop grower-packer-shipper and owner of P-R Farms in Clovis, attended the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council (INC) World Congress on Nuts & Dried Fruit in San Diego early this month. Having met with industry handlers and traders from countries across the globe to discuss international almond prices, Ricchiuti’s observations were very positive for American nut growers.

Pat Ricchiuti, owner of P-R Farms

“The greatest part of the conference was meeting a lot of good people—current customers and new people who handle and trade almonds globally,” said Ricchiuti.“We talked about the economic defaults in the Middle East, India and China and how they have affected current supply and demand.”

Ricchiuti said, “Everyone was questioning the 2 billion pound-subjective estimate for the almond crop,” USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) early forecast about the coming Fall 2016 California almond crop developed after it is set [unripe nuts have emerged, ready to mature].

Many thought the subjective estimate was low—that more of a crop is out there. Some handlers and traders,“fear that if we don’t have a good progress shipment report for this next month, it would be a disadvantage,” he said.

But, having a more positive outlook, Ricchiuti held that the crop is at least that amount and could be more. “It’s a reality but it shouldn’t scare everyone in the marketplace that the price should go down any more. We need to be positive and I think the price can even move up a little more with the shipment reports being positive,” he said.

“We keep positive on shipment reports because everyone’s been buying hand-to-mouth. The warehouses are empty; there’s no one stockpiling almonds, even at the low prices. There’s hesitation in buying, but they’re buying on need and it’s picking up,” noted Ricchiuti.

Ricchiuti stated, “We just need to get these people away from thinking it’s doom and gloom and the sky is falling. It is not; it’s something that is very positive. First of all, there will be plenty of almonds to sell,” he elaborated.

“We had a good shipment month last month and this month looks like it’s going to be good. People are still hungry for almonds; they still want almonds, but pricing is disrupting the market.”

“Even if it’s more than two billion,” Ricchiuti commented, “we think there’s a world market and demand from the consumer for almonds will continue.” He expects they will have less carryover [unsold crop], which will help with diminishing supply. “We feel it’s stabilized now. It has come up somewhat, about 50 cents a pound in the last few weeks.” he said, “so that’s been very positive.”

Ricchiuti explained, “We are looking forward to the objective estimate [in late June to early July] to really hone in where we are, what the May shipment reports will be, and move on from there. We just need to keep a very positive marketing attitude, keep selling almonds and keep selling the consumer on how nutritious and how good they are for you.”

Ricchiuti said conference topics included the immense nutritional value of almonds, how good they are for you and the diversified uses—”more so than any of the other nuts. We need to teach this younger generation to include almonds into their lifestyle. ‘Hey, have a handful of almonds every day.'”

California Ag Today2016-06-15T17:51:01-07:00June 15th, 2016|

Food Waste Solutions Include the American Farmer

American Farmers are Part of the Food Waste Solution

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

At the Maximum Residue Level (MRL) Harmonization Workshop in San Francisco earlier this month, California Ag Today spoke to Jay Vroom, CEO, CropLife America about food waste. This is part one in a two-part series; part two will be published on June 21, 2016.

Jay Vroom, president and CEO of CropLife America (CLA) launched the MRL workshop with a discussion of food waste in America and the strong message that we can all do better. We can all reduce food waste in our homes and restaurants; farmers readily reduce food waste in their growing practices. Vroom said famers have the opportunity to spread the word on how they are a big part of the solution in reducing food waste.

Jay Vroom, president and CEO, CropLife America

Jay Vroom, CEO, CropLife America

“Readily-available facts about food waste on social media are often sensitive and misunderstood,” said Vroom, particularly the comparison between the large amounts of wasted food every year and poverty levels. Vroom said circulating speculation includes the claim, “Roughly 80 billion pounds of food is wasted annually and supposedly accounts for an estimated 20% of landfill volume.

The majority of food waste comes from the consumer level, Vroom noted, and includes school cafeterias, restaurants and institutional facilities. “Yet, growers are just as important because the product they are producing suffers an avoidable fate in early production,” Vroom said.

The grower’s voice deserves to be recognized at the start of the food waste conversation—where it begins—in production losses. “Farmers do not get credit where food waste has already been reduced,” Vroom stated. “We need to highlight the fact that food loss is already prevented because of modern agricultural technologies.”

“When we do landscape surveillance on the internet and elsewhere,” he said, “there’s virtually no voice of the American farmer in this conversation about food waste.” The farmer’s voice is crucial to determine the time their goods get to the consumer and the time they are thrown out, Vroom emphasized. “A consumer may have produce that goes bad within three days of purchase. If biotechnology could increase that time by a day or even two, the amount of food waste could be reduced,” Vroom said.

Part two of the series, to be published on June 20, will cover the ways Vroom recommends ensuring farmers have their voices heard and how bioscience could eliminate food waste.

Washington, D.C.-based CLA, the largest trade association that represents pesticide manufacturers, distributors and formulators in America, supports farmers and growers with environmental policies based on scientific facts.

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:05:55-07:00June 13th, 2016|

RAIN Damages Alfalfa; Benefits Wheat

Above-Average California Rain Affects Larry Hunn’s Crops

by Emily McKay Johnson, Associate Editor

For fourth-generation farmer Larry Hunn of Hunn & Merwin & Merwin, Inc., based out of Clarksburg, Calif., the price of alfalfa is low this year due to water damage from late rains. Nevertheless, cannery tomatoes, cucumbers, safflower and wheat are looking pretty hopeful.

Larry Hunn

Mold from rainfall is a big issue in growing alfalfa; it not only reduces the quality of the perennial grass, but it reduces the nutritional value as well. Dairy farmers won’t buy it. “It has really depressed our alfalfa prices.” said Hunn.

On the bright side, rainfall has been beneficial for Hunn’s above-average winter wheat and safflower crops this year. “We had nice rainfall spread out through the whole winter,” he said. “It didn’t come all at one time and flood us out, so that was good.”

Hunn’s hard red winter wheat is drying down in the field, and will be harvested mid-June and sent mainly to flour mills for bread making. The safflower is still growing and looking healthy on a few hundred acres—acres that have been in his family for four generations—and won’t “come off” until late August or September.

Beginning in South Sacramento on 47^th Avenue, Larry Hunn’s great-grandfather started farming in the late 1800s, and his grandfather moved to the Delta in the early 1920s, where they’ve been farming ever since. Hunn & Merwin & Merwin Inc. now operates on close to 3,000 acres in Yolo and Sacramento Counties.

Hunn’s other crops have already been contracted with a buyer. “All the cannery tomatoes are in the ground growing, and they look pretty good. We’re in the process of planting cucumbers, that’s just a continuous until the first of August,” mentioned Hunn.

The only disadvantage are the cool breezes from snow atop the Sierra Mountain range that is keeping temperatures low on the cucumbers and tomatoes. Hunn remarked, “I wish it would warm up a little bit. We’re only in the mid-seventies, low eighties, and it would be nice to be up in the mid-eighties or low nineties.”

Overall it’s been a decent year for the veteran Clarksburg grower.

(Featured photo: Alfalfa on edge of field of Larry Hunn, Hunn & Merwin & Merwin, California Ag Today)

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:03:02-07:00June 6th, 2016|

California Depends on National Dairy Month

National Dairy Month Encourages Americans to Eat More Cheese

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

Across the country, National Dairy Month will be celebrated during the month of June to promote the consumption of dairy products. Though California is the number one dairy state, California dairy farmers have been experiencing a decline in dairy production amidst high labor costs, competition from other states and declining profit.

Founded in 1937 as National Milk Month with the goal of increasing milk consumption to stabilize the dairy surplus, the holiday was renamed National Dairy Month to encompass all dairy products.

Anja Raudabaugh, CEO of Western United Dairymen

Anja Raudabaugh, CEO of Western United Dairymen in Modesto, Calif., is hopeful that celebrating National Milk Month will educate more consumers about the health benefits of diary products, increase dairy consumption opportunities, open more markets and enable the lagging dairy industry in California to better compete with other states.

States such as South Dakota and Wisconsin have ramped up their milk production significantly, which has stressed California producers to even the gap. According to Raudabaugh, the term oversupply doesn’t necessarily apply to the dairy conditions in this state. She remarked, “We’re actually in a 17-month decline at the moment, which is the longest decline [in milk production] we have ever been in.”

The dairy industry has managed to be very competitive with wages, another stressor, but the high labor costs are hurting production companies. “As things get more and more competitive globally,” said Raudaubaugh, “we are going to continue to struggle to figure out how those margins play out.”

“The margin is going to continue to shrink, especially as wages get more and more competitive,” Raudaubaugh observed. “Being a worker on a dairy farm is certainly very wage-competitive throughout the agricultural industry. We cannot keep workers at anything less than about $16 or $15 an hour as it is, so it’s a good time to be a worker in the dairy industry. It’s a good craft and skill to have if you become a milker.”

Given Western United Dairymen’s mission to promote and administer programs and policies aimed at maintaining the longevity of the dairy industry on the West Coast, and as the milk industry struggles and continues to face tough times, Raudabaugh has a solution: “Eat more cheese.”

Enter: National Cheese Day every June 4! According to the California Milk Advisory Board website and California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) 2014 data, California is the #2 cheese producing state—right behind Wisconsin—and the #1 producer of Monterey Jack cheese. An amazing 43% of California’s cow’s milk is used to make California cheese, which is produced by more than 50 California cheesemakers.

Even beyond cheese, Raudabaugh said, “There is a tremendous amount of diversity in the way people have exposure to dairy products they don’t even know about. There are yogurts and sour creams, ice creams, and whey products.” She believes market sectors should understand more about the dairy products consumers are exposed to every day to increase not only more milk consumption, but higher-value dairy as well.

“The diversification of the product line is really what has kept us in business,” reflects Raudabaugh, “It’s what keeps us looking to the horizon and looking to the future optimistically, even in the face of some pretty bad milk prices right now.”

Remember California dairy producers, particularly, this month—National Dairy Month, and try a new dairy product. And discover a new cheese tomorrow, June 4, National Cheese Day!

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:17:13-07:00June 3rd, 2016|

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