Events and Training

Facts Not Fear on Growing Produce

Understanding Salinas Valley Farming Practices

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

Among the mix of registered dietitians conveying the accurate message, California Ag Today concluded our conversation about Facts Not Fear with Teresa Thorn, executive director of the Alliance for Food and Farming, located in Watsonville.

The Alliance hosted the second Facts Not Fear produce safety media tour, in conjunction with Markon Cooperative, for registered dieticians, health and nutrition writers, and bloggers last month in the Salinas Valley. Impacting the customer with the proper information is key.

Teresa Thorn

“We have a mix of writers and bloggers who again have that bullhorn to consumers,” Thorn said.

Social media was also used in conveying the message.

“They’re posting, and we’ve read it and retweeted a lot of their stuff so you can go to our social channels and see some of it,” she explained.

Speaking to growers was very important, and asking industry professionals to attend was vital to cultivating relationships.

“They loved being out in the field. We were always the last ones to get on the bus because they had so many questions,” Thorn said.

The group also does a roundtable discussion where they bring in scientists, shafts, regulators, farmers, and farming companies into the room at Markon’s Produce Expo.

“Building that network was really important,” Thorn said.

California Ag Today2018-10-10T16:43:27-07:00October 10th, 2018|

“Facts Not Fear” Tour Brings Consumers One Step Closer to the Farm

“Facts Not Fear” Produce Safety Media Tour Helps Bloggers Learn About Ag

By Mikenzi Meyers, Associate Editor

Closing the gap between the consumer and the farm is a continuous work in progress. Teresa Thorne, Executive Director of the Alliance for Food and Farming, is dedicated to making this happen. She helped put on the second “Facts Not Fear” Produce Safety Media Tour for registered dietitians, health and nutrition writers, and bloggers recently in the Salinas Valley, which directly focused on consumer concerns.

The “Fact Not Fear” tour allowed media influencers to see farming practices first hand, in hopes that they would share the information learned with the consumers that follow them.

Teresa Thorne

“We look at them to kind of be the consumer eyes and ears and really learn more about how we produce food,” Thorne explained.

Thorne also noted that one of the main topics brought up during the round table discussion was the great “organic versus conventional farming” debate. “The farmers that were there did a great job of talking about the fact that there’s actually more similarities than differences,” she said.

In a consumer-driven industry, educating people has never been more crucial.

“For them to come out and see firsthand what we do, and then share that back with those consumers and be able to address their concerns directly, it’s just really important for us.”

California Ag Today2018-09-26T15:01:11-07:00September 26th, 2018|

Gerawan Statement on the Results of the November 5, 2013 Decertification Election

The following statement was issued on September 18, 2018, by Gerawan Farming Inc. regarding TODAY’S Decertification Election Ballot Count

Fresno, CA — Our employees have been waiting since November 2013 for their votes to be counted. After a historic struggle, they achieved that right today, in spite of the efforts by the UFW and the millions of taxpayer dollars spent by the Agricultural Labor Relations Board to deny them that right.

The final vote count was 1,098 “No Union,” and 197 for the UFW. The employees overwhelmingly rejected the UFW as their bargaining representative – by a 5 to 1 margin – in spite of the ALRB’s last-minute, election day refusal to count approximately 640 ballots challenged by the UFW.

A secret ballot election is intended to embody and reflect the workers’ fundamental right to choose their representation. That right is at the heart of what the Agricultural Labor Relations Act is designed to protect and promote. Today’s vote tally leaves no doubt what our employees want. It is a ringing endorsement of their right to choose, and a repudiation of concerted, unlawful, and anti-democratic efforts to deny them that right.

We call on the UFW and the ALRB to respect the choices of farmworkers, to certify the results of the election, and to decertify the UFW. We call on the Legislature and the Governor to take immediate steps to ensure that the ALRB’s violation of the basic human rights of farmworkers never occurs again in California.

CONTACT: David Schwarz

(310) 277-1010

DSchwarz@irell.com

Featured Photo: Silvia Lopez, Gerawan Farm Employee, listens to the Sept. 18, 2018 Ballot Count of Nov. 2013 Decertification Election.

California Ag Today2018-09-18T17:24:54-07:00September 18th, 2018|

Food Bloggers, Dietitians Learn More About Produce Safety in Salinas

“Facts Not Fear” Educates Participants on Vegetable Production

News Release Edited By Patrick Cavanaugh

The Alliance for Food and Farming, in conjunction with Markon Cooperative, hosted its second “Facts Not Fear” Produce Safety Media tour last week in the Salinas Valley.

“Our goal is for … [registered dieticians], health and nutrition writers and bloggers to see firsthand the care and commitment farmers have for producing safe and wholesome foods. We believe we met that goal. But, what we learn from our tour guests continues to be just as valuable,” said Teresa Thorne, Executive Director of the Alliance for Food and Farming, based in Watsonville.

In addition to farm and facility tours, the AFF and Markon facilitated a round table meeting where tour guests were joined by farmers and farming companies, scientists, regulators and chefs for a free-flowing discussion that encompassed food safety, farming practices, food waste, pesticide use, food safety regulations, new technologies, health and nutrition, and consumer outreach.

The RDs, bloggers, and writers attending the tour reported they enjoyed the chance to tour the farms one day and then discuss what they saw with these experts. They also appreciated the opportunity to share their information needs and concerns directly during the round table discussion.

And, what were some of our key takeaways from guests? Consumers want transparent and honest communication regarding food safety and food production practices. The RDs, bloggers, and writers share The Alliance for Food and Farming’s concerns about produce safety misinformation and appreciate and need access to scientists and experts that can assist them when addressing consumer questions and correcting misconceptions.

“And, they were very impressed with the technological advancements they saw in the harvesting and processing of produce,” said Thorne.

“While the importance of seeing the fields and harvest and touring processing facilities cannot be underscored enough, meeting and connecting with the people growing our food, directly sharing concerns with farmers and scientists in a group and one-on-one setting and the expansion of their produce industry network is of equal importance for our guests,” Thorne explained.

“Our sincere thanks to everyone who allowed us to visit their farms, watch the harvest, view their processing facilities as well as joined us for the round table discussion,” Thorne said. “And, our thanks and appreciation to our tour partner, Markon Cooperative, for making this tour possible as well as our tour sponsors Cal-Giant Berry Farms, the California Strawberry Commission and the Produce Marketing Association.”

Thorne also praised the 2017 and 2018 tour alumni.

“We will keep the conversation going and look forward to learning more from the attendees as we all work toward our shared goal of increasing daily consumption of organic and conventional fruits and veggies,” she said.

The host, The Markon Cooperative, supplies the food service industry fresh fruits and vegetables.

California Ag Today2018-09-06T16:01:40-07:00September 6th, 2018|

Importance of Recall Insurance

Brokers Can help Growers Minimize Losses

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

California Ag Today recently met with Caitlin McGrath, the national product recall and contamination risk consultant with Lockton Insurance Brokers. Insurance is needed for California growers in case of recalls and contaminations. Lockton feels the most important part of finding the right recall insurance is the consulting element.

Caitlin McGrath, Lockton Insurance Brokers

“Now, what I think is the most important part of insurance coverage is the consulting element,” McGrath said.

These are consulting services that are available if you are a recall or contamination insurance purchaser that allows you access to specialists during and before incidents. One of the struggles that McGrath is noticing is that the quality assurance folks she speaks to are not insurance buyers.

“They are the ones finding out the information about all these services that are available, and it’s not always getting down into the field,” she said.

Preparation in the case of recalls or contamination is important.

“Fan Favorite, as I call them, do a lot of really great work on behalf of a lot of our clients,” McGrath said.

Some of that work can be Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) training and mock recalls. Financial costs are rising due to the increasing number of recalls.

“We believe that that’s the effect of [the Federal Information Security Management Act or] FISMA. They are getting larger in financial cost, and that has to do with the amount that is being recalled and the implications in terms of publicity,” McGrath said.

Recall plans need to cover all of the elements, not just mock recalls.

“The internal message is just as important and knowing who is going to handle what within an organization. Planning and practicing that is really critical to help mitigate if there is a problem,” McGrath explained.

“Having directives around the use of social media as an employee of an organization is very important, but just one department not talking to another is going to have a huge part in this,” she said.

Buying product contamination insurance is expensive, but necessary. Since McGrath started, the number of brokers has nearly tripled.

“I think that not having insurance is now the outlier, so I think the majority of folks are still buying,” she said.

California Ag Today2018-05-23T16:37:56-07:00May 23rd, 2018|

A Master Class On Drone Mapping

Learning About Drone Mapping

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

Greg Crutsinger, a Drone Ecologist with Scholar Farms, recently spoke at the Bayer Crop Science AgVocate Forum in Anaheim. Crutsinger directs consulting and training services with a special emphasis on drone vegetation and aerial drone mapping.

He’s a professional ecologist and a former professor who left academia to join the Silicon Valley drone industry, where he has worked with some of the leading drone hardware and software companies. Scholar Farms’ core values are to consistently seek to provide best in class training experiences for their clients.

Their list is growing, with clients across a range of commercial industry interested in mapping plants with drones. They include agricultural, forestry, environmental consulting, local and state agencies, GIS Surveys, scientific applications, service providers, and much more. Crutsinger spoke of the upcoming master classes Scholar Farms will be hosting

“We are launching our master class. We’re still dialing in the pricing, but it will be couple hundred bucks,” Crutsinger said. “If you take the course, we’ll walk you through from zero to hero. It’s all online, so it’s a self-paced video series that will give you an example data sets; you don’t even have to have a drone and it will give you the complete background on drone imagery, all the sensors, all the hardware, and you can just take it at your own pace.”

People with a wide range of job in skill levels are welcome to take the class.

“We’ve made it broad so it’s really just a master class for mapping plants. So you could be a grower, you can be an agronomist, you could be a service provider, such as flying drones for farms, but you could also be an ecologist or forester or a public agency,” explained Crutsinger.

“The tools are pretty similar but it’s the interpretation that folks will have to do for themselves, for their farm, or for their crop,” said Crutsinger. “We can’t do it all, but it will get you started and get you out there collecting data. Folks can follow @ScholarFarms on twitter, and we’re excited to talk to folks. We are a new company and we’re happy to be in the state.”

California Ag Today2018-03-09T16:08:04-08:00March 9th, 2018|

World Ag Expo is Feb 13-15

UC Davis Engineers, Economists, Advisors gather at World Ag Expo

By Diane Nelson, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences dean’s office

UC Davis specialists in everything from grapes to livestock to irrigation management will join staff and students at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, February 13-15, to chat with farmers, prospective students, alumni and leaders throughout the agricultural industry.

More than 100,000 people are expected to attend the 51st annual event, where 1,500 exhibitors display cutting-edge agricultural technology and equipment over a massive 2.6 million square feet of show grounds.

“We’re thrilled to be taking part in this incredible agricultural exhibition and reconnecting with alumni from the Central Valley and beyond,” said Sue Ebeler, an associate dean for the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and professor of viticulture and enology. “Faculty will be in town and available to discuss current agricultural research and our Aggie Ambassadors can answer questions about our majors and campus life.”

The UC Davis team will be located in the World Ag Women’s Pavilion. In addition to Professor Ebeler, dean of undergraduate academic programs for the college, seven faculty experts will attend portions of the three-day event. They include:

Rachel Goodhue, professor and chair of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics,
Deanne Meyer, Cooperative Extension specialist in livestock waste management,
Samuel Sandoval Solis, associate Cooperative Extension specialist in water management,
Ali Pourreza, assistant Cooperative Extension specialist in agricultural mechanization and precision agriculture,
Matt Fidelibus, Cooperative Extension specialist in grape production
Anna Denicol, assistant professor and veterinarian who specializes in reproductive biology, and
Jeff Mitchell, Cooperative Extension specialist in conservation agriculture.

UC Davis is ranked number 1 in the nation for agriculture, plant sciences, animal science and agricultural economics. The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences enrolled more than 2,000 new students in the fall of 2017, many of them from California’s Central Valley. The college offers 29 majors—everything from agriculture to nutrition to global disease biology.

“Prospective students can learn about all our majors and the career paths they provide,” Ebeler said. “At the World Ag Expo, we get to meet with agricultural leaders from around the world, as well as so many passionate young people who will become tomorrow’s leaders.”

Media contacts:

Diane Nelson, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences dean’s office, 530-752-1969, denelson@ucdavis.edu

Sue Ebeler, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences dean’s office, 530-752-7150, seebeler@ucdavis.edu

California Ag Today2018-02-07T17:42:01-08:00February 7th, 2018|

Entrepreneurship Forum is Biggest in Valley

Entrepreneurship Forum in Clovis on Nov. 15

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

The Central Valley Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum will be held in Clovis on Nov. 15th. This forum should be the largest event for innovation and entrepreneurship in the Central Valley. Industry leaders, angel investors, entrepreneurs and business owners will be there to share advice and strategies on how to make it in today’s economy.

“We are gearing up for our big event that will be held at Clovis at the Veterans Memorial District in the auditorium,” said Helle Peterson, manager of the Center of Irrigation Technology at California State University Fresno.

“We actually have the whole building because we have multiple things going on. We will have a series of workshops during the day that’s all around financing, investment, entrepreneurship, innovation. We also have five companies that will pitch their technology or their business to a group of potential investors. The whole community will be there, and we’re very excited about that,” Peterson said.

“There’s an evening program attached to that, which we call the stock exchange. It’s where we will have 20 entrepreneurs exhibiting their technology business and then the audience will go around and invest in these businesses with monopoly money. It will create excitement of which company we think will be more successful,” Peterson said.

The keynote speaker will be Paul Singh, the founder of disruption Corporation.

“He’s actually one of the founders of 500 Startup, which is a really well-known accelerator in the Bay area, and he can really talk to that entrepreneurship innovation space,” Peterson said.

Find out more about the event and register for it here.

California Ag Today2017-10-23T16:50:59-07:00October 23rd, 2017|

California Represented at Fresh Summit In New Orleans

PMA Fresh Summit Happening Now, Oct. 19-21

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

The Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit brings together produce and floral industry leaders, retail buyers, food safety experts and importers and exporters from around the globe. A thousand exhibitors representing over 60 countries are at the Fresh Summit in New Orleans this week.

Alex Ott

“It’s a great opportunity to continue to meet with consumers and buyers and get the message out about the availability of California produce,” said Alex Ott, executive director of the California Apple Commission, California Blueberry Commission and the California Olive Committee told us about the Summit.

The Buy California Program will be a big part of the Fresh Summit this year, and Ott noted that it has been very positive for California apples and blueberries and olives.

“Getting the message out that California isn’t just Hollywood, but a big agricultural state as well, and we are there representing apples, blueberries and olives.

Regarding the 2017 blueberry crop, Ott noted that harvest went well and prices were good, however the price for processed blueberries were down this year.

“We were running about 10 days behind this year, but overall it was a very comparable year to last year as well. Not all the final numbers are in yet, but the fresh market was very, very good. Processed was not good,” Ott said.

“There was a lot of fruit out there and the processed prices were down significantly. And that had a huge impact on how many blueberries actually went to processing,” he said.

“The other unfortunate incident at the beginning of the year, is a lot of our friends in Georgia and some of the other southeast States, experienced a freeze, which impacted the crop, but on the other hand, was … good movement for California fresh blueberries,” Ott said.

California Ag Today2017-10-20T15:43:22-07:00October 20th, 2017|

Spray Safe Meeting Nov. 17 in Modesto

Event Organized by Stanislaus County Farm Bureau

By Laurie Greene, Founding Editor

Wayne Zipser, executive director of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, announced the Farm Bureau will hold a Safe Spray and Safety Event on November 17, at the Modesto Junior College’s West Campus Ag Pavilion, located at 2201 Blue Gum Ave. in Modesto. The Stanislaus County Farm Bureau is a non-profit, volunteer membership organization that provides many programs like Spray Safe to assist its members and to educate the general public.

“The Spray Safe meeting will be a big event,” Zipser said, “not only because will it cover how to safely apply pesticides, but also provide tractor safety training, [pesticide application] mask fit testing and physicals [if needed for mask fit testing] for farm employees.”

“Registration opens at 7 AM,” Zipser explained. “A grower panel will start the day at 8 AM with a discussion of the safety and procedure challenges encountered by some of our folks who do pesticide applications. Given the new rules for pesticide applications around schools and preschools, we want to hear how they cope with and mitigate these new challenges.”

The Safe Spray Meeting will also feature a trade show. Attendance is free, courtesy of event sponsors, and lunch is provided.

Additional topics will include: drift prevention, school notification requirements, calibration, sexual harassment prevention, equipment safety and heat illness prevention. The meeting also offers 4 hours of Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) Continuing Education (CE) credit.

The all-Ag committee coordinating the event includes the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, the Ag Commissioner’s Office, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE).

For more information, contact the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau at 209-522-7278.

California Ag Today2017-10-13T15:29:16-07:00October 13th, 2017|