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Agri-Bytes
July 2009
In This Edition:
- California's processing tomato production remains strong
- Northeastern tomato, potato growers gird for late blight
- Keep your eyes peeled as sweet corn pest moves eastward
- Sanitation is key to control melon stunting disease
California's processing tomato production remains strong
Despite a lingering drought and water shortages, California's processing tomato production shouldn't take a hit on the production side.
But marketers may find softer demand, as consumers trade down to less-expensive private label brands.
Those are the findings of a recent report issued by New York-based Rabobank.
“The impact of California’s drought is expected to have limited impact on processing tomato acreage this year because processors took steps to secure supplies,” Marieke de Rijke, vice president of Rabobank’s Food & Agribusiness and Advisory department, said in a new release. “In fact, we’re seeing some farmers shift to growing processing tomatoes because of the higher expected returns than they are receiving from crops grown for the dairy and other sectors badly hit by the economic crisis.”
Mike Montna, chief executive officer of the Sacramento-based California Tomato Growers Assocation, says the fact that growers planted about 32,000 more acres this season seems to reflect that sentiment.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported in late May that processors contracted for 13.3 million tons, up 14 percent from 2008. California growers reported planting 308,000 acres, up 11 percent from 278,000 in 2008.
Nationally, growers are expected to plant 327,000 acres.
California accounts for about 95 percent of that production. The state has endured three years of drought.
In addition, many growers who rely on federal water deliveries have seen those reduced by up to 90 percent because of court rulings on endangered species protection.
In Fresno County, where growers on the Westside are served by the federally supplied Westlands Water District, acreage has remained about the same.
But acreage in Kern County jumped 92 percent to 25,000 acres from 13,000 acres in 2008.
San Joaquin County growers planted 44,000 acers, nearly 33 percent more than last year.
"If you look at the county report from this year compared to last year, you can see that the two major county increases—San Joaquin and Kern—have different water supplies," Montna says.
De Rijke credits strong contract prices compared with input costs for keeping processing tomatoes an attractive crop compared with other commodities.
Nevertheless, Montna says some growers have had to install wells to ensure a reliable water supply. Depending on location and water depth, a well can cost between $250,000 and $500,000.
Fertilizer costs have dropped since the highs of the past few years, but many growers didn't enjoy the decreases when they were preparing ground after last fall's harvest.
"When you look at the input costs, they were still high when a lot of the growers were doing pre-plant prep and ground treatments [last fall]," Montna says.
Harvest is just getting rolling, so Montna says it's too early to tell how this season's crop will pan out as far as yields and quality.
Over the past three decades, increasing pizza, pasta and salsa consumption has driven processed tomato product sales higher, according to the Rabobank report.
But as the recession bites consumers' pocket books, they are eating out less, softening foodservice demand for those products, according to the report. Foodservice accounts for about one-third of all processed tomato product sales.
Although demand has remained about the same at the retail level, consumers continue to try to save money by trading down to less expensive private label brands, according to the report. The result is maintenance of sales volumes but a decline in sales value.
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Northeastern tomato, potato growers gird for late blight
Late blight, the same organism that caused the Irish potato famine, is causing concern for tomato and potato growers in the Northeast.
Infections have been confirmed in commercial and residential tomatoes from Ohio to Maine, according to a news release.
The disease, which is caused by the highly infectious fungus Phytophthora infestans, also has shown up in a Pennsylvania potato field.
The 2009 outbreak differs from previous ones in two ways.
It's the earliest the disease has been confirmed over such a broad area. And never before has such an extensive distribution of infected plants occurred.
The source of infection was identified as garden tomato transplants sold at big box stores and garden centers under the name Bonnie Plants, according to the University of Massachusetts.
Late blight can be spread by movement of infected plant material or through splashing rain or wind currents. Winds can carry spores several miles.
Optimum conditions include high humidity or moisture and temperatures ranging from 60 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Symptoms include small olive green or brown lesions on the upper surface of the foliage or the stems.
Under moist conditions, there is a white, fuzzy growth on the underside of the leaves where the lesions occur. But the absence of this growth does not rule out late blight.
Eventually the lesions turn black, leaves start to die, and then the entire plant dies.
Under the right conditions, the disease can spread rapidly, infecting entire fields within days.
The University of Massachusetts recommends using fungicides as protectants, even before symptoms appear, and spraying on a regular program.
To confirm a diagnosis, contact the UMass Plant Problem Lab online or at (413) 545-3209.
For more information on late blight, including symptoms, visit The University of Massachusett's vegetable Web site.
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Keep your eyes peeled as sweet corn pest moves eastward
A corn pest, typically found in the West, has continued to move eastward and is raising concerns now in Ohio.
Photo courtesy of Ohio State University
The Western bean cutworm was first caught in Ohio in 2006, and traps have annually picked up the pest in increasing numbers, says Andy Michel, a Ohio State University Extension entomologist in Wooster.
By July 14, 2008, traps statewide had picked up 10 adult moths. This year by the same time, they'd caught more than 70, he says.
In Ohio, the moth has been trapped as far east as Wayne County. For a map of the most recent trap catches, visit http://entomology.osu.edu.
The pest feeds on the plant's tassels, silk and ears. Both field corn and sweet corn are susceptible.
So far, Michel says he has yet to hear of the pest causing economic damage in the state. But that's not the case elsewhere.
In Nebraska, where the Western bean cutworm is established, one larva per corn plant at dent stage can reduce yields by 3.7 bushels per acre.
In Colorado, yield losses were estimated at 30 percent to 40 percent in plants with heavily infested ears.
Although growers in Ohio have not seen economic damage, he says they should trap and begin scouting if they pick up adult moths.
The most critical time is about a week before tasseling, when female moths are seeking places on which to lay eggs, Michel says.
"It does appear that Western bean cutworm prefer corn that is just pollinating to tasseling," he says.
Larvae feed on the silk, then move into the ears to feed. In heavy infestations, they also may chew through the husks to get to the ear.
The traps are relatively inexpensive and easy to build from a plastic milk jug, Michel says.
For directions on how to build a trap, click here.
Lures are available from Gemplers and Great Lakes IPM for a few dollars apiece.
Each lure lasts three to four weeks, and a total of two lures are needed per trap per season from the end of June through mid-August.
Several insecticides are registered to control the pest. But timing is critical, Michel says.
The optimum treatment timing is when the larvae are still exposed and aren't hiding in the whorls, where they will be protected from the chemicals.
Western bean cutworm larvae can be confused with other corn pests, such as corn earworm.
Western bean cutworm larvae have two broad, brown stripes behind the head and corn earworm larvae don't.
Corn earworm larvae also are cannibalistic, whereas Western bean cutworm aren't. So if you find multiple larvae on a corn plant, chances are it's Western bean cutworm, Michel says.
For more information, click here. To view images of Western bean cutworm, visit http://entomology.osu.edu.
If you should trap adult moths, contact your local county Extension agent, or Michael, Ohio State University Extension vegetable specialist Celeste Welty or associate entomology professor Ron Hammond so they can monitor the pest's movement.
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Sanitation is key to control melon stunting disease
Recent research that shows a viral disease originally thought confined only to melons can also infest a host of other plants has reinforced the call for field sanitation.
The whitefly-transmitted cucurbit yellow stunting disorder virus was first identified in Arizona and California in 2006. In severely infested fields, it can stunt plants, reduce plant vigor and reduce the plant's ability to produce sweet fruit.
Photo by Vicky Boyd
Plants infested with the virus have a characteristic yellowing, upturned leaves and leaf crumpling.
Originally, researchers thought it was limited to members of the cucurbit family—squash, melons, pumpkins, gourds and cucumbers.
But Judith Brown, a plant pathology professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson, has found that the same virus can infest a host of other plants, including lettuce, common snap bean, alkali mallow and Malva parviflora, and ground cherry.
Alkali mallow is common in salty, poorly drained fields of the Imperial Valley.
In the Yuma, Ariz., area, John Palumbo, a University of Arizona research entomologist, says ground cherry is commonly found in orchards, along ditchbanks and edges of fields, and in residential areas.
Palumbo says he's sent in three samples of ground cherries that tested positive for the virus that he pulled from melon fields this spring.
Even when melons aren't present, the alternate hosts can act as a virus reservoir and provide a bridge for it to survive from one melon season to the next, he says.
Brown's research has added new impetus to field sanitation, Palumbo says.
"Sanitation is the first line of defense," he says. "The more sanitation, the better."
Palumbo has always pressed growers to control volunteer melons all summer long to reduce the virus bridge. Now he's urging growers to control weeds, too.
In addition, he recommends that melon fields be isolated as much as possible from orchards and residential areas that may harbor the alternate hosts. If possible, the field also should be isolated from other whitefly hosts, such as cotton.
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