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Agri-Bytes
October 2009
In This Edition:
- Survey: Food safety rules prompt changes in grower practices
- Consider lime sulfur only if you had a cherry powdery mildew problem
- Help us find the next ‘Potato Man’
Survey: Food safety rules prompt changes in grower practices
By Vicky Boyd, Editor
Nearly 40 percent of growers who responded to a recent survey say they’ve changed their practices to meet food safety measures.
The question was part of a much broader survey of farmers and ranchers that New York-based Rabobank conducts twice a year, says Heather McElrath, communications specialist.
“It’s just to get a hold of what farmers and ranchers are thinking about what’s going on economically,” McElrath says.
The food safety topic was chosen because it’s a hot issue on growers’ minds, she says. The issue-related question will change with each survey. The next survey will be conducted sometime in March or April 2010.
Between Aug. 3 and 18, 455 computer-assisted telephone interviews were conducted with producers who grossed more than $250,000 annually. Respondents were put in three groups, based on farm location: North Central/Midwest, South and West.
The most common change with regards to food safety was improved record keeping, with nearly 64 percent saying they’d beefed up their paperwork.
About 39 percent say they had made changes to their facilities and processes to meet food safety recommendations.
Of the 60 percent who responded they hadn’t made changes, farmers in the North Central/Midwest region were the least enthusiastic. Nearly two-thirds of producers in that region say they hadn’t changed their practices.
That compares with only half in the South and West who said they hadn’t changed.
To read more highlights of the survey, visit https://www.rabobankamerica.com.
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Consider lime sulfur only if you had a cherry powdery mildew problem
By Vicky Boyd, Editor
2009 was one of the worst years in memory for powdery mildew in Pacific Northwest sweet cherries.
As a result, a group of four Washington State University Extension educators—Mike Bush, Gary Grove, Gwen Hoheisel and Karen Lewis—have drafted suggestions that should help reduce powdery mildew incidence during the 2010 crop season.
The key is an application of lime sulfur just before leaf fall, which is just about now, says Bush, an Extension education in Yakima County.
The idea is to reduce the number of mildew spores on the leaves, thereby reducing the overwintering population. Once the leaves fall on the ground, controlling the organisms is much more difficult.
Applying lime sulfur also is a resistance-management tool since it uses a different mode of action than most other commercial fungicides, he says.
“We’re a little concerned about powdery mildew resistance to some of the newer fungicides we have,” Bush says. “This lime sulfur has a unique mode of action, and it’s not a mode of action that the fungus is likely to develop resistance to.
“So this is a pest risk-management strategy as well as a fungicide management strategy.”
But growers should only consider the lime sulfur suggestion if they had a high incidence of powdery mildew in their orchards during 2009, Bush says.
The powdery mildew problem seemed to be centered on the late varieties, such as Lapins, Skeena and Sweetheart.
“I’m not sure why they had the problem,” Bush says. “It could be climate-related. It could be because we had a pretty good fruit set, so the clusters were bigger than normal.
“It could be linked to cherry prices because the growers were experiencing the price decline when they were making their decisions to protect late-maturing varieties. So there might have been a little more hesitancy to put on one more fungicide spray.”
Bush says powdery mildew wasn’t the problem in the earlier varieties, such as Bing and Rainier.
Economics also should be factored in when considering the lime sulfur treatment, Bush says.
Applying the lime sulfur in the fall won’t totally eliminate powdery mildew disease potential in the spring, and growers should plan on a fungicide program. But it should delay disease onset.
To read their complete suggestions, click http://www.wahort.org/cherrymildew.pdf.
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Help us find the next ‘Potato Man’
By The Grower staff
For more than three decades, The Grower and its sister publication, The Packer, recognize a deserving leader in the potato industry with a Potato Man award.
This year is no exception.
The publications are seeking nominations from the industry for Potato Man of the Year and Potato Man of all seasons.
Potato Man of the Year recognizes someone who has gone above and beyond the call of duty during 2009. An example might be spending countless hours to help shepherd an important pesticide registration through the Environmental Protection Agency or important legislation through Congress. Past recipients include Chuck Gunnerson, Al Wada and Keith Masser.
The Potato Man for All Seasons recognizes someone who has committed his or her lifetime to bettering the potato industry. Past recipients include Dave Smith, Roger Knutsen and Lynn Olsen.
Fill out a nomination form and mail or fax it to The Grower. The forms are available for download at http://www.growermagazine.com. The deadline to submit nominations is Dec. 1.
The award will be presented at the National Potato Council’s annual banquet Jan. 3, 2010, in Orlando.
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Correction:
The size of the bagged salad market was incorrectly reported in an article on slice apples in the September Fresh From the Field. The correct size is $2.6 billion. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
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