Archives for April 2020

April 24, 2020

“Buy Fresh” USDA Coronavirus Farm Assistance Program (CFAP) Announcement of Solicitation

Just in from the United Fresh Produce Association:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today released its solicitation for proposals for the “Buy Fresh” Coronavirus Farm Assistance Program (CFAP) to purchase and distribute $100 million a month of fresh fruit and vegetables for approximately six months. USDA will award contracts for the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables, the assembly of commodity boxes, and delivery to identified food banks, food pantries, churches, schools, community groups, and other non-profit and governmental organizations that can receive and distribute food items.

  • The solicitation and supporting documents can be found at bottom of the page here.
  • Request for Proposals (RFP) will be due on May 1, 2020.
  • AMS will hold a conference call on Tuesday, April 28th at 12:00 pm EDT (dial-in instructions forthcoming) to field additional questions from the RFP. Any questions should be submitted in the meantime to: USDAFoodBoxDistributionProgram@usda.gov

  • A recording of a United Fresh/ARS information webinar conducted on April 23rd can be found here. Additional details and updates can be found on the AMS-CFAP landing page.
Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates Tagged With: ,
April 24, 2020 and

U-Pick Operation Guidelines under COVID-19

Harvesting cropsThe CDC, FDA and USDA have no reports at this time of human illnesses that suggest coronavirus can be transmitted by food or food packaging.
U-Pick operations are unique with customers going out into the field to do their own harvesting. This creates special situations for the grower and customer. How do you protect the customers, workers, and grower?

Questions to Ask Yourself
1. How many customers will you allow to pick at one time and how will you manage this?
2. Will you provide picking containers, or do you expect the customer to bring their own?
3. Will you provide harvest tools, or do you expect the customer to bring their own?
4. Where are your handwashing facilities located? Do you need to add more or change the locations?
5. How will you provide produce to those who are unable to enter your retail area or conduct U-Pick activities?
6. What areas will need frequent cleaning and sanitation (PDF)? What products will you use for this task?

Customer Notification Prior to Arriving
1. Use your social media site to inform potential customers how you are going to run your U-Pick operation with COVID-19.
2. Inform customers that they must maintain 6 ft social distance from other customers and employees.
3. Let them know that handwashing stations and hand sanitizers will be available when they arrive.
4. Encourage your customers to come alone. Leave family at home. Only someone picking should be in the field.
5. Let them know if you will provide picking containers or they need to bring their own.
6. Face coverings are required for customers. If a customer arrives without one, or refuses to wear one, they cannot enter retail and production areas. Alternative methods of obtaining produce should be made available to them.

Upon Customer Arrival
1. Encourage everyone to wash their hands prior to going into the field.
2. Inform customers where they can pick and how many people are allowed in the field at one time.
3. Direct customers to wear face coverings and to practice social distancing.

Handwashing
1. Have handwashing stations at several locations on the farm. These should be conveniently located. If the field is not next to the check out area have handwashing stations out in the field.
2. Everyone should wash their hands often for 20 seconds with soap and water.
3. This means as soon as customers come to the farm, if they stop to eat, when they use bathroom facilities, etc. If hand sanitizers are available customers should wash hands then apply hand sanitizers. The sanitizer should be at least 62% alcohol.
4. Post handwashing signage (PDF) in the appropriate language at each handwashing station.
5. Designate the responsibility of monitoring handwashing facility supplies (water, soap, paper towels) to an individual. Provide ample supplies for restocking.

Field Picking
1. There different ways to handle picking. The number of pickers can be restricted at any one time or pick every other row. Whichever system is used there needs to be someone in the field to enforce the rules.
2. Consider what you supply to the customer when they go into the U-Pick areas.
3. Harvest tools, containers, wagons, etc. Ensure that you can properly clean and sanitize these commonly touched surfaces.

Employees
1. Train all employees on proper handwashing and food safety.
2. In New Jersey, employers must provide face coverings and gloves for their employees.
3. Handwashing is critical when dealing with customers (see above).
4. Hand sanitizers should be used between each customer by employees at checkout.
5. Touchpads should be sanitized between payment uses.
6. One person should handle money when checking out customers.

Visit the Rutgers On-Farm Food Safety and the Rutgers NJAES COVID-19 websites for the most up-to-date information.

Authors
Wesley Kline, Agricultural Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Cumberland County
Jennifer Matthews, Senior Program Coordinator, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Cumberland County
Meredith Melendez, Agricultural Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Mercer County

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Fruit, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: , , , ,
April 24, 2020

Face Coverings and Gloves Required in Packinghouses

The Executive Order 122  “Requires workers and visitors to wear cloth face coverings, in accordance with CDC recommendations, while on the premises, except where doing so would inhibit the individual’s health or the individual is under two years of age, and require workers to wear gloves while on the premises.  Businesses must provide, at their expense, such face coverings and gloves for their employees.”  

We must do everything to protect workers and growers!  Think about if a worker contracts COVID-19 and it moves through your workforce.  Who is going to harvest the crop?  Prevention is the best course for us all.

Filed Under: Food Safety
April 24, 2020

Disease Management in Cold-Injured Peach Orchards

Several recent overnight cold periods have damaged newly fertilized flowers and/or very young fruit in New Jersey peach orchards. The percent of injured fruit in any particular orchard block varies with cultivar and location. Some blocks have enough un-injured fruit to be salvaged for the growing season. Their economic return will be sufficient to warrant a continuation of standard practices.

In those orchards that lack sufficient fruit, the tendency may be to abandon the spray program. After all, these blocks will produce no revenue, so any activity will result in a net economic loss. However, this thinking is short-sited.  Without any form of control, the pathogens will use this summer as an opportunity to increase their populations and, therefore, the amount of overwintering inoculum for the 2021 season. Next year will be a struggle to control disease, especially if the weather is favorable for disease development.

In cold-injured, non-bearing orchards, the three diseases of concern are scab, bacterial spot, and brown rot. The goal will be to provide enough control for disease suppression while keeping costs to a minimum. Details for their control are presented below.

Peach Scab. Fusicladium carpophilum, the causal agent of peach scab, overwinters in twig lesions on current season fruiting wood. In southern New Jersey, spores are produced on these lesions from bloom through early July (~ mid-July in north Jersey). During rain periods, these spores are disseminated to both fruit and the current season’s vegetative shoots. So, even though fruit may not be present (or in low numbers), control is necessary to prevent build-up of shoot infections, which will provide inoculum for the 2021 season. Note these lesions will not be visible until next spring.

If control of fruit scab during the 2019 season was excellent (≤ 5% fruit infected), then this is an indication that the current number of overwintering lesions on shoots may also be low. In this case, the application of Captan 80WDG (2.5 lb/A) at shuck split (SS), first cover (1C), and second cover (2C) followed by bi-weekly sulfur (8-10 lb actual/A) sprays until early July should be sufficient for scab control this season. The captan applied from SS-2C will also control any latent brown rot infection on young green fruit (susceptible until pit-hardening at ~ 2C), assuming they are present.

If >5% of fruit were infected with scab at harvest in 2019, then the current number of overwintering lesions on shoots may also be high. In this case, applications of Flint Extra 3.8 fl oz/A (formerly Gem) at SS and 1C and Quadris Top 12 fl oz/A at 2C followed by bi-weekly sulfur sprays will provide a very strong program for scab control; this program will also manage latent brown rot infection on any green fruit present.  If Quadris Top cannot be used because the sprayer is also used on apples (phytotoxicity! see label), then substitute Captan for the Quadris Top.

An intermediate scab program can also be considered. In this case, Flint Extra is applied at SS, Captan at 1C and 2C, followed by the sulfur cover sprays every two weeks until early July.  In all of these programs, the Flint Extra acts as an anti-sporulant on the overwintering scab lesions, reducing spore production by 70% for the entire season.

Bacterial Spot. During the growing season from about petal fall onward, the bacterial spot pathogen Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni infects fruit, leaves, and current season vegetative shoots (summer cankers) on susceptible cultivars. Thus, the lack of fruit doesn’t prevent the occurrence of an epidemic on the foliage and shoots. If no control is applied, then a larger than usual number of infected leaves, summer cankers, and epiphytic inoculum may be present going into the post-harvest season. This higher level of inoculum may result in a greater number of spring cankers formed for the 2021 season.

Given the above scenario, some form of disease control or suppression is warranted.  Bi-weekly sprays of a copper bactericide at 0.5 oz actual (metallic) copper per acre should be sufficient. The goal is to keep inoculum levels low advancing into the post-harvest season. Oxytetracycline, applied prior to critical warm, rainy periods, could also be used. However, the expense of this antibiotic is probably not warranted given the lack of economic return from a non-bearing block.

Brown Rot. If no fruit are present, then control is not needed. In low-yielding peach blocks not destined for harvest, the main goal for brown rot control is to prevent the formation of overwintering mummies. If the brown rot pathogen Monilinia fructicola is allowed to infect and colonize fruit very quickly, then the abscission layer in the petiole may be killed. This action will thereby prevent fruit from falling naturally; the fruit remains attached, becoming a mummy.

Fruit should be marginally protected so that they mature, ripen, and fall from the tree before a significant amount of brown rot occurs. A single spray of any fungicide rated with good to excellent control (e.g., Captan, Indar, Bumper, Fontelis) applied between 9 and 18 days prior to harvest should be sufficient.

An alternative to fungicide control at preharvest would be to simply remove the mummies during the winter or 2021 pruning operation. Or the fruit could be removed earlier in the 2020 season. Either way, fruit or mummy removal eliminates the need for a preharvest brown rot spray. Early 2020 fruit removal also eliminates the possibility of scab or bacterial spot infection on any fruit that survived the cold period.

Filed Under: Tree Fruit
April 24, 2020

TODAY at Noon! E-commerce During COVID-19 Webinar

My apologies for the last minute notice as I missed forwarding this earlier in the week. Gal Hochman, Rutgers Professor of Agriculture, Food, & Resource Economics, and current President of the Northeast Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, shared the following webinar announcement to assist agricultural producers in exploring online marketing opportunities. The meeting is co-sponsored by her association and The Council on Food, Agricultural & Resource Economics.
In my rush to get this to you, the links in the attachment below may be broken so please Register Here.

WEBINAR

E-Commerce During COVID-19: Opportunities for Food Producers

to Make Direct Market Sales Online

Friday, April 24, at 12:00 p.m. EST

The Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (C-FARE) along with the Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association (NAREA), will host a free webinar at 12 p.m. EST April 24 to discuss the value of e-commerce for farmers, food gatekeepers and retailers at a moment when customers are shifting their buying habits overnight to minimize exposure to COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a situation that is rapidly changing, with guidance for safe gathering thresholds dwindling from thousands, to hundreds, to fewer than 10. The isolation and uncertainty have precipitated changes in consumers’ shopping behaviors, from bulk-buying to e-commerce and more. Limiting in-store interactions is now a chief comparative advantage.

This webinar will discuss ways farmers, food gatekeepers and retailers can benefit (or hedge their losses) by adapting to consumers’ behavioral changes. C-FARE board member and Rutgers University economist Gal Hochman will moderate the 45-minute discussion. He will be joined by three panelists.
  • Jeffrey O’Hara will discuss what USDA Agricultural Marketing Service resources are available for producers to develop e-commerce sales, the latest data and research, along with examples of ways farmers have migrated online. He is an AMS specialist.
  • Chyi Lyi “Kathleen” Liang will discuss various online platforms, the merits of using digital sales strategies, and sample innovative aggregated venues online. She is the W. K. Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and the director of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
  • Gary Matteson will talk about the need for business planning with clear goals for inputs such as time and money, and clear expectations for sales and profitability when approaching new markets. He is vice president for Young, Beginning, Small Farmer Programs and Outreach at the Farm Credit Council.

The webinar will conclude with questions from attendees. Those who register but cannot attend will be invited to view a recording of the webinar at a later date. Please join C-FARE and the NAREA for this special program.

The Vision of the Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics

Catalyzing informed decisions through applied economics.

The Council on Food Agricultural & Resource Economics, 502 C Street NE, Washington, DC, 20002, United States
Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates Tagged With: , , ,
April 23, 2020

USDA Buy-Fresh Deadlines Still Short, But Proposals Due Next Week, Not Today

Staff from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Commodity Procurement Division just held a webinar hosted by the United Fresh Produce Association to clarify the Buy-Fresh portion of the Coronavirus Food Assistance (CFAP) Purchase and Distribution Program. With an amazingly fast turn-around since this program was announced, they will be posting a ‘solicitation’ on Friday, April 24, announcing the purchase of up to $3 billion of fresh foods ($100 million/month each of US-grown fresh produce, fresh dairy, and fresh meats) beginning in 2 weeks. Proposals for fresh produce will be accepted from PACA-licensed growers/shippers/distributors/co-ops who submit proposals by next Friday to put together ‘consumer wholesale boxes’ for local/regional non-profits (food banks, food pantries, churches, etc.) and schools (which may or may not include universities/colleges – to be determined) to distribute to consumers. Approved proposals will be announced a week later to be implemented immediately.

Details of the program are available on the AMS website. The size of the box and contents (there are some targeted products) are to be worked out between the distributor and the non-profit, and included in the submitted proposal. ‘Fresh produce’ also includes ‘fresh-cut produce’, and anticipated changes in seasonal content should be outlined. Non-profit recipients may work with multiple distributors, especially as there may be different groups supplying produce, dairy and meat. The actual ‘solicitation‘ will be posted on Friday, April 24. You can sign up for email updates.

New Jersey is serviced by 2 major food banks that distribute food to local pantries/feeding programs throughout the state. The Food Bank of South Jersey in Pennsauken services counties along the Delaware River from Mercer to Salem, while the rest of the state is under the umbrella of the Community Food Bank of NJ, headquartered in Newark with branches in Monmouth and Atlantic Counties. You could work with either of these larger organizations or directly with smaller community programs closer to your locale. You might also propose working with PhilAbundance, the major food bank servicing Philadelphia.

 

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates Tagged With: , , ,