Rutgers Cooperative Extension
Hank Bignell, Warren County Agricultural Agent, announced he is hosting a 3 part webinar series on pasture management. See the attached flyer for more details.
Wes Kline and I have been fielding questions about whether farms will be closed down. Our answer is, “NO!” for the following reasons.
Agricultural is considered an essential industry by the state and federal governments. Agricultural workers are also considered essential. Your workers should not have an issue going to work. What you need to do is train your workers on proper hand washing and try to give as much space between workers as possible. Remember 6 ft between individuals should be maintained where practical. The New Jersey Department of Agriculture has the latest information from the state at https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/. Our https://onfarmfoodsafety.rutgers.edu/ website has a series of factsheets and articles related to agriculture, including many in Spanish. This website is updated regularly so check to see what is new. Remember:
What should an operation do to protect their workers and themselves?
Lead by example – Farm owners and supervisors must do the same thing that you expect your workers to do!
There have been several calls today regarding a form letter required for farm laborers to travel to NJ farms during the current COVID-19 shut down. A draft Letter for Employee Travel Related to Critical Infrastructureis available from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (this is in pdf format that must be retyped onto your company letterhead). The version, EmployeeTravelRelatedtoCriticalInfrastructure, is in a format that you can copy and paste onto your own letterhead and insert the appropriate company and representative information.
The COVID-19 shutdown has lead to a surge of interest in planting home vegetable gardens this spring according to this NY Times article. The Rutgers NJAES Rediscover the Jersey Tomato program provides a list of markets where people can buy Rutgers 250 tomato seedlings and other popular Rutgers varieties of tomatoes, strawberries, basil, habanero peppers, dogwoods, and more for planting, as well as produce grown from these varieties. NJ residents will soon be looking for outlets to buy Rutgers varietal seedlings and produce. (See link below if you would like to grow any of these varieties for plant sales.)
To be included on the 2020 list of where people can buy Ramapo, Rutgers 250, or the new Scarlet Sunrise transplants and/or tomatoes, and other Rutgers breeds, you can e-mail information about your business to: njfarmfresh@njaes.rutgers.edu by April 24, 2020. Please put “Commercial Plant Sales” in the e-mail subject line and provide the following information:
For more information on the availability of Rutgers NJAES tomato seeds and POP materials for commercial production and sales, go to:
https://breeding.rutgers.edu/commercial-grower
For information on all Rutgers NJAES plant varieties, go to:
Good communication with your farm market customers is essential now more than ever to maintain their trust and support. Recommendations include telling, displaying and practicing science-based information about what you are doing to protect the shopping public visiting your farm or market. There is too much confusing misinformation available about how to protect yourselves and consumers so experts, such as Rutgers NJAES Food Safety Specialist Dr. Don Schaffner in this story, are working hard to provide credible resources to help you.
Just as we teach our Rutgers Master Gardener volunteers for answering home gardening questions, if you are searching the internet for information to answer customer questions, whether about the good hygiene and food safety practices you utilize in your facility to combat COVID-19, or for questions regarding your growing practices, look first for information on websites that end with a .edu (universities, colleges and extension), or .gov (federal/state/local government offices). In some cases, there are .org (organizations) websites that can provide useful information, but look for those whose content is backed by a scientific review board and/or has scientists providing the content.
Here is a short list of resources that will help you communicate science-based information to reassure your customers that you’re doing everything you can to provide safe and healthy food for them.
Signs and fact sheets on COVID-19 and Food
On the importance of eating fresh produce for healthy diets
Since you received the alert below yesterday afternoon, new Cumberland County Ag Agent Dr. Tim Waller discovered the following details:
“[Both] inventory reports and donations of PPE can be made at this site:
“What does this mean? It is the current understanding that the state will not take PPE from companies at this time, but that could change in the future if the situation reaches a critical mass. Public health and medical workers may need these devices to provide care for ill COVID-19 patients.
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On March 23, NJ Governor Phil Murphy’s signed Executive Order 109 that includes the following impacting all NJ businesses:
“Inventory of personal protective equipment to be taken: Any business, non-hospital health care facility, or institution of higher learning in possession of PPE, ventilators, respirators, or anesthesia machines not required for the provision of critical health care services shall undertake an inventory of these supplies and send that information to the State by 5:00 pm on Friday, March 27. The Office of Emergency Management shall establish a process for affected entities to submit this information.”
Information on where to submit your inventory will be shared as soon as it is available.
In the meantime, New Jersey State Police working with the NJ Hospital Association has announced that anyone willing to donate PPE equipment should please email ppedonations@njsp.org to assist with this critical need.
From https://njbiz.com/together-want-help-njha-offers-can/, NJHA also suggests these ways to help:
