December 16, 2021

Of Omicron, Youth Vax’s, and Boosters

EXCITE PNGThrough our collaboration in the Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching & Engagement (EXCITE) we’d like to share the following timely updates on the on-going pandemic and efforts to encourage everyone eligible to get vaccinated and/or boosted now!

From today’s EXCITE newsletter, the CDC urges Get a Boost for the Holidays! 

“We want to see you in the New Year… please remember to get your COVID booster shot, available for all persons 16 and up. As the omicron COVID-19 virus variant emerges and may impact holiday plans, the most up-to-date guidance will be on the CDC website. A new page on the omicron variant has been updated as of Dec. 14, 2021. The CDC page on travel and COVID-19 was updated Dec. 10. For guidance on flu, the CDC has a dedicated set of pages that will be updated throughout the holidays as new information becomes available.

From the CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccines for Children website:

Most Children and All Teens Can Get COVID-19 Vaccines

CDC recommends everyone ages 5 years and older get a COVID-19 vaccine to help protect against COVID-19.

At this time, the Pfizer-BioNTech is approved for everyone from ages 5 and older. The Moderna and J&J/Janssen vaccines are only approved for individuals 18 years old and older.

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf Tagged With: , , , , , ,
December 10, 2021

Impacts of Pesticides on Soil Health – Part II?

Disinformation, misinformation, bad science, bad reporting… the public is becoming more aware that one of the toughest challenges faced these days is sorting out what is good reporting (and good science), versus what is misleading or untruthful. It seems ironic that after my post yesterday, the following article showed up in my inbox this morning – Perspective: This pesticide ‘research’ is short on data, big on hype .

In this post, the author, farmer-agronomist Jack DeWitt, critiques a commentary in Scientific American magazine that promotes a ‘study’ conducted by the same authors of the commentary, who happen to be the director and research assistant at the non-profit Center for Biological Diversity, an organization with a stated agenda. Their ‘analysis’ published online in Frontiers in Environmental Science appears to be a legitimate review of previous scientific studies concerning the effects of ‘pesticides’ on soil organisms, again the current often-cited gauge of “soil health”, though in this case they focused only on soil invertebrates (worms and insects, basically) and ignored fungi and bacteria.

Standard scientific journal formats require ‘materials and methods’ sections so that one can read how a study was conducted and determine if the results are analyzed and conclusions drawn appropriately from the data and how that was collected. If properly reviewed in the pre-publication stage, poorly conducted studies and/or inappropriate conclusions would be cause for rejection of the manuscript, or at least would require a significant revision and/or further explanation of how the data supports the conclusions. Scientists reading articles with such flaws scratch their heads in wonder how they were published, and in very rare cases, if there is enough negative reaction citing improper methodology, analysis and/or conclusions, an article is recanted after publication. In this case, going back to the original scientific review, DeWitt illustrates how carefully selected data are misinterpreted and/or misrepresented to support the authors’ cause, er … conclusions.

Moral of the story… don’t take scientific reporting as gospel, even from respected media outlets, until you consider the source, the funding, and take a careful look at the original article, if it’s available.

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates Tagged With: , , , ,
December 7, 2021

Washington State University Summary ‘Comparing Effects of Herbicides, Fertilizers, and Tillage on the Soil’

Sometimes (many times) following social media (SM) threads can lead down some interesting rabbit holes. With a lot of news, research, and programming these days focusing on soil health and ‘regenerative agriculture’ (which focuses on soil health impacts on climate – read more here and here), the following article from Washington State University’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources (CSANR) caught my eye when it popped up in my Twitter feed. In this post, Irrigated Cropping Systems Agronomist Andrew McGuire reviews the scientific literature for the latest (although the post is actually 3 years old now) analyses of impacts of pesticides, especially herbicides compared to tillage, and fertilizers on microbiological activity, organic matter, and soil structure, i.e. soil health. It may be surprising to find the science doesn’t support the ‘chemicals kill the soil’ narrative being portrayed these days.

Comparing effects of herbicides, fertilizers, and tillage on the soil

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
October 14, 2021

Annie’s Project New Jersey Celebrates its 10th Anniversary with Important Workshop for NJ Farmers

 BY 

Workshop offers important farm management lessons to help women succeed

Inspired by Annie's Project logoRutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE) is celebrating10 years of Annie’s Project New Jersey with a free, online workshop headlined by Bridget Behe, professor and extension specialist in marketing at Michigan State University.

The training workshop, titled “Annie’s Project New Jersey 10 Years of Empowering New Jersey Farmers,” will be held via Zoom on November 4, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Registration is currently open. The workshop is free, but participants must register in order to receive the link to attend.

“As in the previous Annie’s Project programs, this workshop is designed to educate and train new and aspiring farm women and provide tools for successful business management with particular focus on successful strategies to deal with the ongoing pandemic and post-pandemic,” says Robin Brumfield, extension specialist in farm management with RCE.

“In addition, this program focuses on topics within these areas of risk that present unique challenges to urban farmers,” she explains. A 2019 article on Annie’s Project New Jersey is currently the featured success story by the Northeast Extension Risk Management Education Center.

Participants will have access to invaluable tools to help sustain their farm business, including the expertise of keynote speaker Bridget Behe, who will answer the number one question farmers have been asking us, “How can farmers turn the new customers they got during the pandemic into permanent customers?”

Behe, a sought-after speaker at state, regional and national businesses and associations, provides helpful marketing and management practices designed to improve profitability and sustainability. Her website, “Marketing Munchies,” features short podcasts that use research-based information on horticulture marketing. Her podcasts can be accessed on Connect-2-Consumer or on a favorite podcast provider. Her recent peer-reviewed publications are also available on this website.

Also addressing participants will be Brian Schilling, director of Rutgers Cooperative Extension, whose presentation will focus on recent direct marketing and agritourism issues. There will be breakout sessions on the topics, Succession Planning, Marketing, and Production. The workshop will feature a panel of women farmers who will discuss what has worked and what they would change in their own operations, with a wrap-up presentation on building resilience by Brumfield.

Read more about Annie’s Project New Jersey at Rutgers. Find a detailed agenda of the workshop here. 

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates Tagged With: , , , , , ,
September 20, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccines Still Available For Farmworkers

At the request of the New Jersey Departments of Health and Agriculture, please read the following message:

Our offices are working diligently to ensure that all farmworkers are protected against COVID-19 for the fall season – to that end, we have developed a new survey to assess the migrant and seasonal farm worker population for the fall and to identify focus areas for COVID-19 vaccination support. We would greatly appreciate if you could please fill out the survey here (even if all your workers are already vaccinated for COVID-19): http://healthsurveys.nj.gov/NoviSurvey/n/zz2q2.aspx. Any information you provide will be confidential and used solely for supporting COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

Additionally, if any of your workers are not yet vaccinated for COVID-19 and are interested in receiving a vaccine, please feel free to contact Omolola Taiwo, Ph.D,  MPA, Executive Director, Office of Primary Care and Rural Health, Division of Community Health Services, New Jersey Department of Health, at njmsfw@doh.nj.gov.  Our team will ensure that you are connected with the appropriate resources to keep your workforce healthy.

Thank you for your support in keeping our farm communities safe and healthy!

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
August 30, 2021

DEP Website Update Changes Process to Check Pesticide Recertification Credits and Course History

DEP’s pesticide control program website was updated over the past few weeks to reflect that

“Based on the current COVID 19 public health emergency, the Department has extended an interim policy allowing 100% online CEUs for remaining credits to accommodate for applicators whose 5-year recertification cycle ends October 31, 2021 and 2022. To verify you are eligible, please click HERE.”

However, there are no longer directions explaining where certified applicators can check the status of their credits and the course histories. Growers requesting this indicate it takes some searching to find it. Here are revised instructions to get you there. You might want to bookmark whichever site below gets to the information you need most directly.

To review course history:

  • go to www.pcpnj.org;
  • in the bottom section labeled ‘About US’ (NOT the ‘About DEP’ link in the bottom line!), click on “Pesticides” in the list;
  • find and click any one of the links marked ‘NJDEP’s Online Reports‘;
  • on the DEP DataMiner site, make sure the Report Category says ‘Pesticide Control Program’ (if not, select it from the menu);
  • on the list under ‘Pesticide Licensing’ select the appropriate type of license. There are two reports for each that can be searched by either name or license number:
    • Applicator Business
    • Certified Pesticide Dealers
    • Commercial Certified Pesticide Applicators
    • Commercial Pesticide Operators
    • Pesticide Dealer Information
    • Private Certified Pesticide Applicators
  • follow instructions to get your course history information. Select your pesticide license # from the menu. You’ll also need your birth date and last 4 digits of your social security #.
Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf Tagged With: