Date: January 16, 2015 10am – 1pm

Location: Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Burlington County,
2 Academy Drive, Westampton, New Jersey 08060

Keynote Speaker: Peggy Fogarty, Executive Director at Keystone Development Center.
Ms. Fogarty has expertise in strategic planning and organizational development for farmer groups.

All NJ Farmers currently growing hops and NJ Farmers considering growing hops are invited to participate in this initial meeting to discuss interest in the creation of a NJ Hops Grower Association. Network with fellow hop growers to gain a deeper understanding of what’s going on with hops in NJ, financing opportunities, and industry needs.

No registration is required.
For further questions, contact Ag Agents William Bamka or Michelle Infante-Casella.
Meeting Flyer: Hops Growers Meeting
Contact number: 609-265-5050

NJAES Agritourism Team members will be speaking at the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention in Hershey, PA. This session will be held Thursday, January 29, 2015 in the Crystal Room, Hershey Lodge and Convention Center.

Risk Management in On-Farm Direct Marketing

• 9:00 Direct Marketing – Is It Right For You, Doing a Self Assessment
  Stephen Komar, Sussex Co. Ag Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension
• 9:30 Selecting and Training Employees to Improve Safety for Direct Marketing
  Michelle Infante-Casella, Gloucester Co. Ag Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension
• 10:00 Assessing Farm Safety When Inviting the Public on Your Property
  William Bamka, Burlington Co. Ag Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension
• 10:45 Right To Farm, Deed of Easement and Other Regulations that Impact Direct Marketing
  Brian Schilling, Specialist in Ag Policy, Rutgers Cooperative Extension
• 11:30 Food Aspects for Direct Marketing
  Meredith Melendez, Mercer Co. Ag Program Coordinator, Rutgers Cooperative Extension

Join Northeast SARE grants coordinator Carol Delaney for a lunchtime webinar on Friday, October 10th at Noon regarding Farmer Grants and Partnership Grants. Carol will cover topics ranging from the application process, designing a budget, choosing a technical advisor (for farmer grants) and the review process. There will be plenty of time for Q&A. Register online.

This year, Michelle Infante-Casella takes over the reins from Jack Rabin as Northeast SARE coordinator for New Jersey. Visit NE SARE, New Jersey webpage for information on programs and priorities.

If you are planting a new field of asparagus or getting ready to harvest emerging spears, here are some thoughts:

Are you planting 1-year old crowns or did you seed cell trays and are going to plant seedlings? Remember, 1 year old crowns are planted and not harvested that year. In the second year, only harvest the field for 2 weeks. The third year you can being harvesting for a 6-8 week period after the crowns mature. If planting seedlings, do not harvest the year of planting or the year after. Then in the 3rd year harvest for 2 weeks, and after 4 years begin the 6-8 week cutting period.

Prolonged harvest seasons that go longer than 8 weeks can stress the plant that could lead to root and crop rot development. In addition to quality decline of fields, drought stress, pest pressure and inadequate fertility can cause poor vigor and yield loss. For more information on commercial asparagus production see the 2014 Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations fro New Jersey.

Flea beetles are one of the earliest vegetable pests to be seen in crop fields in spring. They attack many vegetable crops grown in New Jersey.

Several species can be found throughout the year, including the cabbage flea beetle, corn flea beetle, crucifer flea beetle, horseradish flea beetle, eggplant flea beetle, palestriped flea beetle, potato flea beetle, spinach flea beetle, striped flea beetle and the sweet potato flea beetle.

They generally have 1-2 generations per year, and overwinter as adults, usually in soil and litter or other protected areas, becoming active in early spring; early April – May in New Jersey. 

Flea beetle adults feed on the leaves, chewing small holes in the foliage. However, when feeding is extensive and the leaves become riddled, the adjacent tissue dies or dehydrates, and the leaf takes on a bronzed or burned appearance. Leaves will die and drop off the plant. Some species, such as the corn flea beetle, can completely skeletonize leaf tissue of seedling corn, often defoliating the plants. The corn flea beetle adult also transmits a disease, Stewart’s bacterial wilt of corn, which can stunt or even kill corn plants infected early in the season. Larvae are generally root feeders, and several species occasionally cause considerable damage to roots and tubers. [Read more…]

NJAES has a new program dedicated to risk management for Agritourism and Direct Marketing. Risk management tools aimed at addressing the following issues can be found our new Extension Training For Agritourism Development website.

• Minimizing farm safety risks
• Managing liability
• Mitigating financial risk through enterprise budgeting
• Improving marketing strategies

Educational videos, enterprise budgets, fact sheets and assessment checklists are some of the helpful tools you will find.