Commercial Ag Updates — Page 127 — Plant & Pest Advisory

Commercial Ag Updates + Farm Food Safety

Rutgers Cooperative Extension Ag Agents provide updates on what they see in the field, upcoming events, and other important news that affects your operation, such as developments in on-farm Food Safety. Subscribe if you wish to be notified about workshops, meetings, and upcoming commercial ag events.

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April 19, 2017 Wes Kline

Updated USDA Harmonized Audit Standards

The updated USDA Harmonized Audit Standards and Checklists are to be used starting on May 1, 2017. The USDA has made changes to the Harmonized audits. Most changes are minor. Listed below are the section numbers with major changes for each audit.

Field Operations and Harvesting Standard:
2.1.3, 2.4.3.4, 2.4.3.5, 2.4.3.6 and section 5 has been added

Post-harvest Operations:
1.5.3, 1.12.1 (moved from 1.23.2 and numbers shifted down one), 1.13.12, section 4 added

To obtain the updated Harmonized Standards that are to be used with the new Harmonized checklists starting on May 1, 2017, please go to the United Fresh’s website. Also, there is a redline version of these Standards that show the items that were changed on the United Fresh website.
For the checklists that go with the standards go to the USDA Audit Services webpage and select the version for 5/1/17.

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Food Safety Tagged With: USDA

April 13, 2017 Rick VanVranken

East Vineland Vegetable Twilight Tuesday 4/25

Our annual Vegetable Integrated Crop Management Twilight Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 25, 2017, 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. at the East Vineland Fire Hall, on Landis Ave. across from the Savoy Restaurant (use 4931 Landis Ave, Vineland, NJ 08360 for your GPS, and please park behind the building to enter conference room door in rear).

Agenda

6:00 pm Getting the Most Out of Your Plant & Pest Advisory Subscription & Other Online Resources

– Rick VanVranken, RCE Atlantic

6:15 pm Worker Protection Standards – New Rules in Place

– Patricia Hastings, Rutgers Pesticide Safety Educ Program Coordinator

6:45 pm Ultra-niche Crop Program Update & Resources

– Jenny Carleo, RCE Cape May

7:00 pm Resistance Management – Tackling Palmer Amaranth & Other Tough Weeds

– Dr. Thierry Besancon, RCE Specialty Crop Weed Specialist

7:30 pm Food Safety Modernization Act – Where do we Stand on the Produce Rule

– Dr. Wes Kline, RCE Cumberland

8:00 pm Vegetable Disease Control Options for Spring Crops

– Dr. Andy Wyenandt, RCE Vegetable Plant Pathologist

8:30 pm Vegetable Insect Pest Update

– Dr. Joe Mahar, Vegetable IPM Coordinator

9:00 pm Adjourn

Pesticide Recertification Credits have been requested for this meeting.
Hope to see you there!

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: disease, food safety, FSMA produce rule, insect, integrated crop management, pesticides, resistance management, weed, worker protection standards

April 11, 2017 Rick VanVranken

Checking Your Pesticide Recertification Credits and Course History

Roberta Lang is the Ag Resource Specialist at the NJ Dept of Agriculture who arranges the pesticide container recycling program. She reports there was a request at the Hammonton collection last Friday to provide the link to DEP’s pesticide control program where applicators can check the status of their credits and the courses that have been taken. I’ve also had recent calls from growers requesting this and it takes some searching to find it. Below are the instructions Roberta sent. 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
click on “Pesticides” in the middle of the page (this page has lots of other useful info, like pesticide training and exam dates, beekeeper notification registry, etc, as well as the link to recertification records)
under “Credits and Courses” – click on
- “Check your Credit and Course History – Private Applicators” or
- “Check your Credit and Course History – Commercial Applicators“
follow instructions to get course history info (you’ll need your birth date, last 4 digits of your social security #, and pesticide license #).

Filed Under: Blueberry, Commercial Ag Updates, Cranberry, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: pesticide recertification credits; dep records

April 10, 2017 Pat Hastings

The ONE Date Jersey Licensed Pesticide Applicators NEVER forget – May 1st!!!!!!!!!

All licensed pesticide applicators, as well as dealers, who store pesticides are required by law to send a copy of their storage inventor(ies) with an explanatory cover letter to the local fire company by May 1st each year. In New Jersey, all licensed pesticide applicators and dealers who store pesticides are required per N.J.A.C. 7:30-9.5 […]

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates

April 10, 2017 Pat Hastings