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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September 30, 2024

October Twilight Meeting

October Twilight Meeting

October 17, 2024
7:00PM – 9:00 PM
Cape May Winery
711 Townbank Road. Cape May, NJ  08204

Program

6:45 PM:  Registration / Light Refreshments

7:00 PM: Welcome – Claudia Gil Arroyo, Cape May County Agent III; Rutgers NJAES

 7:10 PM: Soil Health is Always a Good Investment
William Errickson, Monmouth County Agent III; Rutgers NJAES

7:40 PM:  IPM for specialty crops in New Jersey including tree fruit crops, small fruits, and vegetables.
Janine Spies, Statewide Program Leader in Fruit IPM, County Agent III; Rutgers NJAES

8:10 PM:  Pesticide safety, non-hazardous pest control methods, label literacy and how to avoid the 3 most common violations.
Spencer Kerkhof, Environmental Specialist I, Pesticide Compliance & Enforcement; NJDEP

8:45 PM:  Labor availability and Labor regulations that impact agriculture
Ben Casella, New Jersey Farm Bureau

 

Light refreshments will be served.

The following pesticide recertification credits will be awarded: CORE (1), 1A (1), 10 (1), PP2 (1)

Please RSVP by October 15, 2024:
Jocelyn Shillingford
609-465-5115 ext. 3607 or capemayag@njaes.rutgers.edu

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Field, Forage & Livestock, Food Safety, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, pesticide credits, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: , ,
September 16, 2024

Agri-Technology and Research Twilight Meeting at RAREC

Agri-Technology and Research Twilight Meeting at RAREC
Thursday September 19th, 2024
4 pm until dark

Location: Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center (RAREC)
121 Northville Road
Bridgeton, New Jersey 08302

This year’s twilight meeting at RAREC will continue to showcase new agricultural technologies for stakeholders in the state. We will showcase the newly operating agrivoltaics system with specialty crops (fresh-market tomatoes, bell pepper, and eggplant) and soybeans growing beneath them and discuss new technologies for autonomous weeding. Specialists will also discuss their research and provide updates on fiber hemp, Christmas trees, native plants, invasive fruit pests, and vegetable disease.

Speakers:

Tim Waller, Cumberland County RCE Nursery Agent. “Nursery and Ornamental Research: Christmas Tree Pathology Studies and Native Plant Demonstrations”

Dan Ward, Director, RAREC. “Agrivoltaics for NJ: Progress and Promise”

Raul Cabrera, Extension Specialist in Nursery Production and Management. “Fiber Hemp and Weeds”

Ann Nielsen, Extension Specialist in Entomology. “Incorporating Insect Behavior into Management of Invasive Fruit Pests”

Thierry Besancon, Extension Weed Specialist for Specialty Crops. “Update on new technologies for weed management in sweet corn”

Andy Wyenandt, Extension Specialist in Vegetable Pathology. “Updates on vegetable disease control”

 

Filed Under: Christmas Trees, Commercial Ag Updates, Field, Forage & Livestock, Food Safety, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Turf, Vegetable Crops Tagged With:
September 6, 2024

The Public and their Animals on Your Farm: What Can You and Can’t You Ask?

As we head into the fall agritourism season you may want to revisit the types of questions you can and can’t ask the public when they arrive at your farm with a service animals, pets, and comfort animals. For more suggestions on how to legally handle communications and guidance for customers with animals on your farm visit our previous PPA post on the topic.

What questions can you legally ask?
If you find yourself in a situation where would like to determine if the animal is a true service animal, you may ask just two questions.
1) Is the service animal required because of a disability?
2) What work or task has the service animal been trained to perform?

What questions are you legally prevented from asking?
1) You may not ask about the persons disability.
2) You may not ask for proof of the persons disability.
3) You may not ask for documentation or proof that the service animal is trained.
4) You may not ask for an animal health certificate.

The Rutgers On-Farm Food Safety team developed a Q&A factsheet as well as signage that can be posted at the farm or presented to your customers.

 

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Food Safety
September 4, 2024

Agri-Technology and Research Twilight Meeting at RAREC

Agri-Technology and Research Twilight Meeting at RAREC
Thursday September 19th, 2024
4 pm until dark

Location: Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center (RAREC)
121 Northville Road
Bridgeton, New Jersey 08302

This year’s twilight meeting at RAREC will continue to showcase new agricultural technologies for stakeholders in the state. We will showcase the newly operating agrivoltaics system with specialty crops (fresh-market tomatoes, bell pepper, and eggplant) and soybeans growing beneath them and discuss new technologies for autonomous weeding. Specialists will also discuss their research and provide updates on fiber hemp, Christmas trees, native plants, invasive fruit pests, and vegetable disease.

Speakers:

Tim Waller, Cumberland County RCE Nursery Agent. “Nursery and Ornamental Research: Christmas Tree Pathology Studies and Native Plant Demonstrations”

Dan Ward, Director, RAREC. “Agrivoltaics for NJ: Progress and Promise”

Raul Cabrera, Extension Specialist in Nursery Production and Management. “Fiber Hemp and Weeds”

Ann Nielsen, Extension Specialist in Entomology. “Incorporating Insect Behavior into Management of Invasive Fruit Pests”

Thierry Besancon, Extension Weed Specialist for Specialty Crops. “Update on new technologies for weed management in sweet corn”

Andy Wyenandt, Extension Specialist in Vegetable Pathology. “Updates on vegetable disease control”

 

Filed Under: Christmas Trees, Commercial Ag Updates, Field, Forage & Livestock, Food Safety, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Turf, Vegetable Crops Tagged With:
September 3, 2024

The Rutgers Agrivoltaics Program launches a new website

The Rutgers Agrivoltaics Program is a multidisciplinary group of Rutgers faculty and staff committed to designing and conducting applied agrivoltaics research and outreach for stakeholders in New Jersey and throughout the region.

The Rutgers Agrivoltaics Program (RAP) was initiated over 3 years ago with the signing and passage of the Dual Use Solar Act by the New Jersey legislature. In 2023, Agrivoltaics research installations were established at three Rutgers-New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Stations (NJAES). One at the Clifford E. and Melda C. Snyder Research and Extension Farm in Pittstown, NJ; one at the Animal Farm on the Rutgers New Brunswick (SEBS) Campus, and one at the Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center (RAREC) near Bridgeton, NJ. Members of the Rutgers RAP Team in collaboration the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, NJ Department of Agriculture, and NJ-DEP are now in the process of implementing the Dual-Use Solar Energy Pilot Program.

The agrivoltaics research at the Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center (RAREC) near Bridgeton, New Jersey has been designed to study the effects of agrivoltaic (AV) systems on the production of specialty crops and soybeans. This year eggplant, pepper, fresh-market tomatoes, and soybeans are being grown under three three different treatments: single-axis tracking array with one row of panels, single-axis tracking array with two rows of panels, and no panels (conventional production as a control) to determine the effects caused by the presence of the panels on specialty crop and soybean plant growth and yield.

At the Clifford E. and Melda C. Snyder Research and Extension Farm in Pittstown, NJ the effects of a single-axis tracking array with one row of panels on hay production is being studied.

At the Rutgers SEBS Campus Animal Farm in New Brunswick, New Jersey, which hosts equine and livestock facilities, the AV research has been designed to study pasture forage production and animal grazing patterns in combination with vertical bifacial solar panels.

For more information on the Rutgers Agrivoltaics Program and more AV resources please visit the new website by clicking here. Stakeholders interested in keeping up the what’s going on can now subscribe to the new website and have information send directly to their email account. Just go to our contact page and follow the instructions to subscribe! 

The Rutgers Agrivoltaics Program in collaboration with the American Farmland Trust will be holding upcoming workshops for those stakeholders in New Jersey interested in learning more. Please click here for more information on these upcoming events.

Filed Under: Agrivoltaics, Blueberry, Christmas Trees, Commercial Ag Updates, Cranberry, Field, Forage & Livestock, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape Tagged With: ,
September 2, 2024

Beat the Heat: Companies for Farmers to Source Heat Stress Prevention Supplies

“Beat the Heat” Plant and Pest Advisory articles are provided by the Agricultural Agents on the Rutgers Farm Health and Safety Team: Kate Brown, Stephen Komar, Michelle Infante-Casella and William Bamka

Protecting yourself and other workers from heat stress may involve purchasing some supplies for your farm operation. Some suggestions for items that may be used to “Beat the Heat” include water coolers, shade structures, fans for air movement in packing facilities, head coverings, sunscreen, and other things to help make a person cooler and more comfortable when working during high temperatures and/or in intense sunlight. Also, some companies listed also offer weather measuring devices to monitor environmental conditions for considering heat stress management decisions.

Below are some companies who offer supplies that may be useful for agricultural operations.  

Grainger https://www.grainger.com/ Active NJ Farm Bureau members receive discounts on most products from Grainger. NJFB members also receive free standard parcel shipping on all standard Grainger products. You can visit any of 12 Grainger stores within NJ, or order online. Grainer offers many safety products for agricultural operations and other industries.

Gempler’s https://gemplers.com/
Gempler’s has an online tab on their website specifically for Heat Relief and Hydration supplies at https://gemplers.com/collections/heat-relief-hydration

Uline https://www.uline.com/
Uline offers personal protective equipment, water coolers, fans and other safety supplies.

Forestry Suppliers https://www.forestry-suppliers.com/
Forestry Suppliers sells personal protective equipment, wet bulb globe temperature meters and other supplies.

Tractor Supply https://www.tractorsupply.com/
Tractor Supply sells water coolers, hats, fans, and other supplies.

Home Depot https://www.homedepot.com/
Home Depot sells a variety of supplies like coolers, fans, and other supplies.

Lowes https://www.lowes.com/
Lowes sells a variety of supplies like coolers, fans, and other supplies.

Businesses listed and products from these companies are not endorsed by Rutgers Cooperative Extension or Rutgers University.

Filed Under: Blueberry, Christmas Trees, Commercial Ag Updates, Cranberry, Field, Forage & Livestock, Food Safety, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Organic Production, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, Turf, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape Tagged With: , ,