The Northeast Cover Crops Council Annual Conference will take place next week on Thursday, March 10 and Friday, March 11, 2022. The conference will be held virtually from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on both days. Find the full agenda here! Registration will close on Monday, March 7 at noon. [Read more…]
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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Spotted Lanternfly Summit 2022 (USDA-NIFA + collaborators) – Most up-to-date research from across the region
Next week, many of the researchers focused on the invasive Spotted Lanternfly will be presenting their findings at the 2022 Spotted Lantern Fly Summit.
(Quote from stopSLF.org) “Funding was provided by the Northeastern IPM Center to form a working group in summer of 2018 with Penn State as the lead institution. The working group met several times and submitted a successful proposal to the USDA-NIFA Specialty Crop Research Initiative in December 2018 to study the biology, ecology, and management of spotted lanternfly.”
Rutgers and many other universities, Federal, and State research groups from all SLF impacted areas are set to share their most up-to-date findings. Topics will cover various commodities, and will be research heavy, however, these sessions may prove valuable to you and your constituents.
Click here to register for this free event – 2022 Spotted Lanternfly Summit – Updates on research
NJDA and NJDEP to Address Pesticide License Recertification Issues
NJDA Secretary Fisher recently shared a memo regarding a number of private pesticide licensees who have not received their current licenses from the NJDEP Pesticide Bureau. Following is most of the text of that memo.
Through a recent meeting between NJDA and the NJDEP Pesticide Bureau staff, we have identified two primary areas that may need your particular attention to ensure your license remains active:
1.) Not receiving nor submitting their invoices via the postal service through the mail. In this case, licensees can get their invoices online through the NJDEP pesticide website by submitting their invoices to NJDEP for processing when received, even if there is a $0.00 (zero) dollar value.
2.) Lack of credits through either Core or PP2, or a combination of both. There is a 5-year time period for all licensees to get enough credits for their license. Courses are available online for licensees to get credits. Once the coursework is completed online, it should take approximately two weeks for the unit to process the information to post on their website. Directions below explain how to locate and pay for invoices (which must be submitted back to the unit for processing, even if it is a $0.00 [zero] dollar invoice).
Licensees can check on the number of credits they have acquired by going to the NJDEP pesticide webpage and following the directions posted there.
Below are the directions necessary to look up invoice numbers and then use said numbers to pay for a license online. Once again, we remind you paying your invoice online is a faster way to receive your license. All invoices, even if it’s $0.00 (zero) dollars need to be processed, otherwise your license will not be issued.
Please follow the NJDEP directions below:
Directions to locate an invoice number
- Go to www.pcpnj.org
- Scroll to the bottom of the page. Under heading About Us click on “Pesticides”
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and “Click here to view Links.”
- Under the heading Online Payments and Reports Click on the link labelled “Invoice Numbers for Unpaid License Invoices”
- Enter License number (make sure to capitalize any letters at the end or your license number) and other items
- Click Submit
Directions to pay for license online
- Go to www.pcpnj.org
- Scroll to the bottom of the page. Under heading About Us click on “Pesticides”
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and “Click here to view Links.”
- Under the heading Online Payments and Reports, click on the link labelled “Pay For Your License Online”
- Enter Invoice number (found on paper invoice, or previously located using our website using directions above)
- Enter License number (make sure to capitalize any letters at the end or your license number)
- Click Submit and follow prompts from there
Sincerely,
Douglas H. Fisher
2022 NJ Ag Convention & Trade Show Update – Pesticide Credits Posted
The final program agenda for the educational sessions of the 2022 NJ Ag Convention & Trade Show with assigned pesticide re-certification credits has been posted at the Vegetable Growers Association of NJ website: vganj.com on the ‘Schedule’ tab. Pesticide credits will only be issued to those attending and signing the roster in the educational sessions in Atlantic City. There are no options for viewing presentations online.
There has been some confusion about COVID-19 protocols for attending. The NJ Department of Agriculture/State Board of Agriculture sessions and meal functions (luncheons and banquet) will have strict masking and pre-testing requirements to enter those rooms per memo from Secretary of Agriculture Doug Fisher earlier this week. There will be some on-site testing opportunities available in case you are unable to be tested before getting to Atlantic City.
However, these mandates are not requirements, though highly recommended, for attending the educational sessions or the trade show portions of this event. There will be some masks available throughout the conference venue.
Hope to see you there!
Tips in Preparation of Herbicide Shortages in 2022
By Lynn M. Sosnoskie (Cornell University) and Thierry E. Besançon (Rutgers University)
Many growers in the US have been focused on predicted herbicide shortages in the upcoming field season. While the primary concerns have surrounded glyphosate and glufosinate, there is increasing apprehension that active ingredients of importance to vegetable growers may also be affected. Although the supply change is dynamic, chemical stocks may become, and remain, tight at the local or regional level as growers try to fill gaps in their toolboxes. Heading into the new year, consider the following for the 2022 season.
- Successful weed identification, regular scouting, and detailed field records are crucial for optimizing weed control success. The first step in developing a novel herbicide program is knowing what species are present and determining which combination of products will be the most effective (and affordable) at suppressing them. Not all active ingredients are equally useful against all species and careful consideration needs to be paid to each chemical’s spectrum of control.
- Familiarize yourself with chemical substitutes before applying them over many acres. Some switches may be intuitive (e.g. using Poast (sethoxydim) or Assure II (quizalofop) in place of clethodim where allowed) while others may be more complicated (e.g. using a tank-mixture in place of a single product). In addition to knowing a novel product’s target species, become acquainted with a new herbicide’s labeled rate structure and spray volume, use patterns (e.g. application timing), environmental limitations (e.g. temperature restrictions), adjuvant requirements, and potential interactions with tank-mix partners. Not all chemicals are compatible with each other, and antagonism can reduce weed control efficacy while enhancing crop injury concerns. Contact your Extension Specialists if you have any doubt regarding physical compatibility and efficacy of herbicide mixtures. Herbicide damage may be observed across seasons so pay attention to rotation restrictions. Some active ingredients may already be part of registered pre-mixes in certain crops (i.e. bentazon, which is the active ingredient in Basagran, is also part of Varisto).
- Soil-applied, preemergence herbicides can be useful tools for suppressing weeds that emerge with the crop; these plants are the most injurious as early season competitors are very likely to reduce yields. Like postemergence products, soil-applied herbicides must be carefully selected to balance crop safety with weed control needs. Pay attention to rate requirements according to soil type, as this can influence both efficacy and injury. Pre-emergence herbicides need to be moved into the soil solution (either physically or via rainfall or irrigation) where they are taken up by emerging weed seedlings; delays in incorporation can reduce overall performance if some weeds continue to germinate and emerge under low soil moisture conditions. Delays in herbicide activation may facilitate the degradation of some products susceptible to breakdown in sunlight (i.e. photolysis). When possible, use overlapping residual products to suppress weed emergence throughout the season. Some active ingredients (e.g. oxyfluorfen (Goaltender)) may have both preemergence and postemergence activity.
- Timing matters. Postemergence weed control should be undertaken when weeds are small and succulent. Herbicide labels will have specific recommendations regarding the optimal size for treatment. Because many foliar-applied herbicides can also damage crops, always follow label guidance to reduce risk of injury. For instance, in 2021 New York research trials, applications of postemergence herbicides made before the first trifoliate leaf stage in snap beans resulted in up to 20% yield loss because of crop stunting.
- Optimize herbicide application rate for postemergence (i.e. foliar) applications. Target using the lowest effective herbicide rate to stretch your herbicide supply. For example, instead of using 32 or 44 oz/acre of a Roundup brand product, consider using the standard rate on the label such as 22 oz/acre for Roundup PowerMax. Again, timing of application with regards to weed size will be critical to optimize your herbicide supply. The smaller the weeds, the less herbicide you will have to apply to control it! Therefore, frequent scouting as highlighted in point one will be very important to optimize your herbicide application and stretch your herbicide supply.
- Don’t skimp on adjuvants. If herbicides are going to be in short supply, then there may be fewer shots to control weeds. If there are fewer shots available, make every shot count as much as possible. Follow label recommendations regarding the inclusion of water conditioners, surfactants, etc…, to maximize product efficacy. Refer to point number two about potential compatibility concerns when tank-mix partners are involved.
- Consider non-chemical weed control strategies when and where appropriate. This includes hand weeding, cultivation, altering planting dates to avoid particularly troublesome species, and using stale seedbed practices. Like herbicides, physical and cultural practices are not always effective against all species. While cultivation can control many weed seedlings, particularly at the white-thread stage, soil disturbance is less effective against well-developed plants. In the case of some perennials (for example, field bindweed or Canada thistle), cultivation events can break up and disperse root fragments within and across fields, facilitating dispersal. Ultimately, plan for hand-weeding escapes prior to the weeds setting seed as this will help reducing the weed seedbank for future growing seasons.
2022 could be a difficult year if many crop production and protection chemicals are limited. Herbicide shortages could impact weed control success in the coming growing season…and beyond. Weeds that are not controlled in 2022 will set seed that will cause problems in the future. Planning now can help with weed management in both the short and long term.
On-line Ordering of Free COVID-19 At-Home Test Kits Now Open
Per the National Association of Community Health Workers <https://nachw.org/>,
“The COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of slowing down, especially given the rise of the Omicron variant. … It is more important than ever … to have the necessary tools to safeguard … against the disease. As a result, NACHW [is] be supporting the Biden-Harris Administration’s rapid test distribution [program] … to equitably distribut[e] over 500 million tests, with the end goal of the initiative being the proliferation of testing and vaccine resources to our hardest-hit and highest-risk communities.
Ordering for free at-home COVID-19 tests is now open. When you click on the order link below, you will be asked for your zip code. Ordering today will be available to zip codes with the highest vulnerability to COVID-19. Starting this Wednesday (January 19), ordering for free at-home COVID-19 tests through this program will be open to everyone. There is a limit of 4 tests per household address and kits will be shipped by the end of January via the US Postal Service.
Use this link to order – https://nachw.org/covidtests/