Wondering if/how you can use drones and GPS data on your farms/business? Workshops at Rutgers University Inn/Conference Center in New Brunswick will help you decide if you want to try it yourself –
Dec 11 – Use your Smartphone/Tablet for High-Precision GPS Data Collection
Dec 12 – Learn to Do-it-Yourself – Accurate Drone Mapping Made Easy
Register for one or both days here (preregistration discount ends Nov 15). Detailed agendas are online here or download the Workshop Brochure & Agenda (pdf).
Fruit Crops Edition
Seasonal updates on diseases, insects, weeds impacting tree fruit and small fruit (blueberry, cranberry, and wine grape). Fruit Pest Alerts are also available via this category feed.
Subscriptions are available via EMAIL and RSS.
November 3, 2017 Rick VanVranken
Rutgers Center for Remote Sensing & Spacial Analysis Presents DIY GPS & Drone Workshops
October 12, 2017 Rick VanVranken
Food Safety Survey Looking for Responses from NJ Growers
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A National Grower and Processor Needs Assessment currently underway is seeking additional input from the Northeast farmers and food processors who serve local markets. The Local Food Safety Collaborative aims to provide specialized training, education, and outreach. They are conducting a food safety survey until October 31, 2017 to help direct their resources to best enhance fundamental food safety knowledge and help small farmers and processors comply with applicable Food Safety Modernization Act regulations.
How will this work benefit the Northeast? The overall results of this survey will be shared with the region but with enough local responses, specific information relative to the NE can be determined, including identified barriers to implementing food safety practices, such as types of material and training needs for growers and processors.
The survey will take about 20 minutes to complete, is available in English and Spanish, and participants can choose to enter a raffle to win 1 of 20 $100 gift cards. Responses are anonymous and confidential. The survey can be found at www.localfoodsafety.org/survey.
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The Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety (NECAFS) is an FDA-funded Regional Center (RC) hosted by University of Vermont Extension, led jointly with co-directors from Cornell University, University of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania State University and The University of Maryland and in partnership with stakeholders from the Northeast Region.
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September 15, 2017 Rick VanVranken
NJ DEP Surveying Irrigation Water Certs & Logs
A call from a local farmer late last week indicated an NJ DEP inspector had stopped by to ‘survey’ water use and had asked to inspect his irrigation records. The call was to say, “Thank you!” for having given him earlier in the year an irrigation pump log sheet to use. He had made a couple of copies and given them to his irrigation manager who has been recording the hours pumped every day. The inspector was happy to see that. The farmer was happier. [Read more…]
September 8, 2017 Dean Polk, Dave Schmitt, Atanas Atanassov, Carrie Denson
Fruit IPM for September 8, 2017
Borers, Rots, Codling Moth and Leafhoppers
Peach:
Lesser Peachtree Borer and Peachtree Borer: With the few fruit left on the trees in northern counties, there is not much going on except for the borer application that still needs to be applied. [Read more…]
August 16, 2017 Dean Polk, Dave Schmitt, Atanas Atanassov, Carrie Denson
Fruit IPM for August 16, 2017
Peach:
Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD), Crop Diversity, Alternate Hosts, Wild Grape, Tall Trees and ‘Ready to Eat Fruit, Table-Ripe’ Fruit: Some farms, particularly in northern counties have diverse crops where stone fruit, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and cherries (all SWD hosts) are grown on the same farm and often next to or close to each other. These same farms may be surrounded by woodlands that include wild chokecherry, wild grape, maturing pokeweed and other alternate hosts for SWD. As the season progresses, be aware that SWD populations go in only one direction – UP! The later the season, then the higher the population, and the greater the pest pressure. This means that the likelihood of infestation is increased, while control is made more difficult if sprays are skipped.
August 2, 2017 Dean Polk, Dave Schmitt, Atanas Atanassov, Carrie Denson
Fruit IPM for August 2, 2017
Peach:
Oriental Fruit Moth (OFM): The third flight is on the way down in southern counties, and northern counties. Populations are low in peaches, but higher in apples.
