Vegetable Crops Edition

Seasonal updates and alerts on insects, diseases, and weeds impacting vegetable crops. New Jersey Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations updates between annual publication issues are included.
 
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February 26, 2018

US Food & Drug Administration Announces Microbiological Surveillance Sampling for Fresh Herbs (Cilantro, Basil & Parsley) to Continue Through 2018

The US FDA has announced an ongoing surveillance program started in October 2017 will continue through 2018 until they collect at least 1600 samples each of fresh cilantro, parsley and basil. FDA inspectors will be visiting farm packinghouses, wholesale packers, domestic and import warehouses and shippers, as well as retail purveyors, From their press release,

From 1996 to 2015, the FDA reported nine [food born illness] outbreaks linked to basil, parsley, and cilantro, which resulted in 2,699 illnesses and 84 hospitalizations. Four of the outbreaks were linked to basil, three to cilantro, and two to parsley.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Food Safety, Fruit, Vegetable Crops
February 26, 2018

New Rutgers On-Farm Food Safety Website!

I’m forwarding this from Meredith Melendez and Wes Kline. If you thought you were subscribed to receive food safety updates in the past but have been wondering why you haven’t been receiving any news, please go to your subscription page and change from ‘Food Safety’ to ‘Commercial Agriculture Updates’. Long story short, but the food safety category was combined into the commercial ag updates, and for some reason, many subscriptions were not transferred to the new category.

Visit the new Rutgers On-Farm Food Safety website for information on Good Agricultural Practices, the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule, and USDA Third Party Audits.  Information can also be found on upcoming on-farm food safety workshops, publications and resources to help you understand and implement on-farm food safety practices.

Filed Under: Fruit, Vegetable Crops
February 26, 2018

NJ DEP Annual Ag Water Use Reports Due 2/28

If you downloaded the RCE irrigation pump log sheet posted here last fall, and you haven’t sent in your water use report yet, you have until Wed to calculate your monthly water use and submit it to NJ DEP. Keeping a hard copy of the log sheet by each well makes a simple way to record actual water use, but tallying the monthly and annual totals will take one more step. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Vegetable Crops
February 22, 2018

Still Time to Register for North Jersey Commercial Vegetable and/or Tree Fruit Meetings

Morris County Agent Peter Nitzsche and Hunterdon County Agent Megan Muehlbauer indicate there is still limited time to register for two upcoming educational events they are hosting at the Hunterdon County Complex in Flemington:

What:  North Jersey Commercial Vegetable Grower Meeting
When:  February 27, 2018
Where:  Hunterdon County Complex, Flemington, NJ
For Program & Registration Details go to https://events.rutgers.edu/pdfs/North_Jersey_Commercial_Vegetable_Growers_Meeting_2018.pdf

What:  North Jersey Commercial Tree Fruit Meeting
When:  March 6, 2018
Where:  Hunterdon County Complex, Flemington, NJ
For Program & Registration Details go to https://events.rutgers.edu/pdfs/NorthJerseyFruitMeeting_Program_2018.pdf

NJ & PA PESTICIDE RECERTIFICATION CREDITS HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED FOR THESE PROGRAMS

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Fruit, Vegetable Crops
February 20, 2018

Fungicide resistance management guidelines for cucurbit powdery and downy mildew control in 2018

Extension specialists in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions have put together new guidelines for cucurbit powdery and downy mildew control. These new guidelines list all recommended fungicides and their efficacy ratings for controlling both diseases based on recent fungicide efficacy trials. Also included in the new FRAC table are notes on fungicides where resistance has been detected in the region. The new FRAC table can be  downloaded for FREE on American Phytopathology Society’s Plant Health Progress website.

Filed Under: Vegetable Crops Tagged With: , ,
February 13, 2018

Robots in the Field – Online Videos Illustrate Automation from Seedling Production through Harvesting

When asked for the links to some of the videos I shared in this presentation at the 2018 NJ Agricultural Convention, I found that I had only included about half of the videos that illustrated my talk in the Proceedings book which will be available on the NJ Veg Crops Online Resources site shortly. What follows is the amended version of that abstract with all of the (complete) video links and/or company websites that I mentioned. It’s ‘complete’ now because I had used only small portions of many of these videos that are online, so you’ll have much more content to view than what you would have seen in my talk. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Fruit, Vegetable Crops