Rutgers University | New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station | Pesticide User Responsibility

January 14, 2025 and

REGISTER TODAY – NJ Ag Convention Coming Soon

We are only days away from the start of the 2025 NJ Agricultural Convention and Trade Show at Harrah’s in Atlantic City starting on February 3rd to February 6th. The convention has evolved over the years to include much more than vegetable topics. See the graphic below or the VGANJ website convention program for a list of expanded topics.

Nursery growers – we have a full day for you. Do you raise livestock? We have a new session for you. Want to learn about agricultural policies? Come to the session on Tuesday morning hosted by Rutgers Cooperative Extension Director, Brian Schilling and colleagues from the State Agricultural Development Committee. Need to learn about Food Safety Regulations, we have both a session and a workshop for you. USDA will be hosting sessions on Tuesday to promote programs for farmers. There are too many more topics to put into text so please check out the program on the VGANJ website. 

Need pesticide recertification credits? This year the workshops and sessions will help you fulfill the obligation to obtain those credits. Monday afternoon hosts a 6-CORE credit workshop that requires a separate special registration. Check out the program and how to register on the VGANJ website.

Have you registered for your hotel rooms yet? If not please use the room block and register online at https://book.passkey.com/GO/SHVEG5 or call to make Room Reservations on the phone at 1-888-516-2215 (8:00am-2:00am EST, 7 days a week), Group Name: New Jersey Vegetable Growers. Group Code: SHVEG5. There are plenty of rooms left in the room block, but the pre-registration ends soon, so reserve your rooms today. Please reserve your rooms through the group block to help us meet our obligations for the convention contract. 

Don’t miss the great Tuesday events. There is a FREE “Lunch and Learn” on Tuesday (sign up for tickets at registration on Tuesday, limited to 100 participants) in the back area of the trade show hall with time to meet with vendors and also discussion with the new NJ Secretary of Agriculture, Ed Wengryn. Tuesday night hosts a charity auction and if you attended last year, you know how great this event is with food, drink, and time to catch up with old friends and make new friends in farming. Thanks to VGANJ Secretary, Darcy Perehinys the Tuesday events will once again have amazing food! Lots of prizes from our sponsors will be available for bid at the Charity Auction. If you haven’t attended this event in the past, don’t miss it this year as it is much improved from years past. Tuesday is a big day and with the Lunch and Learn and Charity Auction Happy Hour – if you attend both these events you can eat for free!!!!

One more event you won’t want to miss is the annual awards banquet on Wednesday night. Tickets can now be purchased online on the VGANJ website. This year’s NJ Vegetable Grower of the Year award goes to Brian Porch, of Porch Farms in Salem County, NJ. The award will be presented by VGANJ President, Jim Abma. Come help us celebrate Brian and all the other award winners who will be honored by the NJ Department of Agriculture. 




Filed Under: Agrivoltaics, Blueberry, Christmas Trees, Commercial Ag Updates, Field, Forage & Livestock, Food Safety, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Organic Production, pesticide credits, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, vegetable, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape, work shop Tagged With: ,
January 13, 2025

Horned Oak Galls & Gouty Oak Galls: Two Exceptions to the Rule

Curiosity of Plant Galls:

Explaining the unusual gall growths or deformities in plants can be challenging. Different galls can be found on virtually any plant part, including leaves, flowers, twigs, bark, or buds of trees and shrubs. Galls caused by insects or mites can typically be identified by the characteristic size, shape, color, and structure that develops.

Insect/mite galls are produced by the interaction of plant hormones with strong plant-regulating chemicals released by the gall maker as they feed. The immature larvae live their entire lives within an individual gall, which provides excellent protection for the larvae as they feed and mature.

This blog contains information on horned and gouty oak galls. When the number of galls infesting an oak is few, tree damage is insignificant. However, tree injuries become more severe when gall numbers reach high levels.   

Maple Bladder Gall Mites

Curious & colorful leaf galls created by maple bladder galls mites may cause alarm to some people but they are mostly harmless. (Photo Credit: Steven K. Rettke, Rutgers Coop. Ext.)

Maple Bladder Gall Mites

An extreme infestation of horned oak galls on branches of pin oak tree. (Photo Credit: Steven K. Rettke, Rutgers Coop. Ext.)

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Plant Diagnostic Lab
December 18, 2024

Register Before December 31 for Bonuses at the 2025 NJ Ag Convention

Have you signed up for the 2025 New Jersey Agricultural Convention and Trade Show yet?
Visit the VGANJ Convention Website and register today!

It’s incredibly simple! Here’s a pro tip: Become a member of the Vegetable Growers Association to enjoy all the benefits, even if you don’t grow vegetables, and save on convention registration fees by becoming a member. Everyone must register to enter the trade show and participate in educational sessions and other events sponsored by the VGANJ. 

Make sure to register by December 31st to receive two complimentary drink tickets (per registered individual) for use at the trade show bars after 2 PM on Tuesday and Wednesday. Plus, you’ll be entered to win a $100 gift card for meals during your time in Atlantic City!

Don’t forget to check the VGANJ website for the exciting new educational sessions for 2025.

Also, on Tuesday there will be a special free “Lunch and Learn” program to engage with vendors and participate in a Q&A session with the new Secretary of Agriculture, Ed Wengryn.
*FREE lunch tickets only for the first 100 farmers Tuesday who sign up for the “Lunch and Learn” at the registration desk on Tuesday morning. Lunch starts at 12:00.

On Wednesday, February 5th the VGANJ will be honoring the NJ Vegetable Grower of the Year. For 2025 the honoree is Brian Porch from Salem County, NJ. Come help us celebrate our awardee and the NJDA awardees at the banquet. Tickets are now available online through VGANJ. See the VGANJ Convention Website to sign up for the banquet and other special events.

Filed Under: Agrivoltaics, Blueberry, Christmas Trees, Commercial Ag Updates, Cranberry, Field, Forage & Livestock, Food Safety, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Organic Production, pesticide credits, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, vegetable, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape, work shop Tagged With:
December 18, 2024

Hurry – Apply for the Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) Program– Applications Due January 8, 2025 – Contact Your Local FSA Office Now

The MASC program, administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) using Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds, provides eligible specialty crop producers with marketing assistance payments to help them engage in activities that aid in expanding domestic specialty crop markets or in developing new markets for their specialty crops in 2025.

SPECIALTY CROPS ELIGIBLE – Fruits (fresh, dried) Nursery crops, Christmas trees, and floriculture, Vegetables (including dry edible beans and peas, mushrooms, and vegetable seed) Culinary and medicinal herbs and spices, Tree nuts, Honey, hops, maple sap, tea, turfgrass, and grass seed. Payments are capped at $125,000 per producer, and if demand exceeds the allocated $2 billion, payments may be prorated. Final payment factors will be determined after the application period closes.

To be eligible for payments, persons or legal entities must:
• Be in the business of producing a specialty crop at the time of application and be entitled to an ownership share and share in the risk of producing a specialty crop that will be sold in calendar year 2025;
• Be a U.S. citizen, resident alien, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or other organizational structure organized under State law, Indian Tribe or Tribal Organization, or a foreign person or foreign entity who meets certain eligibility requirements;
• Comply with the provisions of the “Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation” regulations, often called the conservation compliance provisions;
• Not have a controlled substance violation;
• Submit a complete MASC application form (FSA-1140) and provide all required documentation as specified in the documents section below.
To be eligible for payments, a person or legal entity must have an average adjusted gross income (AGI) of less than $900,000 for tax years 2021, 2022, and 2023, unless the person or legal entity’s average adjusted gross farm income is at least 75 percent of their average AGI.

Eligible producers can apply by completing the FSA-1140, Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) Application, and submitting it to any FSA county office by January 8, 2025.

FSA-1141, Marketing Assistance For Specialty Crops (MASC) New Producer Expected Sales Worksheet (New producers only)
New producers must complete and sign the new producer expected sales worksheet and provide along with their FSA-1140 to any Farm Service Agency county office nationwide.

See link for more information: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/tools/informational/fact-sheets/marketing-assistance-specialty-crops-program 

Filed Under: Blueberry, Christmas Trees, Commercial Ag Updates, Cranberry, Food Safety, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Organic Production, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, Turf, Uncategorized, vegetable, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape Tagged With: ,
December 9, 2024

UPDATE: APHIS Establishes Box Tree Moth (Cydalima perspectalis) Quarantines in Delaware and Pennsylvania

FROM APHIS EMAIL:

Subject:           APHIS Establishes Box Tree Moth (Cydalima perspectalis) Quarantines in Delaware and Pennsylvania

To:                   State, Tribal, and Territory Agricultural Regulatory Officials

Effective immediately, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the Delaware Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA), is adding the entire State of Delaware and Erie County, Pennsylvania to the box tree moth (BTM; Cydalima perspectalis) quarantined area.

APHIS is taking this action in response to the confirmed detections of BTM in a residence in Little Creek, Delaware, on July 11 and in Lakeside Cemetery in Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania, on August 29. PDA has established an intrastate quarantine area for BTM that parallels the Federal quarantine. This Federal Order supersedes Federal Order DA-2024-17.

To prevent the spread of BTM, APHIS considers it necessary to regulate the interstate movement of regulated articles of boxwood from quarantined areas. Boxwood plants may only be moved interstate from a quarantined area from an establishment operating under a compliance agreement, and only if accompanied by a certificate issued by a state agricultural authority certifying that the requirements of this Federal Order and the compliance agreement have been met. These requirements will prevent producers and distributors of boxwood from moving infested plants interstate. State agricultural authorities may prescribe additional safeguards and protocols.

APHIS prohibits movement of all other regulated articles of boxwood, including plant parts, pieces, cuttings, clippings, debris, and any portion of the plant, alive or dead, except for decorative purposes.

The attached Federal Order (click here) and additional information about BTM are located on the APHIS box tree moth webpage. For additional information, you may contact:

Matthew Travis
National Policy Manager
580-240-5394
matthew.a.travis@usda.gov

Box Tree Moth poses a serious threat to boxwood production, maintenance, and export.

If you see, or think you see this pest, or its damages in New Jersey please contact:

  • RCE -Cumberland Co. Nursery Agent: Tim Waller – twaller@njaes.rutgers.edu
  • Nursery Inspection Program Manager: Sarah Katzenbach –  sarah.katzenbach@ag.nj.gov  (609) 406-6939

Please educate yourself about this in-bound pest here – Resources:

Filed Under: Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Turf Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
November 27, 2024

Get Ready for the 2025 NJ Ag Convention – February 3-6

It is that time of year again to sign up for the annual NJ Agricultural Convention, co-sponsored by the Vegetable Growers Association of New Jersey, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, and the New Jersey Department of Agriculture. Visit the VGANJ website at https://vganj.com/convention-tickets to register.

For 2025 there are new and exciting opportunities to learn about all aspects of the agricultural industry at the educational sessions and from vendors at the trade show. If you came last year, you also saw many new improvements to the convention – more vendors, more educational sessions, a complimentary lunch (limited free tickets) on Tuesday highlighting “what’s new from industry”, a complimentary hot buffet at the Tuesday happy hour/charity auction, youth programs for FFA, and co-convention events with the NJ Department of Agriculture. These offerings and more are coming for 2025. New events like Monday afternoon workshops, a livestock session, an agricultural policy session, an environmental session, and others are confirmed for this coming year. Licensed pesticide applicators will see an increase in recertification credits on the program for 2025. 

To check out the educational programming and NJDEP recertification credits for pesticide applicators see https://go.rutgers.edu/ConvProgram2025 – this is a draft program. Also, note that some events need special sign-up so read the program carefully to see what events need pre-registration.

NJ State Board of Agriculture information for the convention is coming soon. Check out their website at Department of Agriculture | Conventions.

If you have any questions about the VGANJ registration, go to https://vganj.com/#contact. If you need more information about the educational programs please contact the Rutgers Co-Chairs for the convention – bamka@njaes.rutgers.edu Bill Bamka, Agricultural Agent in Burlington County, or minfante@njaes.rutgers.edu Michelle Infante-Casella, Agricultural Agent in Gloucester County.

Filed Under: Agrivoltaics, Blueberry, Christmas Trees, Commercial Ag Updates, Disease Forecasting, Field, Forage & Livestock, Food Safety, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Organic Production, pesticide credits, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, Uncategorized, vegetable, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape, work shop Tagged With: ,