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

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February 15, 2021

Pest Notes: Witches’ Brooms, Pitch Mass Borers and Ants

WITCHES’ BROOMS: The development of witches’ brooms on woody plants and the resulting formation of abnormal growth can cause curiosity and concern to your clients. Typically, the new growth is distorted, and a proliferation of leaves or fruit/cones closely clumped together appears when apical dominance is lost. Witches’ Brooms are created on plants when the transfer of growth hormones is disrupted (perhaps caused from the introduction of a foreign substance). Insects (e.g., aphids), fungi, bacteria, viruses, phytoplasmas, and herbicides have all been implicated in causing the formation of witches’ brooms in many plant species.

Witches' Broom

Witches’ Brooms are plants having stunted foliage & short stem internodes. (Photo Credit: Steven K. Rettke, Rutgers Coop. Ext.)

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Filed Under: Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Plant Diagnostic Lab
February 12, 2021

Rutgers Online Pesticide Applicator Exam Portal is Open

To streamline NJ’s pesticide exam process, Rutgers Office of Continuing Professional Education has announced that the new online Pesticide Applicator Certification Exam Registration (PACER) system is available for your use immediately.

pacer.rutgers.edu

How the new system benefits YOU:

  • Online Access: Web-based PACER application is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
  • No More Snail Mail: Upload your support documents online and eliminate the time and expense required to mail them.
  • Quick Review Turnaround: Your application will be reviewed within 48 business hours and you will be notified of any problems or concerns with your documentation promptly via email.
  • Immediate Exam Scheduling: Online exams are available 24/7. Once in-person exams resume, YOU choose your exam date and location when you register; no more waiting to hear which of your exam date and time choices were available.
  • Fast Exam Results: See your exam grades within 7 business days of exam completion.
  • More Exam Times and Locations: Due to COVID-19, all exams are currently being offered online. When restrictions are lifted, online exams will continue and in-person exams will resume. New facilities will be added around the state to give you more options for added convenience. In-person exams will be administered weekdays, evenings and on Saturdays to better accommodate your schedule.
  • Manage Others’ Exams: Are you responsible for your organization’s employees? Now you can easily track and manage exam applications and scheduling for multiple people in PACER! Set up an account in PACER then provide us with the information listed below so we can upgrade your account to Business Manager. Send information to: pacer@njaes.rutgers.edu. (A commercial pesticide applicator business license number is required to establish a Business Manager account; a business license number begins with “9”).
    • Business Manager Name; Business Manager Email Address
    • Company Name; Company Address; Company Business License #
  • Support: Responsive, courteous help desk support is available Monday through Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm. Phone: 848‐932‐9271, Option 7; Fax: 732‐932‐1187; E‐mail: pacer@njaes.rutgers.edu

Examination Fees are $115 per each Category exam and the Core exam; $50 for the Private licensing exam:

  • Pay online via credit card or e-check, with no extra surcharge
  • Purchase Orders will also be accepted via upload
  • Exam payments are not refundable and online exams have minimum computer requirements detailed on the website

Please note that all exams are CLOSED book and the NJDEP no longer offers any pesticide certification exams.

The PACER website also has step-by-step instructions to create an account before registering for the exam, and user and hardware requirements to successfully complete the exam (Google Chrome internet browser, webcam, wired / Ethernet connection, ample bandwidth for Proctorio download and use, etc.). Also, make sure you choose a quiet and comfortable location to take your exams, as earphones or headphones are not permitted during the exam.

Please Visit the NJDEP website for information regarding pesticide licensing, policies, procedures, credits, and for payment and status of your license. For frequently asked questions regarding pesticide licensing please click here.

Visit PACER today!

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Field, Forage & Livestock, Food Safety, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: , , ,
February 8, 2021

USDA to Measure Financial Well-Being of Farmers and Ranchers

Agricultural Resource Management Survey Survey       Image result for usda ag counts

Initiated back in late December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will be spending these next several months gathering information about farm economics and production practices from farmers and ranchers across the United States, as the agency conducts the third and final phase of the 2020 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS).

“ARMS is the only survey that measures the current financial well-being of producers and their households as a whole,” said King Whetstone, director of the NASS Northeastern Region. “The results of this survey will help inform decisions on local and federal policies and programs that affect farms and farm families.”

In an effort to obtain the most accurate data, NASS will reach out to more than 30,000 producers nationwide, between January and April in 2021. The survey asks producers to provide in-depth information about their operating revenues, production costs, and household characteristics.

The 2020 ARMS survey includes a version of the questionnaire focused on hog and pig production costs and returns. This year the survey also includes questions to help measure any impacts of COVID-19 on farms, farm and household finances, and off-farm employment. “In February, our interviewers will begin reaching out to those farmers who have not yet responded,” said Whetstone. “We appreciate their time and are here to help them with the questionnaire so that their information will continue supporting sound agricultural decision making.”

In addition to producing accurate information, NASS has strong safeguards in place to protect the confidentiality of all farmers who respond to its surveys. The agency will only publish data in an aggregate form, ensuring the confidentiality of all responses and that no individual respondent or operation can be identified.

Growers can complete the survey online, saving you time by allowing you to skip over questions that do not apply to you, by calculating totals automatically, and by providing drop-down menus for common answers. It also saves taxpayer dollars that would otherwise be spent on return postage and data entry.

To complete your survey online, you will need your unique Survey Code from the address label on the paper questionnaire or letter you received in the mail. You can save a partially completed survey by clicking “Save and Return Later.” Do not click the “Submit” button until you are sure you are finished with your survey.

The expense data gathered in ARMS will be published in the annual Farm Production Expenditures report in July 2021. That report and others are available by clicking here. More reports based on ARMS data and more information about ARMS are available online here. For more information, please call the NASS Northeastern Regional Field Office at (800) 498-1518.

NASS is the federal statistical agency responsible for producing official data about U.S. agriculture and is committed to providing timely, accurate and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture.

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Field, Forage & Livestock, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: , , ,
February 7, 2021

USDA APHIS Ends Emerald Ash Borer Domestic Quarantine Regulations

Effective January 14, 2021, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has removed the domestic quarantine regulations for the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB, Agrilus planipennis, Fairmare). According to the Federal Register posting, “this action will discontinue the domestic regulatory component of the emerald ash borer program as a means to more effectively direct available resources toward management and containment of the pest. Funding previously allocated to the implementation and enforcement of these domestic quarantine regulations will instead be directed to nonregulatory options to mitigate and control the pest.”

APHIS’ final rule was posted December 15, 2020, based on the original Federal Register posting from September of 2018, which received over 140 comments. A federal quarantine for EAB has been in place since 2003.

Under this rule, establishments operating under EAB compliance agreements will no longer incur costs of complying with Federal EAB quarantine regulations, although States could still impose restrictions.

EAB has now been found in 35 States and the District of Columbia and it is likely that there are infestations that have not yet been detected. Newly identified infestations are estimated to be 4 to 5 years or more in age. Known infestations cover more than 27 percent of the native ash range within the conterminous United States.

APHIS further summarized, “The domestic quarantine regulations for EAB have not substantially reduced the likelihood of introduction and establishment of the pest in quarantine-adjacent areas. Interstate movement of EAB host articles is unrestricted within areas of contiguous quarantine, and irrespective of human-assisted spread, a mated EAB is capable of flying up to 100 miles in her lifetime, resulting in a high potential for natural spread.”

Public outreach activities outside the EAB regulatory program will continue, and APHIS will continue to work with State counterparts to encourage the public to buy firewood where they burn it and to refrain from moving firewood. The primary national communications tool to warn the public about the plant pest risk associated with the movement of firewood is the Don’t Move Firewood campaign, which is administered by The Nature Conservancy with support from APHIS and other Federal agencies.

EAB and New Jersey

Emerald Ash Borer was discovered in New Jersey in May 2014 in Somerset County. All ash trees in NJ should be considered at high risk for EAB: even if Emerald Ash Borer has not yet been detected, all ash trees are considered to be at high risk of EAB infestation within the next few years.

Through December of 2019, EAB has been found in New Jersey in Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties.

The NJ Department of Agriculture hosts an EAB website where industry, communities, woodland owners, and homeowners can access an EAB Action Kit and Management Options Resource Guide.

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery Tagged With:
February 5, 2021

Landscape IPM Scouting Techniques: Basic Overview

KEY PLANTS vs. KEY PESTS vs. KEY LOCATIONS CONCEPT:

Landscape IPM (Integrated Pest Management) methods require site-specific information. Every landscape typically contains at least several key pests, key plants and key locations that will be unique to each site. These concepts are extremely useful to simplify monitoring procedures at any given landscape. They will enable field technicians to concentrate on plants and locations that are prone to problems as well as those plants and locations that have low aesthetic thresholds. Scouting efficiency should improve and a more productive use of time spent on landscapes is the result. It is important to emphasize that Integrated Pest Management is a philosophy & practitioners will need to develop skills & experience to improve their levels of commitment.

Well-landscaped house

A diverse, well designed landscape that will unlikely develop many pest problems. (Photo Credit: Steven K. Rettke, Rutgers Coop. Ext.)

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Filed Under: Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Plant Diagnostic Lab
February 3, 2021

Turf/sod producers are now eligible for assistance through CFAP – Deadline 2/26

Turf/sod producers are now eligible for assistance through CFAP – LINK

This is one of several commodities that experienced COVID-19 market disruptions but had not been explicitly included in the initial CFAP 2 rule.

Eligible turfgrass sod producers can now apply for CFAP 2 between January 19 – February 26, 2021

Payments for turfgrass sod will be equal to:

  1. The amount of the producer’s eligible sales in calendar year 2019, plus crop insurance indemnities, Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), and Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) payments received for the 2019 crop year, multiplied by
  2. The payment rate for that range.
2019 Sales Range Percent Payment Factor for the Producer’s 2019 Sales of Eligible Commodities Falling in the Range
$0 to $49,999 10.6%
$50,000 to $99,999 9.9%
$100,000 to $499,999 9.7%
$500,000 to $999,999 9.0%
Sales over $1 million 8.8%

Payments for producers who began farming in 2020 and had no sales in 2019 will be based on the producer’s actual 2020 sales as of the producer’s application date.

Example: A producer’s 2019 sales of eligible commodities and Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program payments totaled $75,000. The payment is calculated as ($49,999 times 10.6%) plus ($25,001 times 9.9%) equals a total payment of $7,775.

Contact:

  • Eligible turfgrass sod producers can now apply for CFAP by contacting their local USDA Service Center.
  • One-on-one support with applications is also available by calling 877-508-8364.
  • Access all CFAP 2 application resources at farmers.gov/cfap2/apply.
Filed Under: Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Turf