Plant & Pest Advisory

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

February 5, 2021 Steven K. Rettke

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 […]

Filed Under: Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Plant Diagnostic Lab

February 4, 2021 Andy Wyenandt

Greenhouse Sanitation Important for Disease Management

Proper greenhouse sanitation is important for healthy, disease-free vegetable transplant production. Efforts need to be made to keep transplant production greenhouses free of unnecessary plant debris and weeds which may harbor insect pests and disease. Efforts need to be taken throughout the transplant production season to minimize potential problems. All equipment, benches, flats, plug trays […]

Filed Under: Vegetable Crops

February 3, 2021 Wes Kline

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Harmonized Food Safety Audit Training

We are offering a final, for this spring, online Harmonized Audit Training Course on March 2, 2021 from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM. If you will need to obtain a USDA Harmonized Audit this year or want a refresher this is the course for you. This three-hour virtual class will cover each question on the […]

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Food Safety, Fruit, Organic Production, Vegetable Crops

February 3, 2021 Tim Waller

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 […]

Filed Under: Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Turf

February 3, 2021 Rick VanVranken

2021 NJ Ag/VGANJ Virtual Convention Update 2

My apologies for some of the confusion from my initial update regarding the educational sessions of our 2021 NJ Ag/VGANJ Convention will be held virtually the last week of February. While the entire up-to-date program was, and is, available to view on the Vegetable Growers Association of NJ website – VGANJ.com/schedule, I forgot one critical […]

Filed Under: Blueberry, Commercial Ag Updates, Field, Forage & Livestock, Food Safety, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Organic Production, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape

February 3, 2021 Wes Kline

Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) – Produce Safety Alliance Training Course

The Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Course is one way to satisfy the FSMA Produce Safety Rule requirement outlined in § 112.22(c) that requires ‘At least one supervisor or responsible party for your farm must have successfully completed food safety training at least equivalent to that received under the standardized curriculum recognized as adequate by […]

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Food Safety, Fruit, Organic Production, Vegetable Crops