September 20, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccines Still Available For Farmworkers

At the request of the New Jersey Departments of Health and Agriculture, please read the following message:

Our offices are working diligently to ensure that all farmworkers are protected against COVID-19 for the fall season – to that end, we have developed a new survey to assess the migrant and seasonal farm worker population for the fall and to identify focus areas for COVID-19 vaccination support. We would greatly appreciate if you could please fill out the survey here (even if all your workers are already vaccinated for COVID-19): http://healthsurveys.nj.gov/NoviSurvey/n/zz2q2.aspx. Any information you provide will be confidential and used solely for supporting COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

Additionally, if any of your workers are not yet vaccinated for COVID-19 and are interested in receiving a vaccine, please feel free to contact Omolola Taiwo, Ph.D,  MPA, Executive Director, Office of Primary Care and Rural Health, Division of Community Health Services, New Jersey Department of Health, at njmsfw@doh.nj.gov.  Our team will ensure that you are connected with the appropriate resources to keep your workforce healthy.

Thank you for your support in keeping our farm communities safe and healthy!

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
September 2, 2021

National Farm Safety and Health Week: September 19-25, 2021

Flyer for NFSHW 2021 Webinars

NFSHW webinars to be held 9/20-9/24/2021. Click here to register.

September precedes one of the busiest and most dangerous seasons of the year in agriculture – fall harvest time. For this reason, National Farm Safety and Health Week (NFSHW) is recognized annually during the third week of September. The theme this year is “Farm Safety Yields Real Results”.

AgriSafe will host two FREE webinars each day during NFSHW to highlight new technology, discuss incident prevention, and inform your decision-making and conversations. The webinars will feature discussion on each of the daily topics. Visit The National Education Center for Agricultural Safety website to register (scroll down to ‘Webinars’). Note that the webinar times are posted for Central Daylight Time.

Take an active role in keeping yourself and others safe this harvest season. Plan to join in on a webinar, encourage others to do the same, and take to social media to spread the message: “Farm Safety Yields Real Results”. Stay tuned to the Rutgers Agriculture and Natural Resources Facebook page for content to share each day during NFSHW!

 

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Field, Forage & Livestock, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: , ,
June 25, 2021

Additional Vaccination Opportunities Across the State This Weekend

Last Friday, Governor Murphy announced that the State has reached the goal of having 70% adults fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, many areas across New Jersey still see vaccination rate below 70%. In addition to the Atlantic City rodeo event announced yesterday, the NJ Dept of Health shared these additional vaccination events/sites that will occur throughout the state this weekend:

  • The Mobile Command Center (vaccination van) will be in Irvington on Saturday 6/26, at Irvington Park, Lyons Avenue and Grove Street, from 10:30AM to 1:30PM
  • In Trenton on Saturday 6/26 there will be COVID-19 vaccines, music, giveaways, and a lot of fun at 416 Bellevue Avenue, Trenton, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
  • Vaccine clinic at Rodeo in Atlantic City on Sunday 6/27 at Surf Stadium, 545 North Albany Avenue, Atlantic City, 3PM to 7PM.

Additionally, this weekend and early next week, there will be pop-up vaccination sites in Trenton, Camden, Ewing, Woodbridge, Long Branch, Lakewood, Hackensack, and Paterson.

Saturday 6/26, Grateful for the Shot pop-up clinics –

  • Ewing Township, 10am to 1pm – Faith Deliverance Cathedral Church, 15 Keswick Ave, Ewing Township, NJ 08638
  • Woodbridge Township, 1pm-4pm – Muslim Community of New Jersey, 15 South Second Street Fords, NJ 08863
  • Long Branch City, 10am-12pm – St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church, 800 Ocean Avenue, Long Branch, NJ 07740
  • Lakewood, 9am-5pm – Lakewood Town Square, Clifton Avenue & Third Street, Lakewood, NJ 08701

Sunday 6/27, Grateful for the Shot pop-up clinics –

  • Trenton, 9am to 11am – Parish of Our Lady of the Angels, 540 Chestnut Ave Trenton, NJ 08611
  • Hackensack, 2pm to 5pm – Redeemed Christian Church of God The King’s Court, 81 Trinity Pl, Hackensack, NJ 07601
  • Orange Township, 11am to 3 pm – First Shiloh Baptist Church, 424 Main St, City of Orange, NJ 07050

Monday 6/28, Grateful for the Shot pop-up clinics –

  • Paterson City, 4pm to 7pm – Templo Shalom, 586 Main St, Paterson, NJ 07503

Tuesday 6/29, Grateful for the Shot pop-up clinics –

  • Paterson City, 3pm to 6pm – Calvary Baptist Church, 575 E 18th St, Paterson, NJ 07514
Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Field, Forage & Livestock, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: , , , ,
June 3, 2021

NJ Secretary of Ag Fisher Addresses Governor’s Executive Order #243

NJ Governor Murphy signed Executive Order #243 rescinding EO#107 which requires employers to accommodate tele-work options for employees, and also lifts indoor mask mandates and 6ft social distancing requirements for vaccinated employees working indoors in businesses not open to public. Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher has provided a summary of the changes that may impact agriculture operations. The full text of his letter is attached here.

Filed Under: Blueberry, Field, Forage & Livestock, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: , , , ,
May 25, 2021

Letter from Secretary Fisher Regarding Governor’s Executive Order #242 Lifting Major COVID-19 Restrictions

NJ Governor Murphy signed Executive Order #242 lifting major COVID-19 restrections and moving forward with the state’s most significant reopening steps to date. Indoor mask mandates and 6ft social distancing requirements will be lifted this Friday, May 28, and indoor gathering/capacity limits will be lifted on June 4. Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher has provided a summary of the changes that may impact agriculture operations. The full text of his letter is attached here.

Filed Under: Blueberry, Field, Forage & Livestock, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: , , , ,
April 21, 2021

Communicating the Value of COVID-19 Vaccines With Your Farm Employees

CDC COVID-19 Vaccine Posters available in multiple languages – “Vaccines (shots) are one of the tools we have to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In an effort to increase participation in the COVID-19 vaccination program among farm workers, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), through the national Extension Foundation, is working with Cooperative Extension across the country to help spread the word about the importance of getting vaccinated. Rutgers Cooperative Extension Director Brian Schilling has enlisted a team of County Agents and Specialists to answer the call from the CDC to participate in this EXCITE program. Through a variety of communications channels we will be providing informational posters and other educational materials in several appropriate languages that you can hand out or post in locations where your workers can easily read them (like on or near your Worker Protections Standards bulletin boards or in your labor camps).

“Vaccines (shots) are one of the tools we have to fight the COVID-19 pandemic” posters from the CDC are now available on the COVID-19 page of the Rutgers NJAES On-Farm Food Safety website <https://onfarmfoodsafety.rutgers.edu/covid-19-information/> with the direct links to these multiple language editions:

You can also share this Spanish language video <https://wecandothis.hhs.gov/un-rayo-de-esperanza> from the US Dept. of Health and Human Services with your workers to help explain where they can get more information about COVID-19 vaccines. There are several other informational videos available at https://wecandothis.hhs.gov/filter/format/Video, as well as posters/fliers from https://wecandothis.hhs.gov/filter/format/Poster%20%E2%80%93%20Flyer (mostly English), and factsheets at https://wecandothis.hhs.gov/filter/format/Fact%20Sheet.

EXCITE PNG

Filed Under: Blueberry, Commercial Ag Updates, Cranberry, Field, Forage & Livestock, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, Turf, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape Tagged With: , , , , ,