January 20, 2026

H2A Farm Labor Meeting – February 2, 2026 – Upper Deerfield, Cumberland County

Learn about H2A, the federal farm labor program.

Insights about costs, legal considerations, and practical matters, from experts, growers, and NJ Farm Bureau.

February 2nd, 2026

121 Northville Road
Bridgeton, New Jersey 08302

The Event is provided free of charge, but you must RSVP

Lunch and refreshments will be provided

To register, please contact Karen Adams:
adams@udel.edu
302-831-3328

Link for PDF

9:30 – 10:00 Check-in / Registration
10:00 – 10:10 Welcome
10:10 – 10:55 Real Cost of H2A Workers Nate Bruce, University of Delaware
10:55 – 12:00 Legal Aspects of the H2A Process Brandon Davis, Phelps Dunbar LLP
Paul Goeringer, University of Maryland
12:00 – 12:45 Lunch
12:45 – 1:10 New Jersey Considerations for H2A Workers Ben Casella, New Jersey Farm Bureau
1:10 – 1:30 Experiences with the H2A Program and Q&A Henry Bennett, Bennett Orchards
1:30 – 1:45 Evaluations

Speakers, times, and availabilities subject to change.

This work is supported by the Northeast Extension Risk Management project award no. 2024-70027-42540, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

This event is brought to you jointly by the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, a service of the UD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and University of Maryland Cooperative Extension, a service of the UMD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources — both are land-grant institutions and are equal opportunity providers. If you have special needs that need to be accommodated, please contact the office two weeks prior to the event.

 

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Field, Forage & Livestock, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Tree Fruit, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape Tagged With: , , , ,
August 18, 2025 and

Mid-August Peach and Nectarine Varieties for New Jersey – New and Standard

Gloria: Developed by the Rutgers Tree Fruit Breeding program. A large, globose to slightly ovate, 60-90% scarlet red over yellow ground color, yellow-fleshed, freestone peach ripening from August 16-22. The flesh is very firm with low acid and good, very sweet and sub-acid flavor. The tree is vigorous, spreading, and very productive with low susceptibility to bacterial spot. A unique variety because of its very attractive color, low acidity, and lasting flesh firmness. The bloom is late and extended compared to other varieties; hence, in a frost year, Gloria is more likely to avoid full crop loss. It has a very firm flesh that is slow to soften. Fruit physical and chemical (taste) properties of standard and new peach varieties grown in mid-August are described in Table 1. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blueberry, Cranberry, Fruit, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, vegetable, Wine Grape Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
August 11, 2025 and

Early August Peach Varieties for New Jersey – New and Standard

August is National Peach Month! No wonder many high-quality peach varieties are ripening during this month. Understanding these varieties’ tree and fruit characteristics in New Jersey conditions can help make planting, replanting, and harvest-related decisions. Table 1 describes the physical and chemical properties of some new and standard, early August peach varieties evaluated at RAREC (Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center), Bridgeton. The ripening dates for central and northern New Jersey could be later by a few days.

Coralstar®  is a large, globose, 60-80% orange-scarlet red over orange-yellow ground color, yellow-fleshed, freestone peach ripening August 4-7, approximately 9 days after Redhaven. The flesh is firm with a very sweet and mildly tangy flavor, with a pleasant aroma. The tree is moderately vigorous and productive, with low susceptibility to bacterial spot. It is a suitable replacement for Loring. Avoid overthinning, because Coralstar® can have many fruits bigger than 3” even in the first pick. Ideal for canning and sliced peaches.
Challenge: The fruit size is potentially very large with split pit tendencies in light crop years.
FlavrBurstTM is a large to very large, globose 50-80% scarlet red over a reddish yellow green ground color, yellow-fleshed, freestone peach, ripening August 5-9, approximately 10 days after Redhaven. The coarse-textured, firm, melting, somewhat low-acid flesh has excellent sweet flavor. The tree is upright, spreading, and productive, with medium susceptibility to bacterial spot; however, the fruit has slight susceptibility to it. This high-quality variety has excellent size and flavor.
Challenge: The biggest concern with FlavrBurstTM is that it may get a zipper in some years— a slightly open suture that can create an opening point for the brown rot.

Flamin’ Fury® PF 17 is a medium-large to large, ovate to globose, 55-70% crimson red over yellow-green ground color, yellow-fleshed, freestone peach ripening August 6-9, approximately 12 days after Redhaven. The melting flesh is firm with a very sweet and tangy flavor. The tree is vigorous. It is reliably productive, with low to medium susceptibility to bacterial spot and some fruit drop tendency. The size of the fruit improves as trees age, making it one of the most popular varieties in this season. This is an excellent peach for direct retail.
Challenges: It can have many split pits. In years with cloudy days during ripening, the background color change from green to yellow could be very slow; meanwhile, the fruit has ripened. For PF 17, a day’s delay can result in a lot more softening.

Scarlet Prince is a medium to large, globose, 80-90% scarlet red over greenish yellow ground color, yellow-fleshed, freestone peach ripening August 6-9, approximately 12 days after Redhaven. The flesh has adequate to good firmness with very good flavor. The tree is vigorous and productive with low susceptibility to bacterial spot—an attractive peach with great firmness.

Bounty is a large to very large, globose, 40-70% crimson red over light greenish-yellow ground color, yellow-fleshed, freestone peach, ripening August 6-9, approximately 12 days after Redhaven. The flesh is firm with a very sweet and sub-acid flavor and some split pit tendency. The tree is vigorous, spreading, and productive with medium susceptibility to bacterial spot. Fruits need good light exposure to develop a good red blush. This is the standard in this season because of its size and flavor.
Challenges:  Bounty can get soft fast, just like PF-17 and Messina. Look for the under-color, and as soon as it turns yellow from greenish yellow, pick it. If you wait for deep red color development from this point, the fruit will be too soft. Assess for picking every two days.

July Prince is a large to very large, globose to ovate, 60-90% attractive scarlet red over a yellow background, yellow melting flesh, freestone peach, ripening August 7-11, approximately 13 days after Redhaven. The flesh is very firm, with a very sweet, acidic, and tangy flavor, slightly fibrous around the pit. The trees are vigorous, upright, spreading, and productive.

Flamin’ Fury® PF 19-007 is a large to very large, slightly ovate to globose, uniformly shaped, 60-90% scarlet red over yellow ground color, yellow-fleshed, freestone peach ripening from August 8-11, approximately 15 days after Redhaven. The flesh is firm with very good flavor, but mealy if overripe. The tree is vigorous and productive with low susceptibility to bacterial spot.
Challenge: Fruit is prone to split pits.

Loring is a large to very large, ovate to globose, 40-60% scarlet red over yellow ground color, yellow-fleshed, freestone peach ripening August 7-10, approximately 13 days after Redhaven. The flesh is firm with very good flavor.
 Challenge: Though the tree is very vigorous and moderately productive, it has medium susceptibility to bacterial spot. This variety is more suited for direct marketing because of its relatively short shelf life.

Articles on Previous Season Peach and Nectarine Varieties:

Filed Under: Blueberry, Cranberry, Fruit, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
August 10, 2025 and

Early August Nectarine Varieties for New Jersey – Summer Beaut, Sunglo, and Flavortop.

Summer Beaut – A medium to medium-large, ovate, 90-100% scarlet-red over yellow ground color, yellow-fleshed, semi-freestone, nectarine ripening from July 29-Aug 1. The flesh is firm with a good acidic flavor. The tree is moderately vigorous, moderately productive, and seems to fruit more heavily when planted near another variety. It has medium susceptibility to bacterial spot. Summer Beaut always has a few split pits. Table 1 summarizes the physical and chemical properties of nectarine varieties – Summer Beaut, Sunglo, and Flavortop.

 

Sunglo – A medium-large to large, globose to slightly ovate, 80-90% orange-scarlet-red, over yellow-orange ground color, yellow-fleshed, freestone nectarine ripening from August 6-9, or approximately 12 days after Redhaven. The flesh is very firm with a very good to excellent acidic flavor. The tree is moderately vigorous and moderately productive, with high susceptibility to bacterial spot.

Flavortop – A medium to large, ovate to globose, 90-100% crimson-red over greenish-yellow ground color, yellow-fleshed, freestone nectarine ripening from August 4-7, or approximately 10 days after Redhaven. The flesh is firm with a very good acidic flavor. The tree is moderately vigorous and productive, with high susceptibility to bacterial spot.

Articles on peach and nectarine varieties in the previous seasons:

Filed Under: Blueberry, Cranberry, Fruit, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, Uncategorized, vegetable, Wine Grape Tagged With: , , , , ,
July 31, 2025 and

Late-July Nectarine Varieties for New Jersey – New and Standard

BRIGANTINE is a new yellow-fleshed nectarine with semi-freestone, ripening July 20-25, just before ‘Summer Beaut’ and ‘Redhaven’. It has a full, glossy scarlet coloring with a slight golden-yellow background. Fruit skin is consistently free from blemishes. It has a nice, sweet, and acidic flavor, and firm, melting flesh. Flesh has traces of red. This is a very productive tree with low susceptibility to bacterial spot, while the fruit has slight to moderate susceptibility to bacterial spot. Fruit hangs well. Fruit characteristics of Brigantine and other late-July nectarines are listed below in Table 1. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blueberry, Cranberry, Fruit, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, vegetable, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
June 30, 2025 and

Late June Peach Varieties for New Jersey– New and Standard

The many peach varieties grown in New Jersey were developed in different breeding programs from several peach-growing regions, including the Rutgers Tree Fruit Breeding program. Recent evaluations have examined the known characteristics and challenges growers face in growing these varieties. These are important for making planting, thinning, harvesting, post-harvest handling, and marketing-related decisions. Understanding these differences is important for selecting varieties or replacing existing ones.

Desiree is a very attractive yellow-fleshed, clingstone peach variety, ripening during the last week of June. The fruit is beautiful and medium to moderately large, which is impressive for the early-season variety. The flesh is firm with a very sweet and tangy flavor. The tree is vigorous, and its leaves have low susceptibility to bacterial spot. The fruit is also having low susceptibility to Bacterial Spot. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blueberry, Cranberry, Fruit, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, Uncategorized, vegetable, Wine Grape Tagged With: , , , ,