Happy Father's Day and Juneteenth
This year we honor our father's and their devotion to their children on the same weekend we also observe the new federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States in 1865 after the Civil War.
This Week's IPM Weekly Update
This week's edition of the Pennsylvania Vegetable IPM Weekly Update contains the first sweet corn insect pest trapping report for 2022 and the Vegetable Diseases Update. See this week's issue here.
Growers who wish to receive the IPM Weekly Update directly by email on Wednesday or Thursday when it is published should contact PVGA at pvga@pvga.org
Apiaceous Vegetables Can Reduce Toxins from Cigarette Smoke, Air Pollution
While air pollution is on the rise throughout the world, Jae Kyeom Kim, University of Delaware assistant professor for the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition, discovered an achievable solution that may mitigate the effect of air pollutants in our bodies by increasing daily intake of apiaceous vegetables.
Apiaceous vegetables are a family consisting of vegetables such as celery, carrots, parsnips, and parsley. Kim’s research article, published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, investigates how these vegetables protect the body from accumulation of acrolein, an irritant to the lungs and skin with a strong unpleasant odor, abundantly found in cigarette smoke and automobile exhaust.
Through a series of tests, Kim and his team analyzed how apiaceous vegetables, which are high in phytonutrients, mitigated acrolein-induced toxicities. The results portrayed how oxidative stress, triggered by acrolein, can be reduced and its impacts mitigated. See more here.
Correcting Nutrient Deficiencies in Vegetable Crops
As the season progresses, growers and consultants will use tissue tests to determine the nutrient status of vegetable crops and take corrective actions if necessary. As a rule, if levels are in the adequate range or are high no corrective action is needed. If levels have dropped to near deficient levels or are in the deficient category then additional mineral nutrients will need to be added. Critical tissue test values for many vegetables can be found in the Mid-Atlantic Commercial Vegetable Recommendations. The following are some guidelines for correcting low or deficient levels from tissue tests in vegetables. See more here.
Farm Service Agency Now Accepting Nominations for Farmers and Ranchers to Serve on Local County Committees
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) is now accepting nominations for county committee members. Elections will occur in certain Local Administrative Areas (LAA) for members. LAAs are elective areas for FSA committees in a single county or multi-county jurisdiction. This may include LAAs that are focused on an urban or suburban area.
County committee members make important decisions about how Federal farm programs are administered locally. All nomination forms for the 2022 election must be postmarked or received in the local FSA office by Aug. 1, 2022.
“It is a priority for USDA to integrate equity into its decision-making and policymaking, and that starts with our local FSA county committees,” said Heidi Secord, State Executive Director for FSA in Pennsylvania. “We need enthusiastic, diverse leaders to serve other agricultural producers on these committees as we work to build equitable systems and programming inclusive of all employees and all of our customers. I ask that you consider making a difference in your community by nominating yourself, or another agricultural producer, to serve on your local FSA county committee.” See more here.
National Watermelon Promotion Board: Eat the Rind!
This month, the National Watermelon Promotion Board launched its largest consumer-focused campaign of the year, Use the Whole Watermelon. The campaign is designed to focus on the taste, health, economic and sustainable benefits of a watermelon, inside and out. According to the board’s consumer research, only 18% of consumers use the whole watermelon, and less than 40% of respondents know the rind is edible. Watermelon is 100% edible, flesh, juice, rind – and even the green skin! See more here.
Sunburn in Vegetables Revisited - Use of Particle Films
Recent weather has produced conditions where there is high potential for sunburn in fruits and fruiting vegetables. Growers may need to consider ways to protect against sunburn. Sunburn is most prevalent on days with high temperatures, clear skies and high light radiation. We commonly see sunburn in watermelons, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, apples, strawberries, and brambles (raspberries and blackberries).
There are three types of sunburn which may have effects on the fruits. The first, sunburn necrosis, is where skin, peel, or fruit tissue dies on the sun exposed side of the fruit (Figure 1). Cell membrane integrity is lost in this type of sunburn and cells start leaking their contents. The critical fruit tissue temperature for sunburn necrosis varies with type of fruit. Research has shown that the fruit skin temperature threshold for sunburn necrosis is 100 to 104°F for cucumbers; 105 to 108°F for peppers, and 125 to 127°F for apples. Fruits with sunburn necrosis are not marketable. Injury may be white to brown in color. See more here.
Popular Field to Vase U-pick Flowers Gets Ready for Picking Season
When it comes to their business operations, Melissa and Ryan Ripley do things the old-fashioned way. Every May, the couple hand plant rows upon rows of seeds at their 4-acre flower farm along Tulip Road in New Carlisle that will germinate and grow in the spring in time for the u-cut season in July. When asked if hand planting gives them more control over the seed planting, Melissa laughs and says, "I think it gives me a lot more back pain."
For six years, the Ripleys have operated Field to Vase U-Pick Flowers at 55923 Tulip Road from July through October, with markets and events planned throughout the picking season. What once started as a way to stay home with their young children has quite literally blossomed into a booming business where customers can come, cut and create their own bouquets. See more here.
Orange Rust of Brambles
Orange rust is a fungal disease that can affect black raspberries and blackberries. We have had several incidences of this disease found in new and established plantings this year.
Initial symptoms of orange rust are spindly shoots with clustered, misshapen, pale green to yellowish leaves. The leaves are covered with bright orange, powdery blisters on the underside. The plant becomes systemically infected and remains so for the rest of its life. The infected plants may give a bushy appearance since many short, upright shoots arise from one bud.
Orange rust does not usually kill plants, but it can significantly reduce vegetative growth and yield. The disease is caused by the fungus Gymnoconia nitens. The orange spores are spread by wind and infect leaves of healthy plants during long periods of leaf wetness provided by rain or dew. Orange rust is favored by relatively low temperatures (50-70°F) and wet conditions. The fungus is systemic and overwinters in the crown and roots of infected plants, leading to the production of new infected canes every year. Without management, the number of infected plants in a field may increase from year to year until most plants are infected. See more here.
How Supply Chain Issues Are Impacting Farm Equipment Availability
Of all the categories serving the vegetable industry, farm equipment is bearing the brunt of supply chain issues the most.
During chats at 2022 fruit and vegetable trade shows, suppliers spoke off the record about how a single, humble part in a piece of large planter equipment threatened to shut down sales. One spoke about not being able to access the metal coil for the hinge that allowed transplants to drop into the soil. Another couldn’t source small tires needed for a part that pivots off the main frame after his usual supply was trapped in a port overseas.
Smart — or lucky — suppliers stocked needed parts well ahead of time.
“We have found that it is more important than ever to plan far ahead,” says Joseph Sutton, Owner of Sutton Agricultural Enterprises, Inc. “Shipping slowdowns from imports is where we have seen the most dramatic slowdown and unpredictability.” See more here.
Unusual Diseases of Garlic Scapes Found in Maryland
Over the last few years, a grower noticed lesions developing on their garlic scapes which then collapsed in the field. In previous years these collapsed scapes amounted to only a small number, but this year the losses are much greater, approaching 30%. Symptoms consist of sunken lesions about ¼ to ½ inch long, that cause twisting, girdling and collapse of the scape. Lesions initially are cream to tan-colored but under rainy or very humid conditions, spore production by the fungus causes lesions to turn orange (Fig. 1 & 2). This disease is anthracnose of garlic, a new disease to Maryland and is caused by the fungus Colletotrichum fioriniae. The fungus may survive on crop residue in the soil from a previous garlic crop or the disease may be spread by infected bulbils used for propagation. Disease development is favored by rainy or very humid weather and warm temperatures (78-88o F). Anthracnose of garlic does not affect bulbs, but scape yield could be reduced as will bulbil production. See more here.
FarmSense Releasing 1,000 Ag-Tech Pest Control System FlightSensors in California
Agtech startup FarmSense is releasing 1,000 of its FlightSensor units in a limited product launch of the award-winning real-time pest monitoring and identification device. The units will be distributed to select commercial pest advisors, farm managers and growers in California, according to a news release.
“Our FlightSensor is transforming the agriculture industry and we are excited to see what it can do for Integrated Pest Management on a larger scale,” said Leslie Hickle, co-founder and CEO. “With today’s growing concern with resource management and good farming practices, crop health and sustainability is critical. We enable scalable good farming practices and provide data that will result in better outcomes for farmers and their consumers.”
FlightSensor began as an incubator business at the University of California-Riverside. Using patented technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning and real-time analytics to improve insect monitoring and crop management. It is designed to reduce the need for pesticides while boosting crop yields and saving time and labor for growers, according to the release. See more here.
How Climate Change Is Set To Squeeze the Processed Tomato Industry
Climate change is on track to interfere with tomato production. According to a study published in Nature Food, rising temperatures are projected to lower yields around the world for processing tomatoes. By 2050, the global supply of processing tomatoes is expected to decrease by 6% compared to the study’s baseline of 1990-2009, with Italy’s crop being among the hardest hit.
“The processing tomatoes are grown in the open fields, which means that we cannot control the environment in which they grow. This makes the production vulnerable to climate change,” says lead author Davide Cammarano, a Professor at Aarhus University. See more here.
EFI Supports Biden Administration’s Guidance on Fair Recruitment Principles
Equitable Food Initiative (EFI), the workforce development and certification organization that partners with growers, farmworkers, retailers and consumer groups, supports the proposed new guidance on ethical recruitment from the Biden-Harris administration Collaborative Migration Management Strategy.
The Guidance on Fair Recruitment Principles is part of the administration’s strategy to expand access to lawful pathways for migration and to better manage the H-2 visa program that provides essential labor for the agriculture industry.
The new guidance outlines key areas related to recruitment infrastructure and processes, including the protection of fundamental worker rights, contract transparency and the role of retailers and downstream supply chain actors in preventing abusive recruitment practices. The policy builds on existing Department of Labor regulations, as well as United Nations’ efforts to improve the recruitment process through the International Labour Organization’s Fair Recruitment Initiative and Guiding Principles and Operational Guidelines for Fair Recruitment. See more here.
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