California Fruit and Vegetable

Category: Rasberries

  • Effects of Shading on Raspberry Leaves

    There are a lot of reasons that plant leaves turn yellow and this can be beyond just the most obvious like nutrient deficiency or sickness, and sometimes includes things that we don’t think about at the beginning.

    In this vein, consider the pictures below of the yellowing caused in raspberry leaves when they are blocked from a sufficient amount of light. In this case, two leaves were covering another leaf below, and the result, which is visible when those two leaves are pulled aside, was a pattern of yellowing in the same shape as the leaves which were lying upon it.    The lack of sunlight causes the chloroplasts which are responsible for the manufacture of green chlorophyll to become less active, eventually degrade with the net result of degreening and a fade to yellow.

    Understanding this concept explains as well why the insides of raspberry hedgerowsare often filled with yellow and dying plants. There is little light getting through there, so the leaves lose their purpose and over time senesce. —Story by Mark P. Bolda, UC Ag and Natural Resource

    Pull the green leaves aside and we discover that the leaf below is left yellow in the area covered. Photo contributed by UC Ag and Natural Resources.
    On a macro-scale, this is why we often see the leaves on the inside of the raspberry hedgerow become yellow and die. They do not have sufficient light. Photo contributed by UC Ag and Natural Resources.

  • Blue Ribbon Panel of International Food Safety Experts Identifies Limitations in Enteric Virus Testing in Berries

    A new peer-reviewed white paper, “Detection of Foodborne Viruses in Berries – State of the Science and Considerations for the Future,” published in Food Control, presents a comprehensive appraisal of the issues associated with enteric virus (norovirus and hepatitis A) detection in berries. The authors deliberated the technical and practical issues related to currently available detection methods and called for realignment of resources towards enhanced risk management approaches across berry growing and processing to mitigate the flow of contaminated products in the global supply chain.

    The international panel of academic, industry, and government experts in food virology, microbiology, food safety, and risk assessment was convened by the Frozen Food Foundation in response to heightened awareness of the risks associated with enteric viruses in the berry supply chain.

    “This information represents a paradigm shift in how the entire frozen berry supply chain – from grower to retailer – can manage enteric virus safety,” said Sanjay Gummalla, PhD, Senior Vice President of Scientific Affairs for the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI). “It is clear we cannot achieve our food safety goals through molecular detection methods alone. Rather we need to focus on prevention strategies including high-quality agricultural water, proper irrigation methods, worker hygiene training, and adequate sanitation facilities.”

    The panel explored the nuances of current sampling and testing protocols used globally across all stakeholders (industry testing and regulatory surveillance), acknowledging it works best when concentrations of the virus are high and uniform. Dr. Gummalla pointed out, “These conditions are rarely met in real-world scenarios where contamination of berries mostly occurs at low levels and heterogeneously.”

    The experts reiterated the age-old caveat, that testing can never guarantee safety, as the results only apply to the specific samples tested, not entire lots/batches.

    “AFFI and its members take food safety seriously, and these findings are invaluable to our effort to work with government and industry to continuously improve the safety of frozen berries and protect consumers,” concluded Dr. Gummalla.

    AFFI partnered with iDecision Sciences and developed an AI-based digital platform for enteric virus risk management called EViews to transparently manage risks in the supply chain and the frozen berry industry is actively using it globally. Additionally, AFFI’s food safety zone comprises its Enteric Virus Control Program and Enteric Virus Control Specialist Training, created in collaboration with the International Food Protection Training Institute.

    An official scientific journal of the European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST) and the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST), Food Control is an international journal that publishes manuscripts resulting from original scientific investigation into significant food safety and food quality concerns and preventative control measures that improve public health.

    The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) represents America’s frozen food and beverage makers. Our members are farmers, fruit and vegetable growers, makers of prepared meals, suppliers and distributors that provide over 670,000 American jobs. We are committed to advancing food safety practices throughout the frozen food supply chain by investing in scientific research, developing and disseminating best practices and collaborating to educate. For more information about AFFI, visit www.affi.org.

    The Frozen Food Foundation is the not-for-profit scientific arm of the industry that supports research and education on the nutritional, safety and societal attributes of frozen foods. For more information, visit https://affi.org/fffoundation.

  • UC Davis Researchers Target Spotted-Wing Drosophila and its Threat Against California Berries

    Back in 2010, the UC Davis entomology labs of integrated pest management specialist Frank Zalom and molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu  joined forces to target the spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), a serious threat to berry production in California.

    Drosophila suzukii, native to southeast Asia and first discovered in California in 2008, lays its eggs in such soft-skinned, ripening fruits as strawberries, raspberries, cherries, blueberries, peaches, nectarines, apricot and grape.

    It packs a powerful economic impact. The first year of its discovery in California, the economic loss amounted to $500 million. Latest statistics from 2015 indicate a $700 million national economic loss.

    The Zalom lab discovered the first SWD field populations with insecticide resistance in 2017. As the pest continues to spread throughout much of the country, anxious growers are worried about its increased resistance to pesticides.

    The team’s newly published research in Scientific Reports is the first to characterize the molecular mechanisms of insecticide resistance in D. suzukii and provide insights into how current management practices can be optimized.

    Lead author of the paper, “Transcriptome Analysis of Drosophila suzukii Reveals Molecular Mechanisms Conferring Pyrethroid and Spinosad Resistance,” is Christine Tabuloc, then a doctoral candidate and now a postdoctoral researcher working under the mentorship of Professors Chiu and Zalom.

    “In this work, we leveraged high throughput sequencing to identify biomarkers of insecticide resistance in D. suzukii,” Tabuloc explained. “We found that different genes are responsible for resistance to different chemicals. Specifically, we found that genes involved in metabolism are highly expressed in flies resistant to pyrethroid insecticides. We also observed evidence of two different mechanisms of resistance in 2 lines generated from a single spinosad-resistant population. We found an increased expression of metabolic genes in one line and increased expression of cuticular genes in the other.”

    “Therefore, we developed a diagnostic panel using these biomarker genes to differentiate between pyrethroid resistance and spinosad resistance,” Tabuloc related. “Not only can our assay now inform whether there is resistance, it can tell us which chemical the population is resistant to and how severe the resistance is. Additionally, this method is faster, enables for the testing of more populations, and is more comprehensive as compared to bioassays, the conventional way of testing for resistance.”

    Tabuloc added that “our work has enabled for the detection of resistance in California populations, and we are currently doing a nationwide screening to determine whether resistance is now present in other states. Currently, we are working with the Zalom lab to use the results of our assays to try and combat resistance. There are experiments in progress trying to increase the efficacy of insecticides by blocking some of the genes involved in resistance, such that the enzymes encoded by those genes have decreased function.”

    Zalom, a UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus who directed the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program for 16 years, said he has been “working on spotted-wing drosophila with Dr. Chiu and her lab members since she joined the UC Davis faculty in 2010, and it has been an absolute pleasure.”

    Zalom, a past president of the 7000-member Entomological Society of America (ESA) and an elected Honorary Member, ESA’s highest honor, praised Chiu, a 2019-2024 Chancellor’s Fellow professor and now chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, as “one of the most collaborative researchers who I have ever worked with. When our lab found the first SWD field populations with insecticide resistance in 2017, it seemed obvious to ask Dr. Chiu about identifying the mechanism of resistance to different chemical classes and if it would be possible to develop a molecular diagnostic to confirm presence of  insecticide resistance in field populations without conducting the time consuming and labor-intensive bioassays that we were using.”

    “Dr. Chiu and her PhD student Christine Tabuloc took on this challenge and their work culminated in the description of genes associated with the resistance and the diagnostic assay presented in this paper,” Zalom said.

    The Zalom lab “selected the SWD isolines from California field populations displaying resistance to pyrethroids and spinosyns after conducting bioassays on many hundreds of SWD adults, then helped Dr. Tabuloc validate  results of the molecular assay,” he said.

    “This work not only represents good science; it has very practical implications,” Zalom said. “Dr. Tabuloc and I presented results of the work from both of our labs at a special berry grower seminar on insecticide resistance organized by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) Farm Advisor Mark Bolda in Watsonville. The presentations were extremely well-received. The original program was targeted for about 1.5 hours, but the meeting extended to over three hours due to the extent of questions and great discussion that followed. Growers and their consultants are hungry for new information that they find interesting and potentially useful, and this work was clearly of interest to them.”

    Bolda, strawberry and caneberry farm advisor in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties, “was the first person who found the insect and asked me to come down to look at it and the problem,” Zalom remembered. “That was 2008, and we weren’t able to get an actual species identification until 2009!”

    Bolda noted that the recent berry grower meeting targeted SWD resistance on the Central Coast, with the UC Davis entomologists presenting. “The research was top shelf and the need, of course, is very great,” Bolda said. “Some of the information that Frank and Christine presented has been put into immediate use in the industry.”

    “What made it really special was that since we were moving only a month or so later, and this was the last Extension meeting to be held at my UC Cooperative Extension Office,” Bolda said. “After 40 some years, that’s saying a lot and it was totally apropros that Frank, given his many, many years of service, was the very last to run a meeting there….and Christine presented also…she was really great and presented fabulous information.”

    Among the “iconic individuals of Central Coast strawberries” who attended, Bolda said, was retired entomologist Ed Show (Driscoll Strawberry Association, Inc.) “who has been a part of strawberries since the 1970s.”

    “It was nostalgic for me since it was the last meeting that was held there because they were moving to a new office,” Zalom said. “I must have done 80 presentations at that auditorium over the years, including some of the very first ones that I did when returning to California when I was doing research on brussels sprouts and apples in that area.”

    Fruitville Collaboration. Professor Chiu said the publication “culminated years of fruitful collaboration and hard work by our lab and Professor Zalom’s lab, primarily driven by Christine…This research could not have been accomplished without Christine who is uniquely qualified to successfully lead the project; she combines her knowledge in insect genomics and bioinformatics with Drosophila molecular genetics.”

    Chiu pointed out that “When the Zalom lab and my lab first started our collaboration in 2010, we were already worried about the potential development of insecticide resistance in D. suzukii given the primary method for management is insecticide application and the generation time of these flies are short. Unfortunately, this became a reality in 2017.”

    “We hope that our research in developing more efficient molecular diagnostics to identify resistant populations will help prevent the spread of resistance to other U.S. states by allowing them to be proactive; perhaps to adjust their management program as soon as low level of resistance is detected,” Chiu said. “We are continuing to perform research to determine if resistance, once found, can be ‘weakened’ and what are mechanisms that could drive it. We think this will be very beneficial for growers in California, who currently have to tackle D. suzukiiwith insecticide resistance.”

    Tabuloc, who joined the Chiu lab as an undergraduate research assistant in 2012, received her bachelor of science degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UC Davis in 2015, and her doctorate from UC Davis in 2023.

    In addition to Chiu, Zalom and Tabuloc, the 12-member team of researchers and co-authors included Curtis Carlson, Kyle Lewald, Sergio Hidalgo, Cindy Truong and Ching-Hsuan Chen, all from the Chiu lab; Nicole Nicola and Fatemeh Ganjisaffar of the Zalom lab; and Cera Jones and Ashfaq Sial of the Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens. At the time, Truong and Chen were undergraduates, and Ganjisaffar was a postdoctoral fellow, and now a senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

    Federal and state grants awarded to Chiu and Zalom funded the project: a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture; and a California Department of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant. The team credits Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center for providing D. melanogaster stocks.

  • 2023 Cost of Production for Fresh Market Raspberries Report

    The UC Cooperative Extension has released its 2023 Cost of Production for Fresh Market Raspberries report.  The sample costs to establish, produce, and harvest raspberries in Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito Counties are presented in the following study. The study is intended as a guide only, and can be used to make production decisions, determine potential returns, prepare budgets, and evaluate production loans. The practices described are based on production and harvest procedures considered typical for this crop and area and may not apply to every farm. Sample costs for labor, materials, equipment, and custom services are based on current figures.

    The hypothetical farm operation, production practices, overhead, and calculations are described under assumptions. For additional information or explanation of calculations used in the study, contact Mark Bolda, mpbolda@ucanr.edu, or Jeremy Murdock, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis, (530) 752-4651. Sample Cost of Production studies for many commodities are available and can be downloaded from the website https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu. Archived studies are also available on the website.

    See the cost study report HERE.

  • How Berry Growers Put Dairies’ Plentiful Waste Products to Use

    Dairy farmers generate nutrients in the form of cattle manure. Neighboring raspberry and blueberry farmers import nutrients in the form of fertilizer to maximize production.

    To improve the nutrient loop, Washington State University assembled a team of scientists to study how berry growers can put dairies’ plentiful waste product to a use in their fields. “We want to connect those industries,” said Chris Benedict, a WSU Extension specialist.“If it works, then that will lower the risk of nutrients entering into the environment, encourage farmers in different industries to work together closely, and hopefully help everyone economically.”

    The project required scientists who are familiar with fertilizers, as well as food scientists, economists, and small fruit specialists. WSU has experts in every field, and the team came together to do the work. The results of the project can be found on WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources (CSANR) web site.

    The main concern about using biofertilizers on food crops is the potential of introducing foodborne pathogens. Dairy manure is a good source of nutrients for crops, but could potentially carry foodborne pathogens. To prevent illness, dairy manure is subjected to different treatments prior to field application to reduce pathogen levels and meet safety standards.

    “There has to be zero risk for berry farmers,” Benedict said. “We were pretty sure the process is safe, but we needed to prove that. So working with food scientists was key. And we had to make sure the cost/benefit worked out, since farmers are running businesses.”

    Meijun Zhu, professor in the WSU School of Food Science, performed food safety testing, while Joe Cook, associate professor in the WSU School of Economic Sciences, examined economic feasibility.

    Benedict works with small fruit producers and has collaborated with dairy farmers on projects focused on anaerobic digestion, as well as nutrient recovery technologies that generate biofertilizers derived from dairy manure. The combined processes have shown a significant reduction in foodborne pathogens in previous research.

    Considering the Economic Impact

    Biofertilizers are a relatively new product, so there isn’t much market research available, Cook said. The economics team designed a survey for local berry farmers to find out who would use them and how much they would be willing to pay.

    “Not surprisingly, cost was a major factor, the less the cost the more likely farmers were to switch,” Cook said. “The survey also instructed growers to assume the product is safe for food crops in the hypothetical, but they still commented on that aspect repeatedly. Clearly people are very concerned about that aspect of the project.”

    Keeping People Safe

    To ensure human safety, researchers had to test the biofertilizers in the field. Benedict collaborated with local small fruit farmers who donated parts of their fields for testing plots. The team applied multiple different biofertilizers to raspberries and blueberries. “We’re lucky, we have really great collaborators who were willing to sacrifice a full season of crops in several fields,” Benedict said.

    Then the berries in each test plot were carefully harvested and sent to Zhu’s lab in Pullman. “This was a big project and teamwork was very important,” Zhu said. “Everything had to be coordinated, so we talked with Chris Benedict’s team about how to properly and randomly collect samples in multiple berry fields.”

    Pathogens can spread unevenly in a single field, so truly random sampling is required to make sure the data is correct, she said.

    Zhu’s team didn’t find any pathogens harmful to humans in their testing. The processed biofertilizers are safe to apply to food crops, hopefully leading to a closing of that nutrient loop in Whatcom County and benefitting farmers and consumers around the country.

    In addition to Benedict, Zhu, and Cook, the WSU team also consisted of Betsy Schacht, Karen Hills, Chad Kruger, Georgine Yorgey, Lina Sheng, and Xiaoye Shen. This project was funded by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Conservation Innovation Grants program, and the Washington State Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. – By Scott Weybright, Washington State University College of Agricultural, Human & Natural Resource Sciences

    Check out a video explaining the research on YouTube

  • Berry People Expands to Support Steady Growth

    Berry People (www.berrypeople.com), a year-round, full-line shipper of branded organic and conventional strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and avocados has created new positions within its organization, added team members, and moved operations to a larger central CA office to accommodate the growth, with team members temporarily working from home until the mitigation of COVID-19 matters.

    Jerald Downs – President

    “We are thankful to be an essential part of the nation’s food supply chain, allowing us to support the people in our Berry People community, including our growers, employees, customers and consumers,” said Jerald Downs, president, speaking of the worldwide effects of COVID-19. “We’re assessing the short and long-term effects of the pandemic, and taking measures to manage business risk, while also ensuring the safety of our field labor, consumers, and everyone in between. Our cloud-based and mobile work environment allow us to continue the quality of service that our buyers and growers expect, and we are effectively managing our supply-chain to support the market’s demands.”

    These business moves are consistent with the company’s long-term strategic plan for continual expansion since launching in 2017. Recent key hires include the addition of an ERP-process analyst, financial controller and regional supply managers. “These specialized roles improve functional efficiency, optimize deployment of resources, tighten risk management, and deepen relationships with growers and suppliers,” said Michael Osumi, VP Supply-Operations.

    “Strong core values and a clear company vision support our intentional organization and job design, so our valued team members convey a unified brand promise to our service providers and customers,” said Downs. “These characteristics support our ‘unity in diversity’ philosophy, leaning into each other’s strengths towards a common goal. Our growth and building balance sheet also enable us to increase our investment activity in technology, genetics, and packaging innovation, which supports our long-term growth and profitability.”

    Damon Barkdull – Sr. Commodity-Sales Manager

    “As we approach our third full year in business, our customers can increasingly rely on us for substantially increased volume coverage, and improved continuity across the entire berry and avocado categories, materially reducing the seasonal gaps that are common with young companies like ours,” added Damon Barkdull, senior commodity-sales manager. ”

    With strong business results and overwhelmingly positive customer feedback to date, we never stop looking for better ways to anticipate needs and shorten response times.”Berry People and its alliance partners have operations in California, Mexico, Chile, and Peru. The company offers year-round availability of organic and conventional strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and avocados through the Berry People and Avo People brands.”As we build financial strength, we plan to build our ‘social balance sheet’ as well, increasing our position in and commitment to both the marketplace, and to the communities we work in,” said Downs. “We look forward to giving back to the stakeholders that have embraced our organization, appreciating the fact that we’re a company whose growth is driven fundamentally by trust.”

    Michael Osumi – VP Supply-Operations

    Berry People’s short-term plans include the significant expansion of its summer organic strawberry program and a substantially increased position in the Peruvian avocado and blueberry industries.

    About Berry People:

    Berry People is a year-round, full-line shipper of branded organic and conventional strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and avocados, and owner of the Berry People and Avo People brands. Headquartered in Hollister, California, the company’s ownership and key alliance partners hold important production assets in California, Mexico, Chile and Peru. All product is graded and allocated by pallet, and all growers are fully compliant with USDA and FDA regulations on food safety and organic practices. Berry People operates with a strong company ethos along its entire supply chain that emphasizes complementarity, stewardship and empathy. For more information, visit www.berrypeople.com, or www.avopeople.com.

  • New UC Raspberry Production Cost Study

    Growers get help from UC in estimating raspberry production costs: https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu

    Spanish version: COSTOS DE MUESTRA PARA PRODUCIR Y COSECHAR FRAMBUESAS DE MERCADO FRESCO Producción de Primocañas

    When growers are considering a new crop to plant, and penciling out their expenses and income, cost estimates from the University of California may help. A new cost and return study for commercially producing raspberries released by UC ANR Agricultural Issues Center and UC Cooperative Extension includes an expanded section on labor.

    Sample costs to establish, produce and harvest raspberries for fresh market in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties are presented in “Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Fresh Market Raspberries in the Central Coast Region – 2017.”

    “The study focuses on the many complexities and costs of primocane raspberry production over a three-year period, including crop establishment, fertility practices, overhead tunnel management, harvest and rising labor costs,” said Mark Bolda, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor and co-author of the study.

    The analysis is based upon a hypothetical well-managed farming operation using practices common to the region. The costs, materials, and practices shown in this study will not apply to all farms. Growers, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors and other agricultural associates provided input and reviewed the methods and findings of the study.

    “This raspberry cost and return study is the result of significant effort on the part of UC Cooperative Extension, the Agricultural Issues Center and several grower and industry collaborators, who shared their expertise and contributed mightily to the end product,” said Laura Tourte, UC Cooperative Extension farm management advisor and co-author of the study.

    This study assumes a farm size of 45 contiguous acres of rented land. Raspberries are planted on 42 acres. The crop is hand-harvested and packed into 4.5-pound trays. There is a fall harvest during production year 1, a spring and fall harvest during production year 2, and a spring harvest during production year 3. Each harvest is three months long.

    The authors describe the assumptions used to identify current costs for production material prices and yields. Tables show the phase-in schedules for California’s minimum wage and overtime laws through the year 2022. Other tables show the monthly cash costs, the costs and returns per acre, hourly equipment costs, and the whole farm annual equipment, investment and business overhead costs.

    Free copies of “Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Fresh Market Raspberries in the Central Coast Region – 2017” can be downloaded from the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu. Sample cost of production studies for many other commodities are also available at the website.

    The cost and returns studies program is funded by the UC Agricultural Issues Center and UC Cooperative Extension, both of which are part of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

    For additional information or an explanation of the calculations used in the studies, contact the UC Agricultural Issues Center at (530) 752-4651 or UC Cooperative Extension advisors Mark Bolda at (831) 763-8025 or Laura Tourte at (831) 763-8005 in Santa Cruz County.

    UC Agriculture and Natural Resources researchers and educators draw on local expertise to conduct agricultural, environmental, economic, youth development and nutrition research that helps California thrive. Learn more at ucanr.edu.