California Fruit and Vegetable

Category: Industry News

Blueberry Industry’s Kasey Cronquist Named NAMA Ag Association Leader of the Year

Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC), has been named the National Agri-Marketing Association’s (NAMA) Ag Association Leader of the Year for 2022. Cronquist was recognized at an awards ceremony April 7 at the 2022 Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City.

The award, one of NAMA’s highest honors, recognizes outstanding leadership, achievement and excellence among senior executives who have made significant contributions to the agriculture industry in their roles with associations or commodity organizations.

“With more than 15 years’ experience with government, association, and non-profits, Kasey was named president of the North American Blueberry Council and the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council in 2019. It was the perfect place and time,” said Jenny Pickett, NAMA CEO. “Long-term, strategic vision is Kasey’s strength. And while the industry was riding high, new challenges demanded a bold, new vision to ensure continued growth.”

Soon after taking the helm in 2019, Cronquist led the organization through a strategic refresh, followed by development of a new strategic plan, with a refined vision, mission and plan to make blueberries the world’s favorite fruit. Cronquist recognized the importance of fostering greater collaboration among all industry stakeholders and the need to unite to address challenges and opportunities that will take USHBC programs to the next level. The industry’s support of the changes and vision for the future were reflected in the results of the 2021 referendum. Of those who voted, 84% of producers and importers, who also represent 93% of the volume of highbush blueberries grown, were in favor of continuing the program. This represents a 10% increase in producers and importers (and 13% more volume), of those who voted in favor of USHBC in 2016.

In 2020, USHBC launched a new overarching brand theme of Inspiring Possibilities for the industry, as well as Grab a Boost of Blue as a motivating call-to-action for consumers. Additionally, the USA Blueberriesexport brand was created to raise awareness of the quality and food safety assurance of U.S. grown blueberries. In June 2020, Cronquist initiated “The Business of Blueberries,” an industry podcast currently surpassing 35,000 downloads.

In his short time with the organization, Cronquist has built a staff of longtime ag experts to execute the organization’s strategic plan; expanded the NABC and USHBC’s programs through voluntary funding; and led the USHBC through pandemic challenges, including labor and supply chain issues.

“Kasey has made a tremendous impact helping the blueberry industry thrive and leading the USHBC into an exciting and successful future,” said USHBC Chair Shelly Hartmann. “His efforts have impressed blueberry growers, marketers, exporters and industry allies alike, and have become the guiding force in making blueberries the world’s favorite fruit.”

Cronquist is also the president of the North American Blueberry Council; a member of the United Fresh Governmental Affairs Council and the International Blueberry Organization (IBO); He was previously the CEO and ambassador of the California Cut Flower Commission.

About the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council

Established in 2000, The U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) is a federal agriculture research and promotion program with independent oversight from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). USHBC represents blueberry growers and packers in North and South America who market their blueberries in the United States and overseas, and works to promote the growth and well-being of the entire blueberry industry. USHBC was established by blueberry growers and currently has 2,500 growers, packers and importers. USHBC is committed to providing blueberries that are grown, harvested, packed and shipped in clean, safe environments. Learn more at ushbc.blueberry.org.

April 8, 2022
Grower-Shipper Interests Are Intertwined During These Volatile Times

Pre-Season ground prep work was completed in late-2021, first-turn plantings have been well under way since November, and harvesting of early Cole crops have begun in earnest.

For Tri-County vegetable growers their cycle of implementing their standard cultural practices for the 2022 growing season has been under way since late-2021. The standard fundamentals of “blocking and tackling” to successful growing will evolve seasonally, ranging from pest management practices and field labor time management to updated food safety requirements, to highlight a few.

For the upcoming 2022 growing season, however, costing standards will be taking a dramatic upturn. Unlike prior pre-pandemic seasons, the 2022 season backdrop is a continued convergence of worsening supply chain hurdles and inflationary input cost increases.

Unlike this time last season, the uncertainty of whether the cost increases would be transitory or persist and continue to increase is now self-evident. As reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, the benchmark for measuring national cost increases, the CPI-U, has increased to 7.9 percent over the prior 12 months.

The current events unfolding in Ukraine only exacerbate the already-challenging supply-chain situation. For growers, predicting what some of their direct input growing costs, such as seasonal fertilizer requirements or any petroleum-based by-products, is proving to be “best-guess work,” even for as short a period as three to four months in advance.

The old local adage of “What’s good for the shipper is good for the grower” is generally still true. Because the grower-shipper interests are intertwined, namely partnering to supplying the highest quality, healthiest and safest vegetables at a competitive value proposition.

Many of the aforementioned grower-shipper relationships are deep-rooted and have covered the course of generations in some instances. The foundations of these relationships have been based on trust, mutual respect, and business execution in good years, in which both realize profitability in order sustain their respective operations. To this end, with the intent to ensure growers’ direct inflationary growing costs as well as packing and manufacturing shipper and processing costs are “passed through” to the buying community via finished fair price increases.

The growing community applauds the unusual yet vital measure the shipper and processing community has taken with this action. The grower community could no longer absorb the steep inflationary cost increases on top of the annual margin compression driven by input costs outpacing general contract price increases of the past decade. These actions will make the old adage shift to “What’s good for the grower is good for the shipper AND processor.”

March 18, 2022
White Clay Spray Mix Repels Major Vegetable Pest

Tomatoes are big business in the United States, but an insect no bigger than a grain of rice threatens growers’ fields each season.

Kaolin and limonene applied to a seedling tomato (photo by Xavier Martini, UF/IFAS).

The whitefly prefers the underside of leaves, enjoying a variety of plants and spreading a few diseases, including Tomato yellow leaf curl virus. The pests are also persistent, said Xavier Martini, an entomologist at the University of Florida Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) North Florida Research and Education Center (NFREC) in Quincy. Most commonly, growers apply insecticides weekly to the plants, which may not prevent the disease from reaching and spreading throughout a field, he said.

“I was contacted by a local tomato producer, who has now had two recent seasons with his fields overtaken by this virus, despite weekly spraying,” Martini said. “The whitefly is able to use other plants as hosts, including surrounding row crops and weeds, which helps it to remain near crop fields even where insecticides are being used.”

The farmer’s plight inspired Martini and Nicholas Johnston, a Ph.D. student in his lab, to look into another remedy. They assembled a team of NFREC researchers: Mathews Paret, associate professor of plant pathology; Josh Freeman, associate professor of horticultural science; and Thomson Paris, postdoctoral researcher in entomology.

Previous studies helped narrow their testing focus to a white clay called kaolin and an essential oil called limonene, each of which is approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for agricultural use. Although previous publications have not documented use of the two in combination, kaolin’s absorbency of essential oils is well-noted.

“These products are easily found and relatively inexpensive, and they can be applied using a tractor that is standard spray equipment on most farms,” Martini said. “They also happen to meet the requirements for organic production, so although that was not a specific goal for this study, it is a bonus.”

The study, published in the journal Crop Protection, details applications in both closed-cage plants and open-field test plots, with some plants receiving a single type of treatment and others a combination of the two. While the single treatments resulted in fewer nymphs and adults than non-treated control plants, the combination resulted in the smallest whitefly counts.

The next iteration of the study is testing the same combination on squash (Photo by Tyler Jones, UF/IFAS).

“It’s not clear why the whitefly doesn’t like the leaves applied with the clay,” Martini said. “We know whiteflies are attracted to the color yellow, so we initially thought it was a visual repellent. We found that it was more likely the texture of the coating. But when combined with another type of repellent in limonene, we saw the whiteflies were even less drawn to the plant.”

The trials required weekly applications due to plant growth and rainfall, although Martini noted the clay’s water solubility can also be viewed as a positive for producers. Any spray that may remain on harvested produce can be easily rinsed off during processing.

UF/IFAS research on kaolin-limonene treatments is continuing, Martini said, and will next focus on squash and other cucurbits. These plants are also susceptible to whiteflies and contract diseases like cucurbit leaf crumple virus.

The publication, “Repelling whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) using limonene-scented kaolin: A novel pest management strategy,” can be accessed at doi.org/10.1016/j.cropro.2022.105905. Research was funded through a USDA grant administered by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. — By Kirsten Romaguera, University of Florida Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences

March 18, 2022
U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council Seeks Nominees for Importer 2, 3, 4 and Exporter 2, 3, 4 Positions

The USHBC Industry Relations Committee is seeking nominees to be considered for USHBC Importer #2, #3, & #4, Exporter #2 (Canada), Exporter #3 (Peru), and Exporter #4 (Mexico) positions on the Council. Nominees are being sought for the three-year term, except for Exporter #3 & #4 whose initial term is 2 years, that begins January 1, 2023.

The committee plans to present a slate of potential nominees to the USHBC Executive Committee for consideration by July 31, 2022. The Council will then make final candidate selections at the next USHBC Meeting. At this meeting, the Council will recommend to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture a final candidate for three importer members and alternates, and three exporter members and alternates, along with two additional candidates for each of these six positions, for consideration by the Secretary for final appointments.

Blueberry industry members interested in being considered for the USHBC Importer #2, #3, #4 or Exporter #2 (Canada) Member and Alternate positions are asked to complete a USHBC Importer/Exporter Nominee Application and send their completed application to the USHBC via fax at (916) 983-9022 or email to elections@blueberry.org no later than Friday, April 29, 2022.

The USHBC has adopted a diversity outreach plan to attempt to achieve a diverse representation on the council. USHBC programs and meetings are open to all individuals. The USHBC prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, genetic information, parental status and marital or family status. It is USHBC policy that membership on the council and its committees reflect the diversity of individuals served by its programs. To accomplish this objective, the USHBC will strive to attain representation of growers and other industry participants from diverse backgrounds on the council and USHBC committees. To this end, the USHBC strongly encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to seek nominations to the USHBC and to participate in council and USHBC committee activities.

Producers and importers of highbush blueberries approved the establishment of the USHBC through a referendum conducted by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service in 2000. The USHBC was formally established in August 2000. The program is funded by an assessment of $18 per ton on domestic highbush blueberries, and $18 per ton on fresh and processed imported highbush blueberries. Market promotion activities funded through the USHBC began in January 2002.

About the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council

Established in 2000, The U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) is a federal agriculture research and promotion program with independent oversight from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). USHBC represents blueberry growers and packers in North and South America who market their blueberries in the United States and overseas, and works to promote the growth and well-being of the entire blueberry industry. USHBC was established by blueberry growers and currently has 2,500 growers, packers and importers. USHBC is committed to providing blueberries that are grown, harvested, packed and shipped in clean, safe environments. Learn more at ushbc.org.

March 18, 2022
Growers Experience Minor Frost Damage on SO CAL Avocados

Calls have come in – “What is the browning on the avocado leaves? Thrips damage? Salt damage? Dothiorella?” Nope, Frost Damage. From the end of February to the first week of March, Santa Paula had one night of 30 deg F, and 3 nights of 33 and a few nights around 35.. It wasn’t cold cold, but cold enough that there was damage to the avocados there and more so the further east and up toward Ojai.It wasn’t enough to defoliate the trees, although many were under stress from the flowering that is going on and a lot of the leaves were dropping from the flowering stress. The damage to the leaves is a darkening of the leaf both of the bottom surfaces. In many cases, the flower panicles got scorched. This is just the start of a big flower push and it looks like there’s a lot of flowers that have not pushed that will be fine. It could still be a good avocado year. The coffee really got roasted. — By Ben Faber, UC Cooperative Extension

March 18, 2022
Aphid ‘honeydew’ May Promote Bacteria that Kill Them

The word ‘honeydew’ sounds benign, but the sugary waste product of aphids can promote growth of bacteria that are highly virulent to the pests, according to a new study.

The research takes a step towards understanding how some strains of the bacteria Pseudomonas syringae that live on leaves and are pathogenic to aphids might one day be used to control the pests. Aphids transmit plant viruses when they feed on sap, costing billions of dollars in annual crop damage around the world.

The paper, “Context Dependent Benefits of Aphids for Bacteria in the Phyllosphere,” published Jan. 12 in The American Naturalist, assessed the virulence of different strains of P. syringae to aphids. The researchers also investigated how well the bacteria survive on leaf surfaces without aphids, and whether bacteria benefited from the presence of aphids.

“For one of the experiments, we actually took the aphids out of the picture entirely,” said Melanie Smee, the paper’s first author and a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of co-author Tory Hendry, assistant professor of microbiology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“We literally just sprayed fake honeydew on to leaves, and we still saw the same increase for the bacteria [as when aphids were present], so it’s really just the honeydew that’s helping the bacteria,” Smee said.

In the study, Smee and Hendry identified 21 strains of varying virulence to aphids. They then chose eight of those strains. For each strain, they sprayed bacteria onto plants with aphids and other plants without aphids, to see if the bacteria benefited from the aphids presence. They measured bacterial growth on leaves and found that half of the strains benefited significantly.

The next step was to try to understand the source of that benefit. They knew the bacteria are consumed and then grow within aphids and then are excreted out, so they wanted to see if passage through the aphids helped bacterial populations thrive. They set up a new experiment, with the aphids suspended above leaves that had been sprayed with bacteria. They fed one set of aphids an artificial diet with bacteria, and another set without bacteria, and the aphids then excreted honeydew onto the leaves below.

They found it didn’t matter whether aphids were fed bacteria; all the bacteria on the leaves did better in the presence of aphids. It turned out that the honeydew was the only factor that boosted bacterial populations.

They also found that benefits from honeydew to bacteria were not correlated to strain traits, but they were affected by the initial population densities, such that smaller populations increased more with honeydew, compared with large populations, which increased less.

More work is needed to determine which P. syringae strains are pathogenic to plants, an important consideration if bacteria are used for pest control. The researchers are also interested in investigating the role of the interaction of bacterial communities.

The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and by Cornell. — By Krishna Ramanujan, Cornell College of Agriculture & Life Sciences

March 17, 2022
Researchers Harness the Sun’s Rays to Fight Strawberry Disease

While not exactly the stuff of sci-fi movies, scientists have developed a “ray gun” that emits a light hazardous to a pestilence that devastates many types of crops. Fumiomi Takeda, a research horticulturalist, and Wojciech Janisiewicz, retired research plant pathologist, from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection unit in Kearneysville, WV, led a team that used shortwave ultraviolent light (UV-C) to kill powdery mildew fungus.

UV-C is a very specific part of the ultraviolet light spectrum. UV-C is produced by the sun but does not reach Earth’s surface because it is absorbed by the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere. That’s a good thing, because UV-C is harmful to humans and plants when exposed to excessive amounts or for a long time.

“We conducted research to administer UV-C on powdery mildew-infected strawberry plants without causing harmful effects on the plant, such as leaf burn, fruit softening, or color darkening to determine whether it would be a good alternative to controlling powdery mildew with pesticides,” Takeda said.

On strawberry plants, powdery mildew appears as white powdery spots or fuzzy growth on both sides of leaves and on stems. Moderate to severe infection reduces the ability of leaves to employ photosynthesis – the process that plants use to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. Powdery mildew can kill flowers, harden immature fruit, and reduce fruit quality and marketable yields.

If not controlled, the disease can cause a significant economic loss, especially to plants grown in greenhouses or high tunnels. In Japan and western Europe, where over 90% of strawberry production is in the greenhouse and under high tunnels, powdery mildew is the primary cause of fruit quality loss.

UV-C light kills microorganisms (fungi, bacteria, and viruses) and even arthropod pests by damaging their DNA.

According to Takeda and Janisiewicz, UV-C application is most effective at night because microbes and mites have a natural, light-activated special mechanism for repairing their damaged DNA. When UV-C is used during the day, high doses are needed to kill microbes, but those high doses are damaging to plants. To avoid this problem, they irradiated microbes with UV-C at night.

“Night-time application of 30-60 seconds allowed for control of powdery mildew, botrytis gray mold, and anthracnose fruit rot causing fungal pathogens at much lower doses for an effective kill and, more importantly, below the threshold that causes damage to the strawberry plants,” Takeda said.

A severe case of powdery mildew on a zinnia (Photo by Stephen Ausmus).

In addition to strawberries, USDA scientists have used UV-C light on tomato plants and ornamental crops to control fungal pathogens and arthropod pests, such as greenhouse whitefly, flower thrips, and two-spotted spider mite.

ARS collaborated with TRIC Robotics in Newark, DE, to design and test the UV-C application robots at multiple locations, including California, where they have been field tested for over 10 months. The UV-C, non-chemical approach for fungal and pest control has shown so much success that it is on the brink of widespread commercial application.

“With the development of our autonomous UV-C application in the field, it is not so much a question of whether UV-C light treatments can be applied effectively, but how soon commercial platforms for UV-C application will be available to large and small strawberry growers across the country,” Takeda said. – By Scott Elliott, USDA ARS

March 17, 2022
A Different Way of Celebrating National Nutrition Month

March is National Nutrition Month. And while we understand that the purpose is to promote enhanced nutrition and improve diets, for the Grower Shipper Association (GSA) this month is about celebrating our food supply and the farmers and farm workers who grow, nurture and harvest the nation’s fruits and vegetables.

Farming is hard. There are many challenges. But farmers will tell you it is a rewarding profession and they love what they do. Farmers will also acknowledge that it takes many hands. It requires collaboration among farm workers, foreman, irrigators, pest control advisors, food safety experts, among others.

At GSA, we see our role as providing crucial support and finding solutions on a broader basis to benefit our farmers and farming companies to make their jobs a little easier. Our work with ag employers throughout the pandemic to access masks, rapid tests, quarantined housing for their employees as well as help vaccinate 90% of the farm workers in our region is one example.

GSA efforts to battle the pest/disease complex commonly referred to as INSV, which causes stunting, wilting and eventual death for leafy greens, is another solution-driving initiative. We created a task force to examine treatment strategies and develop treatment efficacy trials. Lettuce fields are infected by INSV via thrips migrating in from infected host plants in the early spring, which is why GSA is also working with local agencies and communities on weed suppression strategies. Our association remains committed to securing additional funding and resources as well to aid our search for solutions.

As we navigate uncertainties in our current world, the hard work of farmers and farm workers has provided a sustained and consistent supply of fruits and vegetables to consumers. We have watched with significant pride how our region’s farming community has risen to unforeseen challenges because they understand the importance of what they do.

So while many will mark National Nutrition Month in more traditional ways, GSA takes a different approach which is to reflect on how lucky we are to have such dedicated farmers and farm workers growing our food. We celebrate you and thank you for every meal.

March 17, 2022
Citrus Canker in Nursery Stock Sold to CA, CDFA & USDA Take Action to Identify & Destroy Affected Plants

Citrus Pest & Disease Prevention Program — The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of citrus canker disease in a nursery in South Carolina. The nursery sells plants to consumers through online sales, including four locations in California since August 2021. Retail nurseries did not receive these plants.

Citrus canker causes citrus leaves and fruit to drop prematurely, and results in lesions on citrus leaves, stems and fruit. Fruit infected with the bacterium that causes citrus canker (Xanthomonas axonopodis) is safe to eat, but it may not be marketable because of the lesions. The disease affects all citrus varieties. Citrus canker is not harmful to people or animals.

Together with state partners, APHIS is working to collect and destroy the plants shipped to consumers in 11 states and trace plants that were sold to determine additional locations of potentially infected plants. The states include Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) was notified that four residential properties throughout the state had ordered citrus nursery stock from the South Carolina nursery. Upon being notified of the recall, CDFA staff successfully verified that one order was not filled, removed and destroyed the recalled trees from two of the three remaining residential properties and is working to connect with the recipients of the final shipment (as of March 9). All additional host plants on these properties were surveyed and sampled for citrus canker disease and submitted for analysis, and delimitation surveys will also be conducted around these locations. These swift actions by APHIS and CDFA are focused on protecting the citrus industry as well as nurseries and other establishments that sell citrus plants wholesale and direct to consumers.

Currently, citrus canker is found throughout Florida and in limited areas of Louisiana and Texas. APHIS is working with state partners to contain the disease, and federal and state quarantines exist in these states. Additionally, citrus canker was recently confirmed in Alabama, and APHIS is working with state partners to establish a federal quarantine to parallel the state quarantine.

If you live in one of the 11 states and bought citrus plants online that came from South Carolina between Aug. 5, 2021 – Feb. 17, 2022, please keep your plants for now. If you purchased a plant or plants that might be infected, APHIS and/or state officials will contact you in the next several days to collect and properly dispose of any plants purchased from the nursery. You can also call your local USDA office with additional questions. Contact information can be found at www.aphis.usda.gov/planthealth/sphd.

To learn more about APHIS’ regulations for citrus canker, please visit https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/plant-pest-and-disease-programs/pests-and-diseases/citrus/citrus-canker.

For questions about citrus canker in California or other pests or diseases, please call CDFA’s toll-free Pest Hotline at 1-800-491-1899.

March 15, 2022
FDA Will Not Conduct Broad Sampling of Salinas Valley Leafy Greens in 2022

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will not conduct broad sampling of leafy greens grown in the Salinas Valley region of California for the 2022 growing season.

The decision was made based on data from Western Growers, the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture inspection activities.

The FDA encouraged the organizations to continue to work with the agency to enhance the sharing of industry information on pre-harvest and post-harvest testing as all parties aim to assure the safety of leafy greens.

“Western Growers is committed to developing and deploying data collection and analytic digital tools to further enhance the sharing of industry information,” said De Ann Davis, WG’s Senior Vice President of Science. “We think this is an encouraging development for our members as we strive to grow the safest produce possible.”

The FDA notes they are considering risk-based surveillance sampling based on historical data and information from previous outbreaks of foodborne illness and reserves the right to reassess this approach if unforeseen events occur.

March 10, 2022