California Fruit and Vegetable

Category: Rooting Vegetables

  • Central Valley UC Farm Advisor’s Commitment to Help Hmong Farmers Prosper

    Keeping current on government regulations, agricultural marketing news and crop research advances can be challenging for California farmers, especially for those who speak English as a second language.

    Hmong farmers in the San Joaquin Valley can tune in at 2 p.m. on Tuesday afternoons to listen to farm-related news delivered to their radios in their native language from Michael Yang, UC Cooperative Extension small farms and specialty crops agricultural assistant for Fresno County.

    For the past 22 years, Yang has hosted the one-hour Hmong Agriculture Radio Show on KBIF 900 AM in Fresno to promote prosperity in the largely immigrant, small-scale Southeast Asian farming community. Yang provides advice on crop production and marketing.

    “Fresno County has a large number of small and diversified farms; we have over 1,300 Southeast Asian farms and over 900 are Hmong farmers, according to a survey we did in 2007,” Yang said. “I used to help 250 to 300 farmers every year, in the past couple of years it’s grown to about 400 farmers.”

    Hmong farmers sell sugarcane and other Asian produce in local markets, but the speciality crops command higher prices at farmers markets in larger urban areas of the state

    Yang not only speaks their language, he shares their culture and history. After his father was killed for assisting the U.S. during the Vietnam War, Yang, his mother and three younger brothers spent 4 years of his childhood fleeing on foot through the jungles of Laos, subsisting on vegetation and wildlife, to reach safety in Thailand. The refugee family eventually made it to Fresno, where they took up farming.

    The Hmong farmers grow Asian specialty crops including eggplant, lemongrass, long bean, squashes, bittermelon and moringa that they sell at farmers markets or to restaurants. Connecting Southeast Asian farmers to sell their produce at farmers markets has been a vital role for Yang, who serves as a translator and cultural interpreter between the immigrant farmers and farmers market managers. He explains the requirements for participating in the farmers markets and helps the farmers with paperwork and communication. Some growers drive as far as San Diego to get a higher price for their produce; the price can be three times as high at farmers markets in larger cities compared to Fresno.

    Sales of Asian specialty crops grown by Hmong and other Southeast Asian farmers in Fresno County are valued at about $17.5 million annually, according to the Agricultural Commissioner of Fresno County.

    Although Yang and colleague Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, UC Cooperative Extension small farms advisor, offer workshops and field days to share information, the radio show is an important information source because farmers can listen to the show while they work in the field. Because Hmong Agriculture Radio Show is such a critical tool for bilingual outreach, Dahlquist-Willard continually seeks grants to pay the $75 per show to the radio station. Of the 69 Hmong farmers who responded to a 2015 UC Cooperative Extension survey, 80% said they regularly listened to Yang’s radio show.

    “With the help of our Hmong Agricultural radio outreach, I have Hmong farmers calling our office for assistance from Tulare County up to Stanislaus County,” Yang said.

    In 2015, during the drought, Yang and Dahlquist-Willard began helping desperate farmers who were running out of irrigation water.

    “Wells were starting to dry up. Some Hmong farmers were reportedly calling suicide hotlines,” Dahlquist-Willard recalled. “For the ones with dry wells, it could cost $20,000 to $50,000 to drill a new well.” That is money that most of the farmers, who typically cultivate less than 50 acres, didn’t have.

    Eighty-seven percent of the Hmong farmers said their utility bills had risen during the drought. Yang, Dahlquist-Willard and Xai Chang, a young Hmong farmer working with UCCE, helped the farmers get a free PG&E rate analysis, which could help the farmers choose the best electric rate for their irrigation practices to lower the expense. The UCCE team also searched for financing to deepen wells for farmers who had difficulty qualifying for USDA loans and helped them apply for grants from the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program. With additional help from small farms assistant Jacob Roberson, the UCCE small farms team in Fresno has assisted 36 small-scale Hmong, Latino, and African-American farmers to implement SWEEP projects on a total of 846 acres. The small-scale growers have used SWEEP dollars to invest in technologies like energy efficient pumps, drip irrigation systems and flow meters to save water and reduce their energy costs.

    “Michael helped me get a grant to buy a new pump for drip irrigation,” said Xiong Pao Her, who grows about 100 crops throughout the year – including ginger, broccoli rabe, fennel, garlic, green onions, napa cabbage and kale – in Sanger. “It saves me water.”

    Obtaining land to farm can be difficult for small-scale farmers so the UCCE agricultural assistant connects farmers looking to rent land with landowners, and serves as a bridge for the language and cultural gaps between the two, according to Dahlquist-Willard.

    “There was an elderly couple and their daughter wanting to rent land to a Hmong family, and Michael sat down at the table with all the parties and helped them work out a lease agreement, such as requirements for liability insurance,” she said. “Land isn’t as available to rent as it used to be, but when it was, Michael would get frequent calls from landowners asking if he knew any farmers who would be interested in renting their land. The number of Southeast Asian farmers who have had a successful lease agreement or a successful farmers market stand because of Michael’s help is probably very large.”

    Recently Yang and Dahlquist-Willard partnered with California State University Fresno to produce a pesticide-safety video series for the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. “We hope the videos help more farmers understand pesticide regulations and avoid fines, as well as improve their safe handling, selection and effectiveness,” said Yang.

    It’s not the first time Yang, who has been working for UC Cooperative Extension since 1993, has helped farmers navigate government regulations. Between 2005 and 2008, individual Hmong and Hispanic farmers were being fined between $14,000 and $26,000 for noncompliance with state labor regulations. To provide farmers with a clear understanding of the labor laws, Yang and Richard Molinar, then UCCE small farm advisor, partnered with a variety of community organizations to present information to farmers in English, Spanish, Lao and Hmong at community meetings, on the radio and television, and in trade magazines and newspapers.

    “Without the support provided by the UCCE, hundreds, if not thousands, of Hmong farmers would have been added to the victim list for not knowing or understanding the laws. The UCCE has gone many extra miles to fill gaps between enforcement agencies and the Hmong farming community,” Toulu Thao, a Hmong activist, said at the time.

    To help farmers decide which crops are most profitable to plant, Yang collaborated in the past with UC colleagues to estimate production costs for some Asian vegetables including sinqua, moqua, opo, longbean, bittermelon, oriental eggplant and lemongrass.

    Yang currently advises Hmong growers on about 200 crops and continues to learn about new ones as farmers market customers ask the growers to produce fruits and vegetables from other cultures.

    – By Pamela Kan-Rice, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

     

  • New Potato Varieties Have Lower Levels of Probable Carcinogen

    Mary Ellen Camire has some good news about french fries. Fries made with the new potato varieties AF4296‐3 and Easton have much lower levels of a probable carcinogen than those made with the popular Russet Burbank variety, says the University of Maine professor of food science and human nutrition.

    Acrylamide is a probable carcinogen in fried potatoes; during the frying process the chemical forms from sugars and an amino acid that are naturally in potatoes.

    But for those envisioning the safer-to-eat, golden brown, crispy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside fries with a sprinkle of sea salt and a splash of vinegar, hold that thought.

    The new spud varieties don’t turn golden brown when they’re fried. They turn whitish.

    Camire says they still have the crispy texture, familiar flavor and smell of freshly cooked french fries.

    Forty-seven tater taste-testers testified to that — rating the aroma, taste and texture of fries made with AF4296‐3 and Easton potato varieties similar to Russet Burbank.

    But they rated the whitish color of the new varieties significantly lower. 

    Camire says an education or promotion campaign is likely needed to let the public know about the merits of the less-than-golden fry.

    “Acrylamide is found in many foods that are baked, roasted or fried, but since frying is the most popular method for cooking potatoes, we wanted consumers to have a safer alternative developed by traditional breeding practices,” she says. — University of Maine

    “It took years to convince consumers to switch from whole milk to low-fat or skim milk; hopefully changing consumer acceptance of these fries will not take as long.”

    Camire conducted the pilot study with colleagues Aaron Johnson, a former UMaine graduate student and now a senior sensory scientist at ConAgra Brands, and Gregory Porter, who heads the UMaine potato breeding and variety development program. Their goal was to reduce the potential development of acrylamide in fried potatoes.

    During the study, the scientists also learned that the amount of fertilizer applied to the potatoes had little effect on people’s fondness for the fries.

    The Journal of Food Science published the team’s findings, “Low‐Acrylamide French Fry Acceptance: A Pilot Study,” in December 2019. The journal is published by the Institute of Food Technologists; Camire served as the institute’s 75th president in 2014–15.

    The study was conducted as part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture award of $7.8 million to a consortium that included the University of Wisconsin, UMaine, and other universities, federal laboratories and potato processors.

    Camire says the team now wants to examine how a national sample of consumers accept these new potato varieties. “French fries, like any fried food, should be consumed in moderation,” she says. “Our goal is to supply consumers with a satisfying fry that is lower in acrylamide.”

  • Flower Losses Due to Shrinking Habitats and Climate Change Hurt Prime Pollinators

    Without enough sugar in their diets, bumblebee queens can experience difficulty reproducing and shorter lifespans.  Hollis Woodard, assistant professor of entomology at UCR, has conducted multiple studies showing how loss of plant availability negatively affects the prolific pollinators. Previous research indicates a queen’s diet can impact how quickly her brood develops, or whether she’s able to live through hibernation.

    In a study published recently, Woodard and her team demonstrate that without adequate sugar, the queen’s fat body, which functions like a human liver, does not correctly produce enzymes required for healthy metabolism and detoxification from pesticides.

     

    “The fitness consequences of not producing enough of these enzymes, P450s, could ultimately be lethal, preventing reproduction or shortening lifespans,” Woodard said. “If you don’t outright kill a queen, but she can’t lay eggs, from a population standpoint you might as well have killed her.”

     

    Woodard’s team wanted to focus its research on bumblebee queens because they undergo an event called diapause, which is like hibernation. Queens gather an abundance of nutrients just before diapause, as it is likely one of the most vulnerable times in their lives.

     

    A queen’s ability to survive this period is not guaranteed without adequate nutrition. However, the team also wanted to know about the sublethal effects. “We wanted to ask if other signs of distress might be detectable in advance, and whether there are molecular signs queens might not make it through diapause,” Woodard said.

     

    The research team collected queen bumblebees of varying ages and fed them one of four diets ranging from no sugar to extremely concentrated sugar. They found queens in the oldest age group, roughly 12 days old, who were fed the most sugar, began to exhibit gene expression patterns consistent with the beginning of diapause. This suggests queens may have an internal mechanism to detect the amount of stored sugar in their bodies, Woodard said. By extension, it means there may be a way to detect in advance when queens do not have enough sugar to survive diapause, or for their fat bodies to produce enough enzymes to protect them from damaging pesticides.

     

    This research underscores the importance of bumblebee food resources, which have been dwindling in recent years due to habitat loss. “There are studies showing gaps in floral availability late in the season before diapause, when queens most need food,” Woodard said.

     

    In addition to habitat loss reducing bumblebees’ preferred plants, climate change may also be taking a toll. As winters become warmer, queens may emerge earlier from diapause in winter when fewer flowers are available to them. Their physiology becomes uncoupled from the seasons, making it less likely that they survive, or that their nests will be successful.

     

    Many bumblebee species are declining, which could eventually have consequences for the human diet. Bumblebees, unlike honeybees, are native to the U.S. and perform a type of pollination essential for some of humans’ favorite foods, such as tomatoes, blueberries, potatoes and almonds.

     

    Therefore, Woodard believes every effort must be made to ensure bumblebees, especially queens, have enough flowers to feed on. “It’s important for everyone from land managers to people with gardens to plant things bumblebees can feed on,” she said. — By Jules Bernstein, University of California, Riverside

  • National Watermelon Promotion Board Wraps Up Fitness Sponsorships

    The National Watermelon Promotion Board (NWPB) recently wrapped up a cross-country tour of fitness events including the Fit Foodie Festivals in Denver and San Diego and concluded with the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C.

    From 5ks to ultra-marathons, and distances in between, over 35,000 watermelon samples found their ways into participants and attendees’ hands helping them rehydrate, refuel and replenish.

    “Watermelon is such a perfect fit for these events: healthy, hydrating, great for families and all fitness levels,” said Stephanie Barlow, Senior Director of Communications at NWPB.

    The tour kicked off at the Denver Fit Foodie Run on National Watermelon Day (August 3). Upon finishing, the 1,000 participants received a watermelon medal, fresh watermelon juice and were able to sample a variety of refreshing watermelon skewers, including Classic Watermelon, Mediterranean Caprese and Mexican Chile.

    In October, watermelon again found its way into fitness fanatics hands at the San Diego Fit Foodie event. In addition to the watermelon medal and fresh juice, the 2,000 San Diego participants were able to DIY their watermelon flavor pairings including lemon juice and salt, Tajín chili lime seasoning and jalapeño, cinnamon and vanilla, and ginger, sesame and soy. The watermelon “bar” was such a hit that attendees formed lines to try all the flavor pairings. Fitness enthusiast and influencer, Jennifer Fisher from The Fit Fork, taught watermelon cutting techniques and additional flavor pairings at a culinary demo during the finish festival.

    To round out the tour, fourteen board members attended the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) at the nation’s capital for NWPB’s seventh year of attendance. Over 26,000 participants and their supporters received more than 32,000 samples of fresh watermelon in a record-breaking six hours. In addition to the tasty treat, runners could capture their success with a Mission Accomplished banner and two watermelon carvings featuring “Oorah” and MCM logo.

    “It was great to see the runners react when they were offered a cup of fresh, cold watermelon chunks. Their faces lit up like it was the greatest thing in the world,” recalled Lee Wroten, National Watermelon Promotion Board Vice President.

    At 92% water, watermelon makes an ideal partner for fitness events as a delicious way for athletes to rehydrate, refuel and recover. Not only is it hydrating, but as a source of potassium (6%), watermelon may help with water balance and avoiding muscle cramps. Pre- or post-workout, watermelon’s nutritional line-up delivers a simple and tasty way to fuel a healthy lifestyle.

    About National Watermelon Promotion Board

    The National Watermelon Promotion Board (NWPB), based in Winter Springs, Florida, was established in 1989 as an agricultural promotion group to promote watermelon in the United States and in various markets abroad. Funded through a self-mandated industry assessment paid by more than 1,500 watermelon producers, handlers and importers, NWPB mission is to increase consumer demand for watermelon through promotion, research and education programs.

    Watermelon packs a nutritious punch, with each serving providing an excellent source of Vitamin C, 8% of your daily vitamin A, and a delicious way to stay hydrated, with only 80 calories. Watermelon consumption per capita in the United States was an estimated 15.8 pounds in 2018. Watermelon consumption in the United States was approximately 5.2 billion pounds in 2018. The United States exported an additional 325.4 million pounds of watermelon. For additional information, visit www.watermelon.org.

  • What is the Value of Using Crop Wild Relatives in Potato Breeding?

    It may surprise you to learn that wild potatoes grow like weeds in South America. While farmers in the United States battle weeds like pigweed and lamb’s quarters, farmers in the Andes Mountains have to keep weedy potatoes in check. These wild relatives of our potato varieties grow in agricultural fields and roadsides, as well as in forests and grasslands. They are found in amazingly diverse habitats, from ocean beaches to windswept alpine meadows. Some even grow in the knotholes of oak trees.

    As you can imagine, wild potatoes must grow in these stressful environments without the aid of fertilizer, irrigation, or pesticides. Consequently, they are rich in genes that are useful for potato improvement, especially stress tolerance. Breeders usually refer to native, weedy versions of plants as “crop wild relatives.” Collecting and preserving this genetic diversity is crucial to today’s food supply.

    In the Andes, local villagers eat potatoes daily, as part of their native diets. They have selected varieties for diverse tastes, textures, and cooking qualities. Cultivated potato relatives are also important to breeders. These land races are valuable sources of genes for culinary traits. The US Potato Gene Bank in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, maintains a large collection of wild and cultivated potatoes. My job is to find useful genes in the gene bank and bring them into cultivated potato so breeders can integrate them into their variety development programs.

    My favorite wild potato, Solanum chacoense, carpets regions of the Chaco province of northern Argentina. It is one of the most broadly adapted wild potato species and has been collected extensively by scientists around the world. It carries a broad array of genes of interest to potato breeders. One clone in my program, named C545, has S. chacoense as a maternal grandparent. Another wild potato, S. berthaultii, is a paternal grandparent. C545 has resistance to several important diseases, including Verticillium wilt, potato virus Y, soft rot, common scab, and early blight.

    There are now a wide variety of cultivated potatoes for consumers to choose from. Potatoes are the world’s fifth most grown crop, valued for its broad cooking ability and nutrition. Provided by Shelley Jansky.

    Another wild potato important for breeding is Solanum berthaultii, which is found on forested and brushy hillsides from southern Bolivia through northwest Argentina. This species was named after the French agronomist Pierre Berthault. The most characteristic feature of S. berthaultii is the production of sticky hairs on its leaves. For this reason, it has been used in breeding as a source of insect resistance. The varieties “Prince Hairy” and “King Harry” are two specialty potato varieties with insect resistance genes from S. berthaultii. While wild potatoes typically produce small (dime-sized) tubers, hybrids between cultivated potatoes and S. berthaultii often produce large beautiful tubers.

    Our most Verticillium wilt resistant breeding line, C287, features S. berthaultii as a grandparent on both sides of its pedigree. When I was a graduate student (a few decades ago!) I created and selected two clones that I named S438 and S440. These selections have S. berthaultii as a grandparent and have been used extensively as a source of improved processing quality in the development of new potato varieties.

    Wild potatoes also contribute genes for traits related to cooking ability. S. chacoense is a great-grandparent of the cultivar Lenape, which is credited for laying the foundation for the development of cultivars used for making potato chips.

    One type of South American cultivated (land race) potato is colloquially known as Phureja. These common land races are incredibly diverse for tuber traits such as skin color, flesh color, shape, size, and eye depth. Some Phureja selections produce tubers with very deep yellow flesh. Yukon Gold potatoes have Phureja as a grandparent.

    Phureja varieties have been selected by South American farmers not only for unique tuber traits, but also for exceptional culinary quality. Our best sources of genes for improved flavor have been found in Phureja, which produces tubers that are more flavorful, creamy and savory than standard potato varieties. Those of us who are impatient cooks might also be interested to learn that some Phureja varieties are done in half the normal time needed to boil potatoes.

    There are over 100 wild potato species and breeders have just scratched the surface for new variety development.  As climate change and a growing population put additional strains on potato growers, we will continue to explore the possibilities offered by this rich genetic resource.

    Answered by Shelley Jansky, USDA-ARS and UW-Madison

    To read more about Dr. Jansky’s work, or to watch a video, click here.

    To learn more about Crop Wild Relatives, visit our dedicated page:

     

  • NMSU Farmington Research Center Participating in Potatoes USA Variety Study

    FARMINGTON – Approximately 5,000 semi-truck loads of potatoes leave the Four Corners region every year. The spuds are headed to dinner tables via retail stores and snack processors.

    The dinner potatoes are grown by Navajo Agriculture Products Industry, while those headed to potato chip processing are grown by 2 men with potatoes an independent contractor renting NAPI farm land.

    Located in the middle of the potato fields is New Mexico State University’s Agricultural Science Center at Farmington, which is conducting variety trials to help the two producers improve their crop quality and yield.

    Potatoes produce more revenue per acre than any other crop that can be produced in the Four Corners region.
    NMSU is one of 12 land-grant university research farms in the United States conducting potato variety trials in cooperation with Potatoes USA, a grower’s group.

    Potatoes USA is an industry-funded marketing organization that promotes five main potato products: fresh table-stock potatoes, fresh chipping potatoes, seed potatoes, frozen potato products and dehydrated potato products.

    “Producers pay 3 cents a hundred-weight to Potatoes USA to provide services that help customers around the world increase demand for potatoes,” said Charles Higgins, president of Higgins Farms Inc. and consultant through Potatoes USA. “The organization invests in marketing and product management research to help grow the potato business.”

    NMSU has benefited from the organization’s investment in research through grant funds for equipment specific for potato research.

    “This year variety trials of 33 table cultivars and 22 chip cultivars were conducted at the Farmington research center fields,” Higgins said. “We are looking for chip varieties that have better chemical stability from storage for potato chips, and varieties that have better appearance for supermarkets.”

    Since NMSU established the research farm 50 years ago on the mesa south of Farmington, variety trials of an array of crops have been done to help NAPI and Four Corners region agricultural producers be more profitable.

    “We are combining research and practical experience to obtain the best results,” said Aaron Benally, NAPI organic/conventional crop director. “The variety trials at NMSU help us to not waste time and money on crops that will not produce well in our environment and climate.”

    As consumer trends shift toward organic produce, NAPI has expanded its farming practice to include organic potatoes. Potatoes_man

    “Because of regulations regarding what chemicals can be used on organic fields, we are transitioning a portion of our farm in order to help NAPI determine which organic crops they might want to grow by looking at pest control methods that are best for their operation,” said Kevin Lombard, superintendent of NMSU’s Farmington facility.

    NMSU has conducted extensive research on evapotranspiration at the Farmington facility. That water research has determined consumptive use indexes and efficient water application strategies on crops grown in the area. This information has helped NAPI and other agriculture producers to be better stewards of water in the semi-arid region.

    Water application research includes determining water-use production function of the crop. This project includes developing and evaluating formulae to predict water application and consumptive use of the crop.

    NMSU assistant professor Koffi Djaman, whose professional field of expertise includes soil and water resources, irrigation engineering and crop response to irrigation, has extended the water research into the potato fields where he is measuring soil moisture with soil probes that transmit data to office computers and cell phones.

    Sensors in the probe at four-inch intervals measure the soil moisture content at different depths.

    “With this system we can tell when we need to water and how much irrigation water is needed,” Djaman said. “After a rain, we can determine how deep that moisture has gone and add the amount needed to meet crop evapotranspiration efficiently.”

    The partnership between NMSU, NAPI and Potatoes USA is helping the region contribute one percent of all potatoes produced in the United States