California Fruit and Vegetable

Category: Technology

  • USDA Launches New Farmers.gov Features to Help with H2A Applications, Managing Loans

    (WASHINGTON, D.C., April 2019)– Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched two new features on farmers.gov to help customers manage their farm loans and navigate the application process for H2A visas.

    “Customer service is our top priority at USDA and these new features will help our customers as they manage their farm loans and navigate the H-2A temporary agricultural visa program,” said Secretary Perdue. “In my travels across the country, I have consistently heard people express a desire for greater use of technology in the way we deliver programs at USDA. As we adopt new technology, we are introducing simple yet innovative approaches to support our farmers, ranchers, producers, and foresters as they support the nation every day. It’s my goal to make USDA the most effective, most efficient, most customer-focused department in the entire federal government, and farmers.gov is a big step in that direction.”

    In 2018, Secretary Perdue unveiled farmers.gov, a dynamic, mobile-friendly public website combined with an authenticated portal where customers will be able to apply for programs, process transactions and manage accounts.

    Navigating the H-2A Visa Process:

    Focused on education and smaller owner-operators, this farmers.gov H-2A Phase I release includes an H-2A Visa Program pageand interactive checklist tool, with application requirements, fees, forms, and a timeline built around a farmer’s hiring needs.

    You may view the video at this following link: youtu.be/E-TXREaZhnI

    The H-2A Visa Program – also known as the temporary agricultural workers program – helps American farmers fill employment gaps by hiring workers from other countries. The U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Department of State, and state workforce agencies each manage parts of the H-2A Visa Program independently, with separate websites and complex business applications.

    Over the next several months, USDA will collaborate further with the U.S. Department of Labor on farmers.gov H-2A Phase II – a streamlined H-2A Visa Program application form, regulations, and digital application process that moves producers seamlessly from farmers.gov website to farmers.gov portal to U.S. Department of Labor’s IT systems.

    Managing Farm Loans Online:

    The self-service website now enables agricultural producers to login to view loan information, history and payments.

    Customers can access the “My Financial Information” feature by desktop computer, tablet or phone. They can now view:

    • loan information;
    • interest payments for the current calendar year (including year-to-date interest paid for the past five years);
    • loan advance and payment history;
    • paid-in-full and restructured loans; and
    • account alerts giving borrowers important notifications regarding their loans.

    To access their information, producers will need a USDA eAuth accountto login into farmers.gov. After obtaining an eAuth account, producers should visit farmers.govand sign into the site’s authenticated portal via the “Sign In / Sign Up” linkat the top right of the website.

    Currently, only producers doing business as individuals can view information. Entities, such as an LLC or Trust, or producers doing business on behalf of another customer cannot access the portal at this time, but access is being planned.

    Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge are the recommended browsers to access the feature.

    About farmers.gov:

    USDA is building farmers.gov for farmers, by farmers. Future self-service features available through the farmers.gov portal will help producers find the right loan programs for their business and submit loan documents to their service center.

    With feedback from customers and field employees who serve those customers, farmers.gov delivers farmer-focused features through an agile, iterative process to deliver the greatest immediate value to America’s agricultural producers – helping farmers and ranchers do right, and feed everyone.

  • UCCE Biologicals Conference Introduces New Crop Protection Tools for Growers

    Biocontrol agents, beneficial microbes, entomopathogenic fungi and bacteria that can enhance crop production — these were all topics of discussion at the recent UC Cooperative Extension Ag Innovations Conference in Santa Maria, led by UCCE Entomology & Biologicals Advisor Surendra Dara.  Watch this brief interview with Surendra as he shares more about what was discussed.

  • Automated System Would Deliver Chemicals to Help Ward off Citrus Greening

    GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Imagine using a robotic arm to grip and puncture the trunk of a citrus tree to deliver chemicals into the vascular parts of the plant, reducing its susceptibility to the citrus greening disease.

    Ozgur Batuman, an assistant professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, leads a team of researchers trying to make the automated delivery system a reality to help growers deal with the disease. Greening has led to huge losses for Florida’s multibillion dollar-a-year citrus industry.

    “The automated delivery system can be installed on any farm equipment and be operated by anyone who is driving – physically or remotely,” Batuman said. The person will be trained to use a joystick to control the arm that delivers the chemicals, he said.

    To conduct the research, scientists will use a $3.4 million grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, an arm of the USDA.

    The system would extend from a tractor or ATV to grab the tree trunk. Because the grip has many small needles, it can create numerous tiny openings in the tree, said Batuman, a faculty member at the UF/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center in Immokalee, Florida.

     

    Psyllids Thumb

    Bactericides can enter the tree through those small openings, he said. These areas on the trunk with openings will be covered with a reservoir, such as a funnel or plastic balloon, that will hold the liquid containing the bactericide, Batuman said. The liquid then slowly enters through the holes of the trunk.

    This contrasts with traditional tree trunk injections, in which a grower would use large, single-needle syringes to inject liquid materials in one spot, Batuman said.

    Most bactericide treatments are not very effective at staving off citrus greening because they were not directly delivered into the citrus vascular system, where greening — and its associated bacterium, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) lives, he said. The therapeutic chemicals can kill or suppress the growth of CLas and can be used in greening-affected plants, Batuman said. The system can also help newly planted trees fight greening by controlling the Asian citrus psyllid, which can transmit greening into citrus plants, he said.

    Researchers see the automated delivery system as part of an integrated pest management program to help stem the psyllid.

    “We are developing a delivery method that will send chemicals with therapeutic potential into phloem, where bacteria live,” Batuman said.

    This four-year project will also study citrus vascular systems with a multidisciplinary research team. Members of the team are
    , an associate professor of plant pathology; Amit Levy, an assistant professor of plant pathology; Ute Albrecht, an assistant professor of horticultural sciences; Fernando Alferez, an assistant professor of horticultural sciences; Yiannis Ampatzidis, an assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering and Tara Wade, an assistant professor of food and resource economics – all with UF/IFAS. Also on the team are Louise Ferguson, an Extension specialist with the University of California-Davis and Veronica Ancona, an assistant professor of plant pathology at the Texas A&M University-Kingsville Citrus Center.

    By: Brad Buck, 352-294-3303, bradbuck@ufl.edu