California Fruit and Vegetable

Tag: USDA

  • USDA Expands Insurance Options for California Fruit & Vegetable Growers

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is expanding crop insurance options for specialty and organic growers beginning with the 2025 crop year. USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is expanding coverage options by allowing enterprise units by organic farming practice, adding enterprise unit eligibility for several crops, and making additional policy updates. This is the first of several announcements this summer, which will include the expansion of the shellfish policy in the Northeast and new coverage for grape growers in the West and beyond. These expansions and other improvements build on other recent RMA efforts to better serve specialty crop producers and reach a broader group of producers.

    “The Risk Management Agency is excited to expand coverage options for specialty and organic growers including the availability of enterprise and optional units for many producers,” said RMA Administrator Marcia Bunger. “Expanding our coverage options gives producers more opportunities to manage their risks. We will continue to build on our work through future announcements later this summer.”

    The following changes will be made beginning with the 2025 crop year:  

    • Enterprise and Optional Units:
      • Expand Enterprise Units (EU) to almonds, apples, avocado (California), citrus (Arizona, California, and Texas), figs, macadamia nuts, pears, prunes, and walnuts.
      • Allow non-contiguous parcels of land that qualify for Optional Units (OU) to also qualify for EU.
      • Allow EUs by organic farming practice for alfalfa seed, almonds, apples, avocado (California), cabbage, canola, citrus (Arizona, California and Texas), coarse grains, cotton, ELS cotton, dry beans, dry peas, figs, fresh market tomatoes, forage production, grass seed, macadamia nuts, millet, mint, mustard, pears, potatoes (northern, central, and southern), processing tomatoes, prunes, safflower, small grains, sunflower seed, and walnuts. 
      • Expand OUs by organic practice to all remaining crops where OUs are available, and the organic practice is insurable.
    • Walnut Quality Adjustment: Allow sunburned damaged walnuts to be eligible for indemnity payments through quality adjustment.
    • Almond Leaf Year: Expand insurance coverage to younger trees by including trees in their fifth leaf year after being set out.

    These revisions come through the Expanding Options for Specialty and Organic Growers Final Rule published today by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC). This Final Rule will update the Common Crop Insurance Policy Basic Provisions, Area Risk Protection Insurance Basic Provisions, and includes changes to individual Crop Provisions. The enterprise unit availability will continue to be rolled out throughout the year with each crop’s contract change date and RMA will continue to evaluate expanding EUs to additional crops.

    Additional changes in the June 30 Final Rule include:

    • New Breaking Acreage:
    • Reduce administrative burdens on growers and the delivery system by removing written agreement requirements on new breaking acreage.
    • Reduce coverage penalties on perennial specialty crop producers and producers of intensively managed crops, such as alfalfa, when they move to row crop production. This allows for a seamless transition without losing crop insurance coverage.
    • Assignment of Indemnity: Provide flexibility for an indemnity payment to be issued via automated clearing house (ACH) or other electronic means when these methods do not allow for multiple payees.
    • Good Farming Practices (GFP): Streamline and shorten the FCIC GFP reconsideration process by closing the administrative file following FCIC’s initial GFP determination.
    • Double Cropping and Annual Forage: Clarify a producer must prove insurance history for the annual forage crop and meet the current double cropping requirements to receive a full prevented planting payment.

    RMA continues to explore ways to improve risk management tools for specialty crop producers and will be announcing additional program enhancements later this summer. Some of those improvements include:  

      Piloting the Fire Insurance Protection – Smoke Index (FIP-SI) crop insurance program for grapes in California for the 2025 crop year. The pilot program is an index-based endorsement to the Actual Production History (APH) Grape policy that provides additional protection against smoke damage and covers the liability between the APH policy’s coverage level and 95%.

      Expanding the Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) to walnuts and citrus crops and increasing premium support to be consistent with the Supplemental Coverage Option.

      Expanding the Grapevine insurance program to an additional 29 counties in California. Grapevine insurance offers protection against vine losses in the event of several named perils.

      Releasing new Organic Practice Guidelines to producers for the 2025 crop year. These guidelines are to help producers report planted or perennial acreage insured under a certified organic or transitional practice.

    More Information

    This announcement further advances USDA’s recently announced Specialty Crops Competitiveness Initiative, a Department-wide effort to increase the competitiveness of specialty crops products in foreign markets, enhance domestic marketing, and improve production and processing practices.

    Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers and online at the RMA Agent Locator. Learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at rma.usda.gov or by contacting your RMA Regional Office.

  • California Avocado Commission Calls To Maintain Current USDA Inspections In Mexico

    On June 26, 2024, the California Avocado Commission released a statement regarding the U.S./Mexico Operational Work Plan allowing Hass avocados from the Mexican states of Michoacan and Jalisco to be exported to the U.S. Under the current OWP, the inspections are conducted by Mexican personnel employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

    Commission staff was recently informed by the USDA from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City that following the February 2022 security issue involving an avocado inspector, the USDA is recommending shifting the avocado inspection oversight from USDA-employed personnel to Mexico government personnel.

    On Monday, June 23, CAC was contacted by a major media outlet reporter who covered a press conference held by U.S. and Mexican officials announcing the reopening of the avocado inspections and shipments. According to this reporter, “the officials said that they would progressively start replacing APHIS inspectors with Mexican inspectors to avoid stopping exports whenever there’s a security concern.”

    Although there has been no official proposal from USDA to modify the OWP, the Commission is taking no chances and proactively stating our adamant opposition to such a change.

    The Commission’s release received good pickup (sample links below) and the Commission will continue to advocate against any such change to the OWP.

  • USDA Funding to Address Specialty Crop Export Challenges

    U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis M. Taylor today announced the availability of funding for the first five projects under the new Assisting Specialty Crop Exports (ASCE) initiative.

    The ASCE initiative is part of USDA’s commitment to create more, new and better markets at home and abroad for U.S. producers and agribusinesses. The innovative partnership between USDA and the specialty crops sector will focus on projects to address the non-tariff trade barriers that hinder U.S. exports of fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, horticultural crops and related products.

    “Today, USDA is committing more than $20 million to support U.S. specialty crop exporters in their efforts to overcome trade barriers and open overseas markets,” Under Secretary Taylor said. “We’re excited to be accepting proposals from partners interested in implementing projects that will target cross-cutting issues that were identified in our discussions with a diverse set of stakeholders. U.S. specialty crop exports totaled $25.8 billion last year, increasing the bottom line for our producers and driving economic development in their local communities and beyond. With the ASCE initiative, we look forward to expanding specialty crop exports and generating even greater benefits.”

    The project opportunities for which USDA is accepting applications are:

    Sustainable Packaging Innovation Lab – to support research and implementation projects that advance U.S. specialty crop exports through innovative solutions to emerging overseas regulatory requirements for packaging and labeling;

    Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) Regional Harmonization – to address existing and potential trade needs in Asia, Latin America, and Africa related to MRLs for U.S. specialty crops entering these regions, while supporting development of risk-based and trade-facilitative policies that are consistent with international standards such as Codex;

    Import MRL Guideline Implementation in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economies – to support establishment of import MRLs in key U.S. export markets through the adoption and implementation of official APEC MRL guidelines that facilitate trade and are consistent with international standards such as Codex;

    Data Generation for Codex and Harmonized MRL Setting – to reduce the number of missing and misaligned MRLs by supporting collaborative research and data generation capacity for the establishment of Codex MRLs; and

    MRL Quick Reference Sheets for Specialty Crops – to develop a set of quick reference sheets for specialty crop exporters that include MRLs for the top foreign markets.

    After touring the packaging materials lab at the University of Wisconsin-Stout today, Under Secretary Taylor said, “The work being accomplished by these students and researchers will help create innovative, sustainable packaging materials that will help specialty crop exporters meet the requirements of our trading partners and extend the shelf-life of their products to ensure cost-competitive, highly nutritious American products move safely  from our farm to consumers’ plates globally.”

    For more information about the ASCE initiative and the current funding opportunity, visit: https://fas.usda.gov/programs/assisting-specialty-crop-exports-asce-initiative

    USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

  • USDA to Protect Hundreds of Crops from Invasive Fruit Flies

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has released “Fruit Fly Exclusion and Detection Program Fiscal Years 2024-2028 Strategy.” APHIS worked with members of the National Plant Board to develop a unified roadmap for USDA and its partners to protect American agriculture from the threat of invasive fruit flies and measure our progress along the way.

    “The United States is experiencing an unusually high number of invasive fruit fly detections – the worst of its kind in 70 years,” said Mark Davidson, USDA APHIS Deputy Administrator for the Plant Protection and Quarantine program. “Invasive fruit flies are a nuisance that drive up costs of producing fresh fruits and vegetables, which can hurt both producers and consumers. Our five-year plan lays out how Federal and State partners can continue to limit the flies’ spread as we further scientific research that will help us develop better pest management tools and options.”

    The five-year strategy prioritizes strengthening the following goals for fruit flies of regulatory significance:

    • Domestic surveillance to support early detection.
    • Management and emergency response to ensure timely mitigation.
    • Targeted and effective sterile insect technique for preventive release and eradication programs (assuring rearing facilities are maintained for efficiency and safety).
    • International and import efforts to mitigate against the introduction and spread of invasive fruit flies in the United States.

    To address the unprecedented outbreaks of exotic fruit flies, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently released $103.5 million from the Commodity Credit Corporation to fund APHIS’ supplementary emergency response activities. These funds allow APHIS to reach beyond what the agency’s appropriated funding would be able to accomplish over the next few years.

    Currently, there are exotic fruit fly quarantines in eight counties in California and five counties in New York. The California Department of Food and Agriculture and APHIS have established parallel quarantines and are working with the State’s agricultural commissioners to eradicate and prevent the statewide spread of the Queensland fruit fly, Tau fruit fly, Mediterranean fruit fly, and Oriental fruit fly in California. APHIS is also working with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to manage the European cherry fruit fly in upstate New York.

    Invasive fruit flies feed on over 400 crops, including citrus and other fruits, nuts, vegetables, and berries. Fruit flies can damage fruits and vegetables when they lay their eggs under the skin of the produce. There, developing larvae make the fruits and vegetables unfit for human consumption. Infested produce may not look damaged from the outside but may take on a brown, mottled appearance as the larvae feed from the inside. Resources to combat invasive fruit fly threats are limited, so developing an efficient strategy to manage or eradicate invasive fruit flies is critical.

    To reduce the spread, APHIS and affected states will work together to reduce, and to the extent possible, prevent human-assisted movement. Together, we will also promote public reporting to encourage early detection, and we will leverage the latest research and management tools available. The 5-Year Strategy drives Federal and State responders to explore new population suppression technologies, such as male annihilation technique, mass trapping, and the development of new and/or improved sterile fruit fly strains. Integrating these new technologies into the inter-agency response to invasive fruit flies will help improve the program’s efficiency.

    The new strategy also builds the capacity to combat invasive fruit flies in areas at high risk of introduction and will leverage the public’s assistance to prevent further spread of these damaging agricultural pests.

    Federal and State partners will also unite their research resources and share knowledge about fruit flies to limit their movement and distribution. While leveraging best practices in the field, State and Federal partners will prioritize more research on climate and host-plant suitability, as well as other effective management tools.

    Federal and state fruit fly quarantines do not extend into Tribal lands, but the invasive fruit flies could impact Tribal communities near the quarantine areas. APHIS consulted with Tribes on the five-year strategy in August 2023 and will continue to engage Tribes and solicit feedback on the fruit fly management and outreach strategy.

  • Ensuring Availability of High-Quality Potatoes All Year Round

    Tubers of four Russet potato cultivars (Russet Burbank, Umatilla Russet, Bannock Russet, Dakota Russet) are being monitored under controlled environmental conditions for dormancy progression and sprout growth patterns during postharvest storage. (Photo by Munevver Dogramaci, USDA-ARS, Fargo, ND.)

    Scientists at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) use innovative technology to study the lifecycle of potatoes (including development, production, and postharvest storage), ensuring a high-quality supply year-round for snack food processing facilities, restaurants, and grocery stores.

    Potatoes are one of the main crops grown in the U.S., with a production of approximately 22.5 million tons annually. Fall is the primary season for harvesting potatoes, accounting for 90 percent of the total production. Since many locations cannot support year-round potato cultivation, most potatoes intended for processing, such as frozen french fries or instant mashed potatoes, are harvested in the fall and safely stored until needed. Storing and maintaining potatoes at their top nutritional quality while meeting consumer and market demands is essential for the industry.

    Yet, potato producers face several critical challenges, including climate- and disease-related challenges during crop production and long-term storage. Maintenance of post-harvest quality is of prime concern to the potato industry because post-harvest crop losses through physiological and disease-related processes routinely reach 10-15 percent. These challenges include factors such as early sprouting, as well as slow wound-healing of potato tubers inadvertently damaged during the operational process.

    Have you opened your home pantry and found potatoes sprouting? Immediately after harvest and for an indeterminate period thereafter, potato tubers are physiologically dormant and will not sprout even when they are placed in growth promoting conditions. The length of tuber dormancy period is determined by the genetics of the potato cultivar, and environmental conditions during the crop production and post-harvest storage—including temperature, humidity, light, and air composition. Premature sprouting or incomplete wound-healing adversely affects potato processing quality and nutritional value, resulting in lower producer prices or even complete market rejection by the industry and fresh market.

    Munevver Dogramaci, a research plant physiologist and lead scientist of the Potato Research Program at the Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center in Fargo, North Dakota, and Darrin Haagenson research plant physiologist at the Potato Research Worksite in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, collaborate with growers and universities to address  these post-harvest physiological challenges, as well as to evaluate advanced potato breeding material for postharvest storage, food quality, and safety characteristics.

    “Currently, there is no method that is 100 percent efficient to control the physical deterioration of the potato tubers during storage,” said Dogramaci. “Potato tubers are at their peak nutritional quality during harvest, but it is essential to store them under specific conditions to maintain this quality.”

    A better understanding of physiological processes will help scientists improve post-harvest storage methods, preserving nutritional value, processing quality, and the marketability of potatoes.

    Dogramaci also noted that unintended wounding of tubers, like cuts and bruises, can also occur during harvest and post-harvest operations. “This results in rapid quality loss that impacts the tuber’s texture, ability to retain water, and an increase in its susceptibility to diseases during storage,” Dogramaci explained.

    Paul J. Collins, a research geneticist for the ARS Eastern potato breeding program based in Orono and Presque Isle, Maine, is working to develop new varieties for chip processing and table markets with improved agronomic attributes, disease resistance, climate resiliency, and quality traits. Successful varieties developed by this program include Atlantic, a variety that is widely grown across the U.S. for potato chips and is within the top ten most popular potato varieties grown in the nation.

    “Potato breeding seeks to identify new potato varieties that can provide benefits throughout the value chain,” said Collins. “Farmers can benefit from disease resistance traits, resilience to climate variability, and improved yields. Processors and retailers are interested in maintaining quality and uniformity. Consumers are driven by improved nutrition and flavor. Within the breeding program, we see huge variability for all of these traits. The challenge and fun of potato breeding is finding a new variety which makes everyone in the value chain happy.”

    Want to learn more? Watch the latest episode of “Cooking with Science“! USDA-ARS scientists share exciting facts about their work while Chef Mark Mills demonstrates how to incorporate potatoes into safe and nutritious recipes!

    USDA-ARS scientists Charles Cantrell (Mississippi), Patricia Slininger (Illinois), and Tianbao Yang (Maryland) also do important work with potatoes.

    The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in U.S. agricultural research results in $20 of economic impact.

  • USDA Announces Intent to Renew Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee Charter

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced it intends to renew the charter of the Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee (FVIAC).

    USDA is set to renew the committee’s charter for two years as required by the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The current charter expires on May 23, 2024. USDA invites interested persons to submit comments on this notice. Comments are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on May 1, 2024, through regulations.gov: Document # AMS-SC-24-0006.

    Established in 2001, the FVIAC is administered by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). Committee members represent the entire spectrum of the fruit and vegetable industry including shippers, wholesalers, brokers, retailers, processors, fresh cut processors, foodservice suppliers, state agencies, state departments of agriculture and trade associations. The FVIAC meets in person at least twice a year to develop recommendations on issues affecting the U.S. produce industry.

    This notice was published in the Federal Register on March 26, 2024. Information about the committee is available on the AMS Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee webpage.

    AMS policy is that diversity of the board should reflect the diversity of its industries in terms of the experience of members, methods of production and distribution, marketing strategies, and other distinguishing factors, including but not limited individuals from historically underserved communities, that will bring different perspectives and ideas to the table. Throughout the full nomination process, the industry must conduct extensive outreach, paying particular attention to reaching underserved communities, and consider the diversity of the population served and the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the members to serve a diverse population.

  • How Might Tomatoes Provide Health Benefits?

    (USDA Photo by Lance Cheung.)

    Scientists at U.S. the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and The Ohio State University (OSU) have been working to investigate how tomatoes may be imparting health benefits in a recently published study.

    Studies in animals have shown that incorporating tomatoes into the diet can reduce the prevalence of chronic illnesses like prostate and liver cancer. It has been thought that compounds naturally produced by tomatoes are responsible for these effects. After absorption from a meal, many of the chemical compounds found in tomato fruits travel to the liver, where they are metabolized. Some compounds remain for some time, while others are quickly removed from the body.

    Meanwhile, in the liver or other tissues, some of these compounds can alter gene expression in ways associated with positive health benefits. Researchers in the past have largely focused on lycopene, a pigment that gives tomatoes their red color. However, tomatoes produce thousands of compounds, and it has been shown that tomato consumption offers more benefits than lycopene alone. A “big picture” view was missing.

    “We know that eating tomatoes is associated with a number of health benefits, and our study intended to dive deeper into what happens when you eat tomatoes from the standpoint of what is absorbed and how gene expression is altered,” said Michael Dzakovich Ph.D., a scientist with USDA-ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center. “Rather than focusing only on one compound, we utilized a technology called metabolomics to broadly profile how hundreds of chemical compounds were changing in the liver as a result of tomato consumption. We also used transcriptomics to measure how all the detectable genes in the liver were changing at the same time. This approach gave us valuable insight into the potential mechanisms by which tomato consumption affects the liver and potentially the whole body.”

    Scientists tested liver tissue from mice that were fed control diets or control diets enriched with tomato to determine what tomato compounds were found in the liver and how gene expression changed. Tomato-fed mice were given one of two diets with the addition of commercial orange and red tomato varieties. Since not all tomato varieties are chemically identical, using multiple varieties allowed for a more comprehensive examination of how tomato consumption affects the liver in general.

    “We discovered a series of metabolites [molecules produced by metabolism] that have never been reported in the liver. Several of these compounds have been found in blood, skin, and urine, but our data show that these molecules are more extensively metabolized than we realized,” stated Dzakovich. The metabolites are from steroidal alkaloids uniquely produced in tomatoes.

    “Steroidal alkaloids have been shown in both in vitro [in the laboratory] and animal studies to lower the absorption of cholesterol, reduce cancer cell proliferation, and reduce muscle atrophy. They also resemble many important signaling molecules made by the body. It seems reasonable to hypothesize they might be a part of a suite of compounds found in tomatoes that benefit human health.”

    In addition, scientists observed that regardless of the tomato variety, there was an increase in the activation of genes related to xenobiotic metabolism, a series of biological processes that help our body detoxify itself. This led the authors to hypothesize that one way in which tomatoes may be benefiting human health is in their ability to promote production of the enzymes that allow excretion of potentially toxic compounds. Similar gene expression profiles have been associated with the prevention of cancer development because of consuming vegetables like brassicas (for example, broccoli).

    Michael Dzakovich initiated this study during his Ph.D. program in the laboratory of Jessica Cooperstone Ph.D. at The Ohio State University in collaboration with Mallory Goggans MS, Jennifer Thomas-Ahner Ph.D., Nancy Moran Ph.D., Steven Clinton MD Ph.D., and David Francis Ph.D. More details about this study can be found in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research.

    The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in U.S. agricultural research results in $20 of economic impact.

  • Mexican Blueberry Acreage & Production on the Rise

    Mexico’s 2024 blueberry production is forecast at 81,000 MT, an eight percent increase over 2023 on sufficient water access and growing export demand. The rate of production growth is projected to be slower in 2024 compared to 2023 due to competition from Peru. Production in 2023 reached an estimated 74,800 MT, a twelve percent increase over the previous year due to production innovations and strong export demand. Blueberry exports totaled 71,509 MT in 2022, down about two percent compared to 2021. Imports reached 13,715 MT in 2022, a ten percent decrease from the previous year. The United States is Mexico’s top blueberry export market, with a nearly 97 percent share.

    Executive Summary

    Mexico’s blueberry sector has seen rapid growth in the past decade, with increasing prices encouraging growers to expand production or switch from other crops to blueberries. Production grew over 80 percent between 2017 and 2022, reaching 66,847 metric tons (MT), making Mexico the world’s fifth largest blueberry producer.

    Mexico’s per capita blueberry consumption is barely 70 grams per year, constrained by price as well as consumer preference, with blueberries not occupying a place in traditional Mexican cuisine.

    In 2022, Mexico’s total blueberry exports totaled 71,509 MT, down about two percent compared to 2021. By value, blueberry exports totaled USD 629 million in 2022. Imports reached 13,715 MT in 2022, a ten percent decrease from the previous year. While both import and export volumes decreased in 2022 compared to 2021, rising blueberry prices pushed up trade value, with both imports and exports increasing about seven percent by value from 2021 to 2022.

    The United States is Mexico’s top blueberry export market, with a nearly 97 percent share, valued at USD 607 million. Other export destinations include the Netherlands, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The U.S. is also Mexico’s number one blueberry supplier.

    Production

    Mexico’s calendar year (CY) 2024 blueberry production is forecast at 81,000 MT, an eight percent increase from forecast 2023 production based on expected adequate access to water and growing demand from international markets, predominantly the United States. Despite drought conditions throughout Mexico, local producers report that the berry sector will avoid the impact of water shortages in the near term (1-3 years). The sector is well-equipped with highly efficient irrigation systems, including private reservoirs, and ample operating funds.

    Production growth is projected to remain strong in 2024, although not as as robust as in 2023 due to a shortened growing and harvest season. Historically, Mexico’s harvest began in early October, peaking between late April and early May. In contrast, industry sources report that for the 2024 harvest, producers have taken steps to delay the start of the harvest to early February in response to competition from Peru, which offers a similar product at lower prices during the October-January period. Faced with this competition, Mexican growers have shifted the growing season by delaying new plantings, which is projected to dampen overall prodution given the relatively significant place of new plantings in total planted area, with the sector currently undergoing a transition from Biloxi to proprietary varieties. Producers are actively switching away from the Biloxi variety to take advantage of the ongoing development of improved varieties that provide higher yields and better taste. According to farmer contacts, 23 percent of blueberry area is currently planted with the Biloxi variety and 74 percent is planted with proprietary varieties, and they expect the share of Biloxi to decrease significantly in the near term. In addition to delaying new plantings, Mexican producers report that they are delaying fertilizer applications as another technique to push the harvest beyone the Peruvian harvest period.

    Blueberry production in 2023 reached an estimated 74,800 MT, a twelve percent increase over the previous year due to the use of improved varieties and other innovative production technology as well as strong export demand.

    According to data from Mexico’s Agri-food and Fisheries Information Service (SIAP), blueberry production totaled 66,847 MT in 2022. Beginning in 2023, SIAP stopped reporting official blueberry data, for reasons that are not publicly available.

    Mexico’s blueberry sector has been growing steadily in recent years, realizing a production growth of over 80 percent between 2017 and 2022. During this period blueberry planted area grew from 3,642 hectares (ha) to 4,444 ha, a 22 percent increase. Mexican blueberry exporters benefit from geographical proximity to the United States, with shipments reaching the U.S.-Mexico border in 18 hours or less. Berries are shipped to the U.S. market by truck daily. In addition, Mexico is able to provide blueberries during the off-season periods for other major producing countries, particularly the United States. Further, producers benefit from sustained investment to take advantage of growing export opportunities. Access to improved infrastructure and production methods enables growers to achieve greater yields and protect their crops against risks from pests, extreme weather, and other climate impacts. Read the full report from USDA Foreign Ag Service HERE.

  • Plant Pathologist Awarded $3.95M USDA Grant to Examine Fruit Rot in Blueberries

    Timothy Miles, an assistant professor in Michigan State University’s Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, is teaming up with researchers across the U.S. to further study management of Anthracnose and Botrytis fruit rot in blueberries.

    A scientist at Michigan State University has received a $3.95 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to develop strategies for implementing and maintaining effective management practices for blueberry fruit rot.

    Timothy Miles, an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, is leading a multi-institutional team of researchers in addressing ways to improve the quality of blueberries while limiting their loss before, during and after harvest.

    The USDA-funded project, part of the USDA’s Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), is called: “BLUE-DYNAMO: An Interactive Platform to Deliver Blueberry Disease and Horticultural Management Strategies for Fruit Rots.”

    Blueberries are sometimes referred to as “little blue dynamos” due to their health benefits. In this case, “BLUE-DYNAMO” is an acronym that stands for, “Building the Latest Understanding in Extension — Disease Management that Yields New and Meaningful Outputs.”

    Two of the most common fruit rot diseases that alter the quality and yield of blueberry crops in the U.S. are Anthracnose fruit rot (AFR) and Botrytis fruit rot (BFR). AFR, also known as “ripe rot,” shows itself by wilting blueberries and producing spore masses that appear as orange speckles. BFR typically occurs in cooler temperatures and presents as gray mold on blueberries and other crops.

    While much is already known about these diseases through previously conducted studies, Miles said advances in technology and joint action among scientists from across the country will propel current knowledge forward and address stakeholder needs.

    “What makes this research unique is that it’s a coordinated effort (from multiple institutions) to study fruit rot across the U.S., and in blueberries that hasn’t happened before on this large of a scale,” Miles said.

    Objectives of the project include:

    • Learning how management techniques impact the onset of fruit rot.
    • Applying molecular tools to accelerate the time it takes to detect fungicide resistance in pathogens.
    • Generating cultivar-specific fruit quality models to predict fruit vulnerability to rots, and using optical-imaging technology to filter and sort blueberries vulnerable to fruit rot.
    • Providing efficient ways growers and field specialists can access information drawn from the conducted research.

    To make findings and recommendations easily and widely available, a BLUE-DYNAMO website is being designed that’ll allow for materials to be uploaded for educational and outreach purposes.

    “Anything we find using this grant — grower information, important publications and other resources related to fruit rot — will be in here,” Miles said. “We may also build this into more than just information about fruit rot because it’s supposed to be a portal growers can use to gain knowledge on how to manage blueberry diseases.”

    Other MSU researchers included in the grant are Josh Vander Weide, an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Horticulture; Yuzhen Lu, an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (BAE); and Cheyenne Sloan, a blueberry and small fruit educator with MSU Extension.

    Along with studying pathogens and ways to manage them, scientists will create more refined models for pinpointing the ripeness in blueberries to prevent fruit rot from occurring in harvested berries. New imaging technology will also be tested to noninvasively screen blueberries for disease as they’re sorted.

    Josh Vander Weide, an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Horticulture.

    Vander Weide said examining horticultural strategies to control fruit rot could lessen fungicide use, which is critical because fruit rot pathogens can become resistant to fungicides over time.

    “Fruit rots tend to develop near harvest, so there are some practices we can employ to minimize disease pressure,” Vander Weide said. “This not only involves better defining which cultivars are more resistant (to these pathogens), but also what kind of harvest scenarios prolong disease development.”

    Vander Weide said the team will be observing how pathogens develop in relation to the weather conditions blueberries are grown in and the maturity at which they’re picked. He also noted that collaborating with researchers from across the country grants opportunities to track an array of environments blueberries are farmed in.

    “A greater percentage of fruit rot development occurs in the cartons you’re buying from the grocery store than on the plant,” Vander Weide said. “That’s why sometimes when we buy blueberries from the store, they’re moldy within a few days. The likelihood that this occurs depends on the cultivar, as well as when they’re harvested and how far they’re shipped.”

    After harvest, Vander Weide said they’ll use cutting-edge technology to sort blueberries, separating ones that’ve been infected or are more likely to become infected with fruit rot based off certain qualities of the fruit, like firmness.

    The grant provides funding for four years. Miles said he’s excited to lead this project on a broad scale because it was also his project while earning his doctoral degree from MSU in 2011 studying fruit rot in blueberries. — By Jack Falinski, Michigan State University

    Michigan State University AgBioResearch scientists discover dynamic solutions for food systems and the environment. More than 300 MSU faculty conduct leading-edge research on a variety of topics, from health and climate to agriculture and natural resources. Originally formed in 1888 as the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU AgBioResearch oversees numerous on-campus research facilities, as well as 15 outlying centers throughout Michigan. To learn more, visit agbioresearch.msu.edu.

  • USDA Extends Comment Period on Regulatory Status of Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV)

    USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is issuing a Stakeholder Registry announcement extending the public comment on two pathway risk assessments and three potential regulatory policy options for Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) in fresh tomato and pepper fruit for consumption and plant propagative material (including seeds). The public will have an extra 30 days to provide comments to the documents in response to requests to extend the comment period beyond August 30, 2023.  APHIS will now consider all comments received by September 29, 2023.

    To safeguard U.S. agriculture against the introduction of the virus into the United States, APHIS issued a Federal Order effective on November 22, 2019, to restrict the importation of tomato and pepper fruit and plant propagative material, such as plants intended for planting, plant parts and cuttings, and seeds. On June 3, 2020, APHIS amended the Federal Order to clarify the requirements for fruit, specifically requiring an additional declaration for tomatoes and/or pepper fruit from countries that already must provide a phytosanitary certificate for these commodities. All other requirements remained unchanged.

    The distribution of ToBRFV is rapidly changing across the world and given numerous detections of the virus in the United States over the past several years, APHIS is reevaluating the Agency’s policies for regulating fresh tomato and pepper fruit for consumption and plant propagative material (including seeds) for ToBRFV.

    APHIS developed pathway risk assessments to update and inform its policy decisions related to the virus. APHIS drafted the following documents: (1) a tomato and pepper fruit for consumption pathway risk assessment, (2) a propagative plant materials pathway risk assessment, and (3) a document that describes three potential regulatory responses considering the pathway risk assessments.

    APHIS is seeking scientific information that would provide a greater understanding of the distribution of ToBRFV in the United States and of best management practices, including the development of resistant tomato varieties for this virus. APHIS is also seeking information about the economic impacts of the potential regulatory options.

    APHIS is considering three regulatory policy options:

    1. Continue to regulate Tomato brown rugose fruit virus as a quarantine pest but remove those import restrictions for tomato and pepper fruit for consumption. APHIS would continue to regulate propagative materials, including plants and seed, as described in the existing import Federal Order. APHIS would continue to take action on domestic detections of the virus in seeds and other propagative material.
    2. Categorize Tomato brown rugose fruit virus as a non-quarantine pest and rescind the import Federal Order. This action would remove all import restrictions for this virus for fruit for consumption and for propagative materials. APHIS would no longer take action on domestic detections of the virus.
    3. Continue to regulate Tomato brown rugose fruit virus as a quarantine pest and implement the requirements in the existing import Federal Order without change. APHIS would continue to take action on domestic detections of the virus in fruit, seeds and other propagative material for consumption.

    APHIS will accept public feedback of the documents on the Stakeholder Risk Assessment Consultation web page: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-health/risk-assessment-consultation.

    The current ToBRFV Federal Order is available on APHIS’ website here: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/import-information/federal-import-orders/. If you have any questions, please direct them to PPQPRAComments@usda.gov; please indicate ToBRFV in the subject line.