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How has your approach to pest control changed over the last few years?
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Oceana Asparagus Day
By Matt Milkovich, Managing Editor
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I went to the 2010 Oceana Asparagus Day in Hart, Mich., March 11. It’s an annual meeting of the state’s asparagus industry – in the heart of asparagus-rich Oceana County – where growers and others meet before the harvest to catch up on the latest news.
One of the speakers was Dave Kleweno, director of the Michigan Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). He discussed the 2010 Michigan Asparagus Inventory – results from a survey sent to Michigan growers. Ninety percent of the growers responded – an excellent result, Kleweno said.
According to Kleweno’s presentation, Michigan’s asparagus acreage has trended down, from 17,000 acres in 2000 to 11,200 in 2009. Millenium was the major variety planted in 2009, whereas five or 10 years ago it was Jersey Giant.
Another speaker was Carter Clary, an assistant professor at Washington State University. He talked about the Haws Harvester, which was featured on the cover page of the January issue of VGN. The harvester makes the mechanical harvest of asparagus a real possibility. To hear some of what Clary had to say, watch the video below.
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