Vegetable Growers News

Idaho grower builds 48-row onion planter

Bigger is better - at least when it comes to planting onions and drip irrigation. That's what Russell Frisby has determined since he started growing onions in western Idaho's Treasure Valley. When Frisby, manager of Frisby Farms in Sand Hollow, Idaho, decided to diversify his crop portfolio and include yellow onions three years ago, he had no idea it would lead to designing one of the largest onion planters in the world. For more than 30 years, Frisby Farms has grown Russet Burbank potatoes, as well as sugar beets, alfalfa, corn and grain. Currently, he farms about 2,300 acres annually, 300 of them in onions. When he decided to grow onions, he also made the decision to go with a drip irrigation system as the crop's sole water source. His reasons for going with a drip system were threefold. "Our ground is pretty steep," Frisby…  » Read more

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Workers showing up for vegetable harvests – so far

Will U.S. growers find enough workers to harvest their crops in 2012? It's tough to predict, but based on information from a smattering of different crops in different regions, it looks like the labor supply is, or will be, adequate - despite the ever-mounting barriers. About a dozen states have passed E-Verify laws in one form or another, and there's the possibility that the federal government will enact a version of its own. E-Verify, which requires all employers to use a computerized system to confirm employees' eligibility to work in the United States, could be devastating for labor-intensive agriculture, since it is estimated that more than 70 percent of its workforce is ineligible, according to the U.S. Apple Association (USApple). E-Verify laws enacted in Georgia and Alabama last year might keep workers in Florida again this year, instead of seeing them head north to harvests…  » Read more

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Farmers’ market association educates consumers

One of the missions of the Colorado Farmers Market Association (CFMA) is to educate consumers across the state about the value of fresh, locally grown produce, said Annie Catura, current CFMA board president. In the wake of the tainted cantaloupe outbreak that was traced back to Colorado's Jensen Farms, CFMA decided to use that as an opportunity to teach. "While none of the affected cantaloupes were sold in farm markets, we did use the opportunity to educate consumers on how to properly use, clean and eat produce sold at farmers' markets," Catura said. "We hope to add more training in the future." Educating and training consumers is just one of the challenges facing CFMA, Catura said. Colorado farmers' marketers are playing catch up with the rest of the country when it comes to marketing and telling their story. The reason for this, she said, lies…  » Read more

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China: Land of opportunity for U.S. agriculture

When USDA announced it would conduct a trade mission to China this year, James Elgart decided it would be a good idea to go along. As president of Portland, Ore.-based Far West Fruit, Elgart has been shipping fresh cherries - along with other fruits, some asparagus and nuts - to Europe for a dozen years. He thought he'd missed the boat when it came to China, however - that any opportunities there had already been taken. Turns out he was wrong, he said. "What the mission was very good at showing was that there's a lot of opportunity there," he said. "You've got to remember that there's 750,000 people in the greater Portland area, including southwest Washington. We landed the first day in a city of 15 million people, and that was a small city. "It really is a great opportunity for U.S. agriculture, and…  » Read more

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Knowing best applications for tunnels, greenhouses

When choosing between a high tunnel or a greenhouse, it might be difficult to decide which is a better fit. That led Andy McNitt, owner of McNitt Growers, Carbondale, Ill., to work with Devin Brown, a program specialist with Foodworks, a sustainable food systems organization, to plan a field day at McNitt's farm in April. "I got connected with Foodworks as a way to educate others," McNitt said. "I've found that people often confuse high tunnels and greenhouses. I have several of both and knew I could explain the differences between the two. That is where we started with the field day." McNitt has greenhouses from six different manufacturers, and several high tunnels. He has a total of 1.25 acres of greenhouse space and more than 6,000 square feet under tunnels. Currently, he grows red raspberries and a few black raspberries under the tunnels. "I…  » Read more

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Maintaining cold chain helps avoid salmonella

A new study indicates that maintaining cold storage throughout the entire supply chain can help avoid a possible recurrence of salmonella in produce. Studying washed and non-washed jalapeno peppers and Roma tomatoes, Steven Pao, a professor of food safety and microbiology at Virginia State University, and other researchers determined that washing is in fact an effective way to remove salmonella. That has been a long-held tenet of postharvest handling. The researchers said that while water washing is effective, roller and brush washing reduces salmonella counts at significantly higher rates. However, there has been no clear mandate when it comes to storage temperatures after washing, Pao said. And the study shows that the potential of salmonella to "rebound" increases when produce moves on to be kept in humid storage at warm temperatures. "Washing is very effective in reducing salmonella on the produce we tested," Pao said.…  » Read more

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Growers increase market share by shrinking onions

Georgia's Vidalia onion farmers have spent the last few growing seasons working to produce smaller versions of their prized onions, which are typically some of the largest onion varieties in the produce department. "I've always thought that if a slice was bigger than a loaf of bread or bigger than a hamburger bun, it might be too big," said Reid Torrance, coordinator of the University of Georgia's (UGA) Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center in Toombs County. For years, consumers demanded giant-sized onions that could be used in different fried-onion recipes or wrapped in foil and thrown on the grill. Shoppers would pay more money per pound for larger onions. In response, farmers worked to grow the largest onions they could, but the era of the super-sized onion appears to be over. The public now wants smaller onions that can be used in recipes found…  » Read more

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New president wants to strengthen grower, buyer connections

Drawing on his own experience, the new president of the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association plans to use his new position to help the state's vegetable growers make more connections with buyers. Brian Campbell was elected president of the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association (PVGA) earlier this year. Arthur King is the past president. As president, Campbell will preside during PVGA's board meetings, held three times a year. Presidents typically serve two one-year terms, said William Troxell, PVGA's executive secretary. Troxell runs the association's day-to-day activities. Campbell is an innovative grower, selling large quantities of broccoli, lettuce, cauliflower, sweet corn, pumpkins and other crops to large grocery chains like Walmart. That's not a normal pattern for Pennsylvania growers, most of whom tend to stay on the small side, Troxell said. "I do the marketing myself," Campbell said. "A lot of smaller growers don't have that opportunity." Campbell,…  » Read more

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Low prices threaten Florida tomato growers

Florida's tomato industry has been grappling with money problems for the past two seasons, said Reggie Brown, manager of the Florida Tomato Committee. Last year, an assessment was implemented to cover committee expenses after a bad year led to just under 28 million units of tomatoes being packed out, instead of the projected 40 million. The assessment was increased from 0.0275 cents per 25-pound unit to 0.037 cents to compensate, Brown said. "The assessment was raised to make sure we could still do the job for the tomato industry," Brown said. "We've been operating on that assessment since last year." While it was part of last year's budget, the assessment was only recently reported in the Federal Register and has led to some confusion across the industry, Brown said."I have no idea why it wasn't reported until recently," he said. The other issue facing Florida…  » Read more

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New farm bill in the works

On April 26, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry passed its version of the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012, also known as the farm bill. It was the first step toward the bill becoming law, which could happen this summer or fall. Of course, there are a "million ifs" in the process of putting a farm bill together, said John Keeling, executive vice president of the National Potato Council. NPC is a member of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA), a coalition of more than 120 organizations that helped specialty crops get a bigger chunk of the 2008 farm bill and is working to do the same in the 2012 version. The 2008 farm bill was a landmark for specialty crops, giving them a serious stake in the legislation for the first time, said Dennis Nuxoll, vice president of…  » Read more

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Labor department scraps child worker rule

Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) proposed extensive new rules restricting the kind of work people under 16 could do on farms. The majority of the restrictions revolved around 13 Hazardous Occupation Orders, or HOs, which were either completely off-limits for those under 16 or could be done by 14- and 15-year-olds only under specific training programs. Most of the restrictions involved livestock or equipment operations, although some were written so broadly and vaguely that agricultural legal counsel advised that prohibitions on powered devices would prohibit operation of simple tools such as flashlights and battery powered screwdrivers. Initially, there seemed little interest by the general agricultural community in the DOL proposals. With the exception of several state Farm Bureau organizations and a few national groups, there was little grassroots concern when the National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE) and other groups filed comments…  » Read more

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