Fruit Program News
“Precision Crop Load Management and Plant Growth Regulator Use in Apples” An In-depth School for Fruit Growers March 26 and 27, 2019. The Cornell Fruit Team is pleased to announce an in-depth school for tree fruit growers, extension educators and crop consultants on March 26 and 27, 2019, at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Syracuse, NY. This meeting will be a two-day intensive school focusing on precision crop load management and the applications of plant growth regulators in the orchard. In addition to Cornell speakers, the meeting will feature invited scientists from Washington State University, Pennsylvania State University, and Michigan State University. Industry representatives from MOOG, Valent BioSciences, and AgroFresh will participate on March 26 and 27. The meeting attendance will be limited to 150 people so we urge to register early before the space is filled up. The meeting is being advertised to members of the fruit production industries in the eastern US.The in-depth school will serve as a vehicle for fruit industry leaders to learn of advances in precision orchard management and to catch a vision of the future use of computer vision and robotics to manage crop load precisely. It will also allow growers to give input to this vision. Details and registration information are available at the site: http://cals.cornell.edu/indepthschool2019 For more information call Gemma Osborne at 315-787-2248, or email at gro2@cornell.edu.
In-Depth Fruit School Brochure
Mass Aggie is for You
Each year the UMass Stockbridge School of Agriculture and the UMass Extension offer one or more workshop series on topics of general interest to homeowners and small scale farmers. In the past workshops have been offered in fruit tree grafting, pruning, wildflower identification, and cider making. All workshops have a hands-on component that will help participants gain new skills that they can use in their own gardens or landscapes.
See the link(s) below for the latest offerings:
Click here for the Mass Aggie Seminar Spring 2019 schedule
Wondering where to begin with food safety? Start here! The PSA Grower Training is currently the only official FDA-recognized produce safety training to help growers implement Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and understand their responsibilities under new Federal regulations. Whether you have a farm that is fully covered by the law or a small, exempt farm and you’re just looking for information, this training is for you.
The PSA Grower Training Course satisfies the FSMA Produce Safety Rule requirement outlined in § 112.22(c) that requires ‘At least one supervisor or responsible party for your farm must have successfully completed food safety training at least equivalent to that received under standardized curriculum recognized as adequate by the Food and Drug Administration.’ The training is also required for participation in Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Quality Program.
Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Series 2019
Each program can also be accessed from the UMass website:
- Plymouth: https://ag.umass.edu/
vegetable/events/produce- safety-alliance-grower- training-plymouth-ma - Holyoke: https://ag.umass.edu/
vegetable/events/produce- safety-alliance-grower- training-holyoke-ma - Westborough: https://ag.umass.edu/
vegetable/events/produce- safety-alliance-grower- training-westborough-ma - Beverly: https://ag.umass.edu/
vegetable/events/produce- safety-alliance-grower- training-beverly - Stockbridge: https://ag.umass.edu/
vegetable/events/produce- safety-alliance-grower- training-stockbridge-ma
A reminder that the deadline for getting apple (or other tree fruit) crop insurance for the 2019 crop year is November 20, 2018. For more information, see the information sheet "November 20th Deadline Nears for Fruit Producers" provided by the UMass Risk Management Education team of Tom Smiarowski and Paul Russell.
According to a recent (September 11, 2018) Healthy Fruit Pest Update, "UMass Extension has been tracking the invasive Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys, since 2012. For the past six years, the number of BMSB captured in pheromone-baited traps had remained relatively low, until now. Trap-capture data for 2018 have shown that, this year, BMSB populations are greater than any of the six previous years. Suspected feeding injury by stink bugs (allegedly BMSB) has been reported in a couple of orchards. However, the actual levels of damage have not been quantified yet." Growers are encouraged to monitor/scout their situation and only use control measures where damage by BMSB is documented or trap catches exceed threshold. For more information, see Brown Marmorated Stink Bug.