Spraying Smarter Strengthens Strawberry Production

From USDA:

Posted by Amanda M. Hils, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, on January 6, 2015 at 10:00 AM

Thanks to a USDA NIFA grant, strawberry growers in Florida are benefiting from a smart system that helps them time spraying to prevent diseases – saving the farmers money while minimizing the environmental impacts. The system is being adapted for growers in other states.

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

With the U.S. being the world’s leading producer of strawberries, the success of these tart and sweet treats is essential to the economy of a state like Florida. In fact, with a $366 million-per-year industry, the state comes second only to California as the nation’s largest strawberry producer. Naturally, strawberry growers are looking for ways to sustain their harvests and profitability.

Enter Natalia Peres, University of Florida Gulf Coast Research and Education Center professor of plant pathology.  With funding from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Peres and her research team developed an online web tool, the Strawberry Advisory System (SAS), which helps farmers spend less money on fungicides yet achieve better results with what they do spray.

Peres and doctoral students performed thorough testing before releasing SAS. Traditionally, Florida strawberry farmers spray crops once each week from November to March to prevent attacks of botrytis and anthracnose, the two most deadly fruit rot diseases for strawberry. Peres’ monitor communicates with farmers through their computers and mobile technology to alert them of an adverse disease index; meaning that the combination of leaf wetness, air temperature, and other factors have combined to create a perfect environment for disease. Once alerted, farmers can spray their crops and then log the information onto a website where each spray is tracked, the indexes are logged, and spray advisories given.

“This system is a prime example of something we like to call the ‘Internet of Agriculture Things.’ It is showing how Internet-enabled technologies can be used to achieve the kind of healthy, cost-effective, high-yield crops we will need to feed the burgeoning global population while ensuring competitiveness of the American farmer,” said Sonny Ramaswamy, NIFA director.

With 96 percent of Florida strawberry producers reporting cases of botrytis, 40 percent with yearly cases of anthracnose, and 30 percent with anthracnose every 3-4 years, fungicides are a necessary – and hefty – bill. However, SAS may be just what Florida’s farmers are looking for.

“The impact it has in Florida is already clear in the profits—spraying less and getting the same effects helps the economic situation, as well as positively impacting environmental causes,” said Peres. “The reduction in spraying also means that producers are preserving the chemicals they still have. Resistance caused by over-spraying is lessened, so chemicals are available for use longer when producers really need them.”

Peres received a $2.9 million Specialty Crops Research Initiative award in 2010 and another in 2014 for $1.3 million. She plans to expand SAS into South Carolina in the spring of 2015 after proving it also works successfully in Iowa, North Carolina, and Ohio.

Through federal funding and leadership for research, education, and extension programs, NIFA focuses on investing in science and solving critical issues that impact people’s daily lives and the nation’s future.

In Indiana, the Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program Opens Meatier Markets for Small Processors

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Elanor Starmer, National Coordinator for Local and Regional Food Systems, on April 8, 2014 at 1:00 PM

Lou’s Gourmet Sausage, a small family business run by the Vinciguerra brothers of Cleveland, Ohio, takes sausage seriously.  For over fifty years, the company has been supplying Cleveland restaurants and grocery stores with Sicilian, Andouille, Cajun, mild and hot chicken and veal sausages. But despite strong demand for its products, it took a USDA program to make Lou’s sausage available outside Ohio.

In 2012, Ohio was the first state to join USDA’s Cooperative Interstate Shipment program (CIS).  The program, authorized under the 2008 Farm Bill, allows inspected and approved small state-inspected meat processors, like Lou’s Gourmet Sausage, to bear an official USDA Mark of Inspection and ship meat and poultry across state lines. Previously, only products from federally inspected plants could be sold in other states. To participate in the program, state certified plants like Lou’s Sausage work with USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) to integrate their systems to meet federal inspection standards.  Once inspected and approved for compliance, these smaller plants can ship across state lines and are poised for bigger market opportunities.

This week, Indiana followed Ohio’s lead and joined North Dakota and Wisconsin to become the fourth state to participate in the Cooperative Interstate Shipment program. Each time a state works with FSIS to participate in the program, it is expanding market opportunities for the region’s small meat and poultry producers – many smaller producers process their animals at small state-inspected plants – while strengthening state and local economies and increasing consumer access to safe, locally-produced meat. In Indiana, it will mean that meat processed by selected smaller operations will be available beyond the Hoosier state.

Interstate shipment may not sound like a local food issue, but CIS actually has important implications for local food producers and consumers – especially when one state has a major market right across its border, as is the case with southern Wisconsin and Chicago. Implementing CIS is part of USDA’s broader strategy to strengthen local and regional food systems and to help small and midsize producers access new market opportunities. USDA coordinates its work on these issues under the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative, which includes a variety of resources to help producers and businesses tap into consumer demand for local foods. One such resource, a guide called Tools for Small and Midsized Livestock and Poultry; USDA Resources for Producers and Processors, was released in March as part of a wider package of support for America’s small and mid-sized farmers and ranchers.

FSIS’ Small Plant Help Desk, a customer service phone line at 1-877-FSIShelp, is also a valuable resource for small and midsize meat and poultry plants and can address issues and answer questions specific to smaller meat processors. The Small Plant Help Desk has fielded over 10,000 inquiries since 2009.

For businesses like Lou’s Gourmet Sausage, USDA’s commitment to local food and to small and midsize producers is epitomized by efforts such as the Cooperative Interstate Shipment program and the Small Plant Help Desk. With these resources and opportunities, small processors are accessing new markets – and consumers are happily digging in.

USDA Researchers Go High-Tech to View Tiny Organisms

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Jan Suszkiw, USDA Agricultural Research Service Information Staff, on April 8, 2014 at 2:00 PM

Under the microscope: a worm-like mite species Osperalycus tenerphagus

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

During the month of April we will take a closer look at USDA’s Groundbreaking Research for a Revitalized Rural America, highlighting ways USDA researchers are improving the lives of Americans in ways you might never imagine.

“Seeing the unseen” may sound like a science fiction movie theme, but it’s actually the real-life mission of USDA scientists who use special high-powered microscopes to view microscopic organisms that play a big role in agriculture.

The facility where these scientists produce the images of the unseen world–from fungal spores to plant cells–is called the Electron and Confocal Microscopy Unit (ECMU) and it’s operated in Beltsville, Md., by USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

Researchers often request the images to aid them in their studies, and to illustrate papers, posters and grant proposals. Outside research organizations have also sought out the expertise of ECMU director Gary Bauchan and his colleagues in producing the images, as well as the skill with which they ensure the integrity of specimens and samples submitted to them.

In December 2013, for example, Ohio State University (OSU) doctoral student Samuel Bolton finished a 12-month assignment working with Bauchan and ARS entomologist Ron Ochoa to identify and describe a new, worm-like species of mite belonging to the family Nematalycidae.

The mite, dubbed Osperalycus tenerphagus, “is the first species of this weird family to be described in over 40 years,” said Bolton, who studies mite systematics under the guidance of OSU professor Hans Klompen in Columbus, Ohio.

Bolton literally dug up the species while excavating loam soil across the street from OSU’s Museum of Biological Diversity. This was unusual because mites in the Nematalycidae family are mostly found in sandy habitats (dunes, beaches, desert soils).

Because the mites were worm-like and very soft-bodied, the only method for viewing the creatures in their natural state was to freeze them and observe them frozen. Thus, before imaging, the mites were placed on small, copper plates and then plunged into liquid nitrogen at minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit. Next, the specimens were thinly coated in platinum and positioned on a cold stage at minus 202 degrees Fahrenheit within a low-temperature scanning electron microscope. There, they were imaged at magnifications of up to 30,000 times.

“We are confident we have by far and away the best images that have ever been captured of this strange looking mite,” says Bolton. He, Bauchan, Ochoa and Klompen have published their discovery in The Journal of Natural History.

Working Together to Bring Healthy Foods to Communities in Need

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Doug McKalip, Senior Policy Advisor for Rural Affairs at the White House Domestic Policy Council, on March 26, 2014 at 12:00 PM

Cross posted from the White House Rural Council Blog:

Recently, representatives from the White House Domestic Policy Council, the US Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of the Treasury joined representatives from various community projects from around the country to discuss how to increase healthy food access to communities in need.  The event included representatives from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the Food Research and Action Center, Policy Link, and the Fair Food Network.

Participants shared their stories of success, and what we can do to encourage more healthy foods in these communities.  For example:

Mary Donnell, the Executive Director of Green City Growers Cooperative, spoke about her urban greenhouse project in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. After its inception in 2012, Green City Growers has become the largest food production greenhouse in a core urban area in the United States. The cooperative manages over three acres of urban space and employs twenty-five people from the community. It produces over three million heads of lettuce annually, which is then distributed to Cleveland’s most distressed neighborhoods. The organization creates jobs in Cleveland while providing nutritious food to food deserts across the city, one of this Administration’s key goals.

Gray Harris, the director of the Sustainable Agriculture Programs at CEI, shared her organization’s story as a Community Development Financial Institution in rural Maine. As a CDFI, CEI invests in community based projects contributing to local economies.  CEI’s specific expertise is in strengthening the local food supply chain to increase healthy food access across New England.  CEI has invested in nearly 300 food system projects, and it maintains a current active $6.2 million loan portfolio for food system investments. These investments help farms in Maine to stay in production, despite recent stressors on farmers.

One last story that really exemplified President Obama’s commitment to increasing access was presented to the group by Todd Chessmoore, the Superintendent of the Cody-Kilgore School District in Cody, Nebraska. Cody is a town of just 150 people, and for over a decade its residents, many of whom are lower income or elderly, had to drive over 30 miles to buy groceries. In order to eliminate this food desert, the Cody-Kilgore School District opened its own student run and operated Circle C grocery store, the town’s only dedicated food retailer.

These stories were just a few we heard during this event, emphasizing the unique and innovative work being done across the country to enhance health and access to food for folks from all walks of life. The Obama Administration has made increasing healthy food access a priority. In partnership with the White House, the Department of Treasury, HHS, and USDA have been working collaboratively to support innovative strategies to increase healthy food access.

One such strategy is the Health Food Financing Initiative or HFFI.  The recently signed Farm Bill authorizes an HFFI program at USDA and the President’s most recent budget proposal includes a request of $13 million for this work.  The initiative will provide financial and technical assistance to eligible fresh, healthy food retailers for the purposes of market planning and promotion efforts as well as infrastructure and operational improvements designed to stimulate demand among low-income consumers for healthy foods and to increase the availability and accessibility of locally and regionally produced foods in underserved areas.

This program will help USDA to continue collaboration with other federal partners to ensure that communities in need have access to fresh, healthy, affordable food. It will expand healthy food access for families on SNAP – some 46.6 million individuals in 2012, the vast majority of whom are children, elderly or living in households where members were employed in low-wage jobs.

A particular focus for USDA will be the expansion of healthy food options in rural areas, which often lack grocery stores and other retail outlets. HFFI will allow USDA and our partners to support creative strategies to increase access to healthy foods in Rural America.

The USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative also coordinates work on local food investments, including distribution, which is a key element of increasing healthy food access.  The White House Rural Council is making healthy food access in rural communities a priority, as it impacts the future health and economics of rural America.

Partnering with Cooperative Extension to Support Farm to School

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USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Matthew Benson, Program Analyst, USDA, FNS, Farm to School Program, on September 5, 2013 at 11:35 AM

Adam McCurry, Agricultural Technician for North Carolina Cooperative Extension in Yancey County conducts a lesson about local apple varieties before taking students outside to plant an apple tree at Bald Creek Elementary School in Burnsville, North Carolina. (Photo courtesy of Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, Asheville, North Carolina)

Kids are headed back to school and so are county Extension agents.

As schools continue to teach kids where their food comes from and bring local and regional products into the school cafeteria, one group they may want to partner with on their farm to school activities is their local or regional Cooperative Extension office. Cooperative Extension Systems are administered by each state’s Land-Grant University System. Programs are available in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. and most states have local or regional Extension offices that are staffed by one or more experts, often referred to as Extension agents or Extension educators.

Nationally, more and more Cooperative Extension Systems are devoting key resources to supporting farm to school activities. Of the 68 fiscal year 2013 USDA Farm to School Grants distributed, 25 percent included partners from Cooperative Extension. State Extension Systems such as Ohio, Minnesota, and Illinois have already dedicated resources and personnel to leading their states farm to school programs. And at the upcoming national Extension conference, farm to school and local foods are sure to be a major themes discussed.

Before joining the USDA, I examined how Cooperative Extension professionals are supporting farm to school programs and activities. Through a survey of eight state Extension Systems, results show that on average, Extension professionals are supporting at least one farm to school-related activity and that respondents were interested in supporting farm to school much more than they currently are. The number one farm to school activity that respondents were involved in was school or community gardening programs. Extension professionals were also found to be supporting farm to school initiatives by helping producers market and sell their products to schools, coordinating farm-based field trips and tours for students, and helping host producers at schools for presentations about local foods and agriculture.

Many of the Extension professionals that completed the survey stated that they felt Cooperative Extension should play an increased role in local and regional farm to school programs but that they need additional training and encouragement to get more involved. This finding is one of the reasons why the USDA Farm to School Program is launching a webinar series focused on helping Extension professionals become more knowledgeable about ways they can support farm to school. Through this webinar series, we also hope to show how other farm to school groups can successfully partner with Cooperative Extension. With schools back in session, now is a perfect time to reach out to local or regional Extension offices and ask that they get involved with farm to school.

Editors Note: To learn more about upcoming webinars, sign-up for the Farm to School E-letter.