By Heather Cooper •
Plant and Pest Advisory – Article By: The Rutgers Farm Health and Safety Working Group: Kate Brown, Michelle Infante-Casella, Stephen Komar and William Bamka – 7/7/24 Employee training on working in the heat may reduce risk of heat illnessby raising awareness of heat safety. OSHA has developed “A Guide forEmployers to Carry Out Heat Safety […]
By Heather Cooper •
Plant and Pest Advisory – Kate Brown – 7/21/24 The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has created anEmployerChecklist for Outdoor and Indoor Heat-Related Injury and Illness Preventionwhich may be utilized to identify sources of heat hazards in the workplace and respond effectively.Section1 of the checklist is designed to help employers recognize job-related heat risks […]
By Heather Cooper •
Gabor.Grunstein@usda.gov All counties eligible for disaster recovery assistance Hamilton Square, New Jersey, July 26, 2024 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is acceptingapplications for the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) and the Emergency Forest RestorationProgram (EFRP) from New Jersey agricultural producers and owners of nonindustrial private forestlandto address damage from recent severe storms that occurred […]
By Heather Cooper •
Contact: Gabi Grunstein gabor.grunstein@usda.gov Hamilton Square, NJ., July 16, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced thedeadline for commodity and specialty crop producers to apply for the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) for 2022 natural disaster losses is Aug. 14, 2024. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) began accepting ERP 2022 applications in October […]
By Heather Cooper •
HAMILTON SQUARE, N.J., July 18, 2024 – The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) NaturalResources Conservation Service (NRCS) in New Jersey is now accepting FY2025 applications for theEnvironmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), climate-smart practices through EQIP funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA) program and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program […]
By Heather Cooper •
Wes Kline, Jennifer Matthews and Meredith Melendez – Rutgers On-Farm Food Safety Team Note: The following is a brief description of the pre-harvest water requirements (Section 112.3-112.161) under the Food Safety Modernization Act/Produce Safety Rule (FSMA/PSR). The pre-harvest water requirements are complicated, and this summary is intended to be a starting point while we wait […]
By Heather Cooper •
American Farmland Trust and Rutgers Agrivoltaics Program are excited to host our inaugural agrivoltaics farmer trainings in New Jersey! The Technical Assistance Program for Agrivoltaics (TAPAS) will introduce the dual-use of land for both agricultural and solar energy production, and explore theopportunities it may present for greater farm viability in New Jersey. There are three […]
By Heather Cooper •
Plant & Pest Advisory – May 24, 2024 – Andy Wyenandt Phytophthora blight, caused by Phytophthora capsici, can cause crown and fruit rot in eggplant.Unfortunately, most of New Jersey has been plagued by heavy rains and pop-up thunderstorms these past few weeks making conditions ideal for pathogens such as Phytophthora blight on pepper, eggplant, tomato, […]
By Heather Cooper •
Plant & Pest Advisory – June 9, 2024- Andy Wyenandt Symptoms usually begin to appear on random plants throughout the field as green fruit begins to mature. The bacterium (Pseudomonas corrugata) is ubiquitous to soils and develops when weather conditions (cooler nights/very hot, humid days) and cultural practices (i.e., excess heavy N use) lead to […]
By Heather Cooper •
Plant & Pest Advisory – June 7, 2024 – Andy Wyenandt Anthracnose and Alternaria leaf blight can become problematic in cucurbit crops during long periodsof wet, humid weather. Both can cause significant losses if not controlled properly. With the productionseason in full swing, now is a good time to review a few of these important […]
By Heather Cooper •
Plant & Pest Advisory – June 8, 2024 – Andy Wyenandt Pepper anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum spp. has become a significant problem on some farms insouthern New Jersey. Unlike in tomato, where symptoms are only present in mature (red) fruit, pepper anthracnose can infectpepper fruit at any growth stage. Currently, there are no commercially-available bell […]
By Heather Cooper •
Plant & Pest Advisory – May 31, 2024 – Andy Wyenandt Copper resistance in bacterial leaf spot of tomato and pepper crops has been detected at a high level inNew Jersey the past few summers. While not surprising, copper resistance has been known to developfor decades now. Copper applications for the control of bacterial diseases […]
By Heather Cooper •
Plant & Pest Advisory – June 4, 2024 – Andy Wyenandt Asparagus growers should consider scouting their fields regularly during the summer months for foliardisease development. Important pathogens that growers need to scout for on a regular basis includePurple spot, Cercospora, and Rust. These pathogens are easily diagnosed by the characteristicsymptoms they produce on infected […]
By Heather Cooper •
Plant & Pest Advisory – May 27, 2024 – Andy Wyenandt Septoria leaf spot (SLS) in Parsley can cause significant losses in fields where it has become established.Like other Septoria’s, the leaf spots produced on parsley look much like the leaf spots produced ontomatoes and other crops. Septoria leaf spot overwinters from year to year […]
By Heather Cooper •
Plant & Pest Advisory – May 26, 2024 – Andy Wyenandt Verticillium wilt has been reported in eggplant this summer. It is a common soil-borne fungal pathogen that once it has infested soil can remain for a very long time. Verticillium wilt is caused by either Verticillium albo-atrium or Verticillium dahlia and has a wide […]