Michigan Organic Listserv

July 6, 2021

From the desk of Vicki Morrone, Center for Regional Food Systems at MSU

Information for farmers and consumers interested in issues and events to enhance organic productions

 

What’s on Offer!!

A chance to comment on the livestock NOP proposal

Market trends for organic -Still pointing North!

Making hay before November on preventative planted land

Michigan Vegetable Report

Learning event- Post-Pandemic Risk Management Practices for Limited Resource Farmers

 

 

National Organic Program; Origin of Livestock

https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/national-organic-program-origin-livestock

Calling all concerned farmers, consumers and those interested in improving the NOP and animal welfare: Comment period open till July 12!  Hope you can make time for this important issue.

Docket Number: AMS-NOP-11-0009
Comment Due: July 12, 2021

For links to supporting documents on this topic click here

Summary

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is reopening the comment period on our April 28, 2015, proposed rule to amend the origin of livestock requirements for dairy animals under the USDA organic regulations. We are reopening the proposed rule's comment period for 60 days to give all interested parties an opportunity to comment on whether AMS should prohibit the movement of transitioned cows in organic dairy production as part of the final rule. Comments previously submitted need not be resubmitted, as they are already incorporated into the public record and will be fully considered in any future final rule.

Submit Comments

You may send comments on the proposed rule to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov/. You can access the proposed rule and instructions for submitting public comments by searching for document number, AMS-NOP-11-0009. Comments may also be sent to Jennifer Tucker, Deputy Administrator, National Organic Program, USDA-AMS-NOP, 1400 Independence Ave. SW, Room 2642-S, Ag Stop 0268, Washington, DC 20250-0268.

Instructions: All comments received must include the docket number AMS-NOP-11-0009; NOP-21-04PR, and/or Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 0581-AD89 for this rulemaking. You should clearly indicate the topic and section number of this proposed rule to which your comment refers, state your position(s), offer any recommended language change(s), and include relevant information and data to support your position(s) (e.g., scientific, environmental, manufacturing, industry, or industry impact information, etc.). All comments and relevant background documents posted to https://www.regulations.gov will include any personal information provided.

Contact

Trends still pointing up for organics

https://www.thepacker.com/news/organic/trends-still-pointing-organics July 5, 2021

The trend arrow is still pointing way up for organic produce, speakers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Organic Trade Association said at The Packer’s 2021 Global Organic Produce Expo.

Lance Honig, crops branch chief of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, was joined by Angela Jagiello, director of education and insights for the Organic Trade Association at the Jan. 26 session, which was moderated by Tom Karst, editor of The Packer.

Honig reviewed fruit and vegetable-related highlights from the USDA’s 2019 Organic Survey.

The number of organic farms in the U.S. in 2019 totaled 16,585 farms, up 16.7% from 2016 and up 31.3% from 2014, Honig said. The total organic cropland in 2019 totaled 3.52 million acres, up 26.6% in 2016 and a whopping 73.5% higher than 2014. This includes livestock, row crops, and other non-specialty crops.

California has the most organic production, boasting 3,012 farms and 438,400 acres of organic cropland. California’s number of farms was up 11% from 2016 while the state’s organic cropland rose 30.3% compared with 2016.

Top states for organic crop sales in 2019 were California, Washington, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Texas, according to the USDA survey. Crops account for 58% of total organic agricultural sales, followed by 17% for livestock and poultry and 25% for livestock and poultry products.

The top five organic crops in the 2019 survey, Honig said, are:

• Apples: $475 million;
• Lettuce: $400 million;
• Grapes: $332 million; and
• Strawberries: $321 million.
• Numerous organic fruit and vegetable crops are seeing production increases, Honig said.
• “I think what we see very clearly here is that for all of those crops — apples, lettuce, grape strawberries, blueberries, and spinach — the trend is definitely increasing across time,” he said, noting sharp increases since 2016.

Looking for trends

Jagiello reviewed numbers from the organic association’s 2020 Organic Industry Survey, which estimated total organic food sales at $50 billion and total organic produce sales at $18 billion. OTA estimates that about 14% of all produce sold is organic, she said.

In 2019, organic produce sales growth was 4%-5%, but Jagiello said organic sales spiked after the COVID-19 pandemic began, running 14%-19% above year-ago levels for most of 2020 and ending the year with about 11% growth year-over-year. 

“With restaurants closed, with school cafeterias and other foodservice venues out of the picture, a lot of people who are inclined to purchase organic purchased more and they did it all year long as home cooking became a big force in the market,” Jagiello said.

She said retail disruptions in 2020 led to an interest in local food systems, more online shopping/omnichannel, home cooking and changing packaging preferences.

She said the question is how “sticky” COVID-19 consumer behavior will be after the country emerges from the pandemic.

Jagiello said that shoppers became interested in local solutions for their food early in the pandemic,

“I think a lot of innovation happened in local channels, a lot of farmers markets, local, smaller retailers and CSAs (community-supported agriculture) became a lot more sophisticated about their online systems and setting them up,” she said. “I think a lot of people made it a new habit to try places close to their home and for many people, that behaviors really stuck.”

Jagiello referred to a Colorado State University study, in which 35% of consumers reported trying at least one new local outlet, including farmers markets, CSAs, food boxes, artisan markets and a combination of new channels.

Of those consumers (interviewed in April) about 30%-40% were still using those alternative sources in September.

“A respectable share of shoppers have changed their habits, and now they are open to new patterns,” she said.

Of course, Jagiello said the pandemic gave online grocery shopping a big boost.

Supermarket News reported in April that nearly 80% of consumers surveyed said they shopped online for groceries since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March.

Of those polled, 51% reported buying groceries from Amazon since the start of the pandemic, up 32% from before the outbreak.

“We know that particularly retail food shopping has been one of the slower areas of the U.S. economy to really uptake e-commerce and COVID-19 was just the push people needed to give it a try,” she said.  Another study by Nielsen indicated that 66% of shoppers are now omnichannel shoppers, with only 32% of shoppers saying they purchase exclusively “offline.”

Jagiello said a study by Acosta reveals 55% of shoppers are eating at home more often since the pandemic. A quarter of those polled said they were “sick” of having to cook more, but 35% have found a new passion for cooking.

“One of the products that had an amazing year was packaged fresh herbs, so people are cooking at home and looking for items to make their home-cooked meals a little nicer and a little more special,” she said. More people cooking at home will continue to boost organic sales, she said. 

The COVID-19 pandemic created a whiplash in packaging trends, with the trend toward less packaging and less plastics interrupted by the pandemic’s boost to packaged produce sales.

“People feel more comfortable with things that are over-wrapped, (produce items) that never came in plastic before,” Jagiello said, noting that health authorities have discounted the idea that the virus can be spread by food. The tension between the desire for the protection of plastic and concern for the environment will play out in the months ahead, she said.

Jagiello said organic consumers are generally younger than the general population, have a higher median income, are more likely to have attended college and have children in the household.

Beyond the organic certified seal, messages that appeal to organic shoppers include regenerative production methods and non-GMO messaging,

“For the most part, shoppers don’t understand the word regenerative, but they like the word regenerative,” she said. “(Consumers) want to know that organic is regenerative and a lot more, they want to know that all of the benefits are there, including that organic attempts to be lighter and more regenerative for the environment, they want to know that organic is non-GMO,”

Source: https://www.thepacker.com/news/organic/trends-still-pointing-organics
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Michigan vegetable crop report – June 30, 2021

Benjamin Phillips, Benjamin Werling, Michael Reinke, Mary Hausbeck, Sushila Chaudhari, Zsofia Szendrei, Zachary Hayden, Daniel Brainard, Jeffrey Andresen, Jaime Willbur and Jan Byrne, Michigan State University Extension - June 30, 2021

From Sahara to slugs, Michigan growers are dealing with our big weather swing.

 

Metaldehyde or iron phosphate baits can help provide control of slugs and snails in wet conditions Make sure that the targeted crop is on the bait label!

Weather

Since last week’s report, we’ve had heavy rain (more than 8 inches in some places), six tornadoes touch down, and almost 60 consecutive hours of leaf wetness without a drying period.

Watch Jeff Andresen’s forecast here. The forecast calls for:

• Scattered showers and thunderstorms possible Wednesday and Thursday, especially in southeast Michigan.
• A mostly dry and cooler Friday and Saturday.
• A warmer Sunday and early next week. Scattered showers are possible again by late Monday or Tuesday.
• Maximum temperatures in the low 80s Wednesday falling to the low-mid 70s by Friday and Saturday, warming to the mid-80s to near 90 by Sunday. Minimum temperatures in the 50s/60s Thursday, cooling to the upper 40s/mid-50s by Saturday and warming to the 60s again by Monday.
• Medium range guidance suggests a return of above normal temperatures and precipitation totals during early July.

MSU’s network of over 100 weather stations can be accessed at MSU Enviroweather

There are several pest prediction models based on temperature accumulations at the new Enviroweather website:  seed corn maggot, cabbage maggot, asparagus miner, European corn borer and squash vine borer. Click on any of those pests to be taken to the model. Once there, change the Station to the one nearest you and click submit.

Just a heads up: Enviroweather has switched the National Weather Service forecast data used in all of our websites. We've transitioned from older station-based forecasts (GFS MOS) to use more detailed and precise gridded data from the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD). Most users will not notice any differences, except that rainfall forecasts are now estimates of the amount of rainfall expected, whereas formerly rainfall forecasts were given as percent chance of precipitation. As always, please contact us if you have questions: Keith Mason, Enviroweather coordinator, [log in to unmask], 517-432-6520).

General crop management notes

Slugs

Slugs and snails are a spotty but troublesome problem, especially in crops like celery, lettuce and leafy brassicas. Celery and cabbage growers can tell you where their problem ditches are, as these molluscs venture into crops when soils are wet or there is debris that keeps the ground moist. What can be done? For conventional growers, metaldehyde based baits (e.g., Deadline) can be spread in problem spots to provide control. For organic growers, iron phosphate products (e.g., Sluggo) can be used. Please read the labels as they contain specific instructions about how, when and where to apply these.

Aerial applications

Aerial applications of pesticides offer some advantages when fields are too wet and soft for ground application rigs. However, they offer less coverage in gallons per acre than ground rigs. So, an argument can be made that spraying an expensive and effective chemistry with a plane might not actually make economic sense because it won’t reach its maximum potential coverage this way. Perhaps a cheaper, and slightly less effective chemistry would be a more economic option? But, then a less effective product applied less effectively doesn’t seem quite right either, does it? Maybe the best course of action is to wait for fields to dry.

Trenching

Many farms installed new trenches this week to divert water where they could. Sometimes these trenches lead to ditches. Other times, pits were dug to catch the diverted water. Sometimes going across rows is the best course of action to work with the terrain. Reference farm records to avoid tile lines and utilities. This latter point is especially important on urban farms.

Crop updates

Asparagus

Purple spot and rust are of primary concern for newly-established fields that were not harvested and shutdown fields now developing fern. These pathogens can infect the main stems, secondary stems and the cladophylls (needles). Under favorable conditions (wet and warm) each of these pathogens will enter a repeating phase whereby spores are produced in rapid succession resulting in a quick escalation of disease symptoms. Given the high relative humidity, frequent rains, and warm night temperatures, fungicides will be needed earlier this year than what might seem normal. If using the TOMCAST forecasting system, an initial spray should be made once the fern has developed to 50% of its full expansion. After this initial spray, the DSVs can then be summed with subsequent sprays applied when the total reaches 15. Either chlorothalonil or mancozeb can protect against purple spot. However, past work showed chlorothalonil may have longer residual activity. Tebuconazole is helpful for rust.

Beans and peas

Early planted snap beans are in full bloom, and some beans are forming. Pea harvest on market farms continues and plants are getting tired. Some growers are going to have a gap between pea harvest finishing and snap beans beginning.

 

Mexican bean beetle was present on a Grand Rapids, Michigan, urban farms.

 

Carrots, celery and lettuce

Foliar blights are expected to develop as a result of the recent weather pattern that has been unusually favorable. The wet field conditions may also hamper the ability to apply preventive fungicide sprays in a timely manner. Once the field can be accessed, it would be prudent to apply a locally systemic fungicide tank-mixed with a protectant fungicide to maximize control. Waiting until disease symptoms develop to begin an aggressive fungicide puts the plant pathogens in control. It cannot be overemphasized how favorable the recent weather pattern has been for disease development. Using the best fungicides early is a better strategy than holding onto them until there is a crisis.

We are still finding high numbers of leafhoppers this week in both celery and carrot fields across the state which may be due to the recent weather fronts bringing more insects from the south. Reports of Aster Yellows on lettuce came in this week as well. We don’t currently have leafhopper monitoring sites in lettuce, but they are more sensitive to this disease than carrots or celery.

Aster leafhoppers were present Monday at three locations MSU Extension swept, with 14 and 27 leafhoppers captured per 100 sweeps in two Oceana County fields. What will happen to infected carrots? It is likely that carrots infected early in the season with aster yellows are going to die before reaching harvest. If carrots get infected later in the season, they may reach harvest.

Please contact Zsofia Szendrei at [log in to unmask] if you would like to receive real-time text alerts. If you would like to be removed from the text blast, you can text STOP. The latest information is also below.

Veggie Beet- A podcast just for our area!!

Looking for a podcast that talks about topics of interest to vegetable farmers in the Great Lakes States? Look no further, The Great Lakes Vegetable Producers Network offers a weekly noon podcast that you can listen to at your leisure.  Farmers and extension educators team up to share their insights and experiences on different topics each week. Check it out. Visit: https://www.glveg.net/listen

Educational Events

 

We invite you to join us for a Learning Community Series presentation

 

Post-Pandemic Risk Management 

Practices for Limited Resource Farmers

 

Moderator: Christine Coker

Associate Research and Extension Professor, Coastal Research and Extension Center, Mississippi State University

 

Presenter: Felicia Bell

Acting Regional Director, Gulf States Office, National Center for Appropriate Training

CCC 

Tuesday, July 12, 2021 • 2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET

 

Zoom link: https://msstateextension.zoom.us/j/97199519727

 

We welcome you to share with your networks.

 

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Vicki Morrone

Organic Farming Specialist

Center for Regional Food Systems at Michigan State University

480 Wilson Rd

East Lansing, MI 48824

517-282-3557 (cell)

[log in to unmask]

www.MichiganOrganic.msu.edu

sorrone11 (skype)

 

Diversity is having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice, and belonging is having that voice be heard.