Georgia blueberry crop ripe, ready and robust

A late spring freeze followed by heavy rains were a blessing for some Georgia blueberry growers. But they brought more hard work to others, according to University of Georgia experts.

The heavy rains delayed harvest of the southeast Georgia crop, causing some early concerns about highbush berry quality. “We had to work harder to make grade due to the heavy rains this spring, but it’s turning out to be good year for rabbiteye growers,” said UGA Cooperative Extension blueberry agent Danny Stanaland.

“We grow two blueberry crops in Georgia – highbush and rabbiteye,” Stanaland went on to explain. The highbush crop in some areas of southeast Georgia, which is the state’s major commercial production area, “was hit hard by the late freeze and will produce only about 35 to 50 percent of the crop.”

Robust rabbiteye crop

Fortunately, blueberry fans all over Georgia can expect a bumper crop from the rabbiteye variety.

“It will be the largest crop of rabbiteye blueberries we’ve had in several years,” Stanaland said.

That’s especially good news for Georgia’s 300 blueberry growers. The majority of the crop is rabbiteye variety, and about 10 percent of the total crop is highbush variety.

“The highbush variety blooms and fruits early, making it more susceptible to the low temperatures and rain,” Stanaland said. “But, May 20 we finished harvesting highbush. That crop is gone.”

Growers are now harvesting rabbiteye berries in three phases.

“The early rabbiteye berries were wet and had some grading issues because it required more selective picking to get the good berries,” he said. “Now that it’s dry again, it’s much easier to harvest and grade, and fruit quality is very positive. We have the heaviest rabbiteye fruit set we’ve had in years. So, while we were short on highbush berries, we are going to be long on rabbiteye.”

Pick-your-own time

In the northern half of the state, where most blueberry operations are pick-your-own, growers are reporting larger-than-normal berries and an abundant crop, just in time for many markets to open this weekend.

In 2008, Georgia blueberry growers harvested more than 14,000 acres of blueberries with an off-the-farm value of close to $61 million dollars, slightly above the five-year average.

This year, growers expect to harvest between 12,000 and 14,000 acres, but that figure could surge as high as 15,000 to 20,000 acres, according to Stanaland and county Extension agent reports. About 75 percent of those acres are in southeast Georgia.

Prices are holding steady in spite of the abundance of available fruit this year, which usually drives prices down. Growers are getting about $14 per flat — or $1.40 per pound — for fresh berries, only a shade lower than last year’s prices.

By Faith Peppers
University of Georgia

-----
www.georigafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.artsacrossgeorgia.com
Arts Across Georgia

Hard labor reaps onion research rewards

On April 20, Georgia’s Vidalia onion growers started shipping this year’s crop, which is expected to be high in quality and yields. No grower can ship onions before this opening day, which the Georgia Department of Agriculture regulates to protect the quality and reputation of the state’s official vegetable.

Growing during Georgia’s winter months, the onions face many challenges from disease to wet and cold days to dry and hot weather and everything in between. And to help them stay in the black each year, growers have depended on the odd coupling of University of Georgia researchers and prison labor.

Helping hands

A select group of inmates from the Rogers State Prison near Reidsville, Ga., provide the essential, labor-intensive work that’s necessary at the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center. The fledging center is the brainchild of Reid Torrance, UGA Cooperative Extension coordinator in Tattnall County.
“This is the only place in this part of the state that conducts commercial vegetable research, but also it’s unique because of the inmate labor detail,” Torrance said.

In vegetable research, he said, it makes a big difference when labor is readily available for timely harvests. The prison labor, worth $120,000 annually, is a big savings for the facility, which has become vital in an effort to support the state’s fastest growing commodity group. Worth $500 million annually, vegetables rank second behind poultry in farm-gate sales. Vidalia onions generated more than $140 million at the farm level in 2007.

“Growers had always wanted research done in the onion belt,” said Torrance, one of the world’s foremost Vidalia onion experts. “Other than on-farm projects, we didn’t really have any place to do that.”

Needed research facility

Late in 1998, Torrance had a brainstorm: “We’ve got 9,000 acres out there at the prison, and surely they have a little corner out there somewhere where we can do some research.”
He made some calls and arranged a meeting with UGA and Department of Corrections representatives along with legislators and onion growers. The old Page Nursery, a site where the Georgia Forestry Commission once grew pine seedlings, was determined the perfect site for a research facility.

UGA researchers quickly established onion research plots there. Soon after, Torrance inked a 15-year lease agreement for 22 acres of fields and three acres with usable buildings. Funding to support the center came from the legislature and private supporters.

In spring 2000, 80 people attended the center’s first onion field day. In less than a year, a dozen projects relating to several disciplines were underway. Now the center needed to staff and equip the facility.

Torrance needed working hands more than anything, and he didn’t have to look far. The prison inmates were right there.

The center continues to grow. Scientists across the state from a variety of disciplines now conduct research there.

In 2008, the forestry commission gave all 142 acres of the old nursery to the college. Torrance raised funds and worked with DOC engineers to develop plans for a new building.

“At the onion field day now, we have more than 100 people. An international audience comes to see our varieties,” Torrance said. “We also have twilight field days for summer and fall vegetables. And, we have an emphasis on organic onion production.”

The center had cotton and soybean plots last year and will likely have them again, along with peanut, this year.

“The difference between what we had and what we have now is night and day,” Torrance said.

He hopes to continue to upgrade the center and get more UGA Extension agents involved with research there. Most importantly, he wants the center to be known for conducting accurate, reliable research for the state’s growers.

By Faith Peppers
University of Georgia

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
Follow us on Twitter @GAFrontPage

Vidalia® Onions are coming April 20th

ull out your list of ways to eat them. They’re coming. The official “Shipping Date” for the 2009 Vidalia® Onion Marketing Season is April 20th, says Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin.

The shipping date is based on the recommendation of the Vidalia® Onion Advisory Panel under the authority of the law, rules and regulations applicable to Vidalia® Onions.

Vidalia® Onions may ONLY be shipped prior to April 20th if each and every load being shipped has a Federal-State Inspection Certificate stating the onions have met the established grade requirements and are under “Positive Lot Identification” as approved by the Federal-State Inspection Service.

“The Federal-State Inspection assures the quality of the onions and that they have matured to meet the marketing standards,” Irvin said. “Onions that are harvested and shipped too early and do not meet the grade requirements can damage the reputation of this important crop. None of us want to see the name Vidalia® attached to a substandard product.”

In 2007, the last year for which data is available, the value of the Vidalia® Onion crop was $116.3 million, making it the most valuable vegetable crop in Georgia that year.

This year, the Georgia Department of Agriculture registered 98 Vidalia® onion growers for a total of roughly 11,500 acres in the 20-county growing area, which is very close to the same number of growers and acres registered last year.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

USDA Announces Amended Farm Bill Provisions and New Sign Up Deadline

Owners and operators of farms with 10 or fewer base acres now have the opportunity to receive payments for the 2008 Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment Program. On Oct. 13, 2008, President George W. Bush signed a bill that made amendments to the 2008 Farm Bill.

These amendments apply to farms with crop acreage bases of 10 acres or less. These changes and clarifications allow some producers more flexibility in farming practices and create new sign-up opportunities with new deadlines for some farms. The amendments also apply to the new Supplemental Revenue Assistance (SURE) Program.

10-Base Acre Limit Changes

As originally enacted under the 2008 Farm Bill, direct and countercyclical payments (DCP) could not be made with respect to farms with crop acreage bases of 10 acres or less. The new law makes that provision inapplicable for the 2008 crop year. Related to this, producers on a farm with 10 acres or less of base may now, under the new law, enroll their farms until Nov. 26, 2008, in the 2008 DCP program. This extension of the original Sept. 30 deadline only applies to producers who were previously excluded because of the minimum acreage requirement. USDA began issuing payments to producers on farms with 10 base acres or less who had already enrolled in the DCP program soon after the President signed the new law.

USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) will now resume allowing reconstitutions for farms with 10 acres of base or less according to normal reconstitution rules and policy. Eligible producers may sign up for DCP at any FSA office or enroll on the FSA website at: www.fsa.usda.gov/dcp click on Access eDCP Services.

Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE) Changes

Under SURE in the 2008 Farm Bill, producers seeking disaster benefits must generally have obtained crop insurance or coverage under the Non-insured crop disaster Assistance Program (NAP) for all crops on all farms. Under the new law (P.L. 110-398), producers with crops that had 2009 crop insurance sales closing dates before Aug. 14, 2008, may pay a fee through Jan. 12, 2009, to participate in SURE. Producers may make their SURE participation fee payments to their local FSA office at this time.

The SURE program fee is equal to the fee for catastrophic coverage. Payment of the SURE program fee will not make the producer eligible for insurance coverage.

Producers also have a new minimum loss threshold under SURE. Under the new law, to qualify for payments, there must be a production loss of at least 10 percent for at least one crop of economic significance on the farm.

Under the SURE program, the new law provides that when a second crop is planted after the first crop was prevented from being planted, or if such first crop failed, the second planting will not count toward the SURE program guarantee or total farm revenue. This is true except in areas where double-cropping is a normal practice. Producers also are not required to purchase crop insurance or a NAP policy for the second crop.

By provision of the new statute, the purchase of insurance or a NAP policy for grazed acreage is no longer a requirement for the SURE program. However, such insurance is required as a condition for payment for the livestock feed program, tree assistance program and the emergency livestock, honeybees and farm-related fish programs.

In addition, the new law amends SURE eligibility so that crop insurance or NAP coverage is no longer required for crops that are not of economic significance or those where the administrative fee required to buy NAP coverage exceeds 10 percent of the value of the coverage.

Producers can contact their local FSA office for more information regarding SURE program implementation.

NAP (Non-Insured crop disaster Assistance Program) Application Deadline Changes

NAP application closing dates for the 2009 crops have been extended to Dec. 1, 2008. This extension for 2009 NAP applies to those crops having an application closing date prior to Dec. 1, 2008. This extension was authorized due to the late enactment of the 2008 Farm Bill and to accommodate those applicants wanting to participate in disaster assistance programs under the 2008 Act's Supplemental Agricultural Disaster Assistance for their 2009 crops.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page