November 2017 – UVM Fruit Blog

Feb 15: UVM / VT Tree Fruit Growers Assn Winter Meeting

Please save the date for the 122nd UVM Apple Program & Vermont Tree Fruit Growers Association Annual Meeting and Conference to be held at the American Legion Hall in Middlebury, VT. The main focus for this year’s meeting will be on insect management, including: developing efficient and effective scouting programs; pollinator protection, preservation, and enhancement; new and emerging insect pests to watch for; and other important topics such as how implementation of new federal food safety rules will affect your farm.

I hope to see everyone there on Thursday, February 15. More details to come.

-TB

Where trade names or commercial products are used for identification,

no discrimination is intended and no endorsement is implied.

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Disregard any information in this message if it is in conflict with the

label.

The UVM Tree Fruit and Viticulture Program is supported by the

University of Vermont Agriculture Experiment Station, a USDA NIFA E-IPM

Grant, and USDA Risk Management Agency Funds.

recruiting farmers- regulations research study

Growers: Meredith is a professor in Nutrition & Food Science who specializes in Food & Ag Policy

Farmers face regulation on a variety of topics. How do these regulations impact agriculture? How long does it take to comply and what does it cost? Are there strategies that could simply regulatory frameworks? Are there ways to make compliance more efficient? Researchers at UVM want to hear from Vermont farmers about how much time and what kind of actions are required to comply with different regulations. This information may identify pathways for regulation changes and gives farmers a voice in expressing how regulations affect their farm. If you are interesting in sharing your perspective, please contact Dr. Meredith Niles at 802-656-4337 or mtniles to schedule an interview. She will travel to your farm for convenience. All individual information will remain anonymous in the reporting of results. Farmers will be compensated with $50 for their time. Interviews will begin in November 2017 and take place through the Winter of 2017.

Meredith T. Niles, PhD

Assistant Professor

Food Systems Program

Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences

350 Carrigan Wing, Marsh Life Sciences Building

University of Vermont

mtniles

Office: 802-656-4337

www.meredithtniles.com

Wine Distribution and Vermont Restaurants- Webinar 11/15

By Terence Bradshaw

Wine Distribution and Vermont Restaurants

A Virtual Workshop

Wednesday, November 15th

8:30 am – 9:30 am

An introduction to wine distribution and restaurant sales in Vermont. We will discuss:

*How to evaluate using a distributor vs. self distribution
*How to research distributors and determine which to approach

*The basics of how to approach a distributor, including information you need to have prepared beforehand.

Plus opportunities for Q&A.

Our speakers come from Farrell Distributing, but will be speaking about Vermont distribution options more broadly. Speakers are: Ryan Chaffin, Dawn Rowlee, Don MacDonald, Stuart Timmons.

Materials, including a webinar recording, will be posted at http://vermontfresh.net/programs/vermont-wine-project/ after the workshop. No pre-registration required.

Instructions for Connecting:

Use This Link: https://zoom.us/j/790877195

This meeting is set up to use your computer audio and video (you can choose to turn both your camera and microphone off when you join, but they are enabled by default to facilitate the Q&A period).

For some browsers this link will ask you to click on a ZoomUs app to run the meeting. If this happens and you don’t want to do that (it really is just one or two clicks) Zoom recommends trying a different browser.

If you have trouble connecting contact helen or call 802-434-2000.

Don’t forget to sign up for December 1st – a session on sensory profiling and peer-to-peer evaluation systems for wine makers, details & registration are here.

Federal crop insurance deadlines

From: Jake Jacobs
To: Terence Bradshaw
Subject: RE: Crop insurance deadlines?

Hi Terry,

You are correct – sales closing date for crop insurance for apples and peaches is November 20.

I am waiting for reply on an updated Vermont fact sheet for apple growers. In the meantime, there’s info available from RMA. I have attached the RMA fact sheets for 2018 apple and peach crops and also Whole Farm Revenue Protection program (WFRP). WFRP can cover a single commodity but offers some advantages for growers who have multiple commodities, up to a max of $8.5 million in revenue. Apparently quite a few apple growers in Washington state and the northwest are taking advantage of this program, some even going so far as splitting larger orchards into small enough tracts to be able to qualify to participate.

Jake

Fact Sheet.RMA 2018 apples.pdf
Fact Sheet.RMA 2018 peaches.pdf
Fact Sheet.WFRP.Aug2017.pdf