VCAAP Relief Payments for Agriculture and Working Lands Businesses—Coming Soon!

Forwarding from the VT Agency of Ag, this could be a great opportunity to recoup some COVID-related expenses for your farm business. -TB

Vermont COVID-19 Agriculture Assistance Program (VCAAP) Agriculture and Working Lands Assistance Application

$8.5 Million in CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Funding will soon be available to a wide variety of agricultural, food, and forestry businesses and organizations through the Vermont COVID-19 Agriculture Assistance Program (VCAAP) Agriculture and Working Lands Assistance Application.

General Eligibility Criteria

(1) Farmers, commercial processors, slaughterhouses, farmers’ markets, food businesses, forest products businesses, dairy producers or processors, and agriculture producer associations are eligible.

(2) Your business entity must have gross annual income of at least $10,000 to apply.

(3) Your business must have verifiable losses and/or expenses since March 1, 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

How To Apply

The Agriculture and Working Lands application will launch the week of August 17, 2020. Please note that state offices are closed on Monday, August 17 for Bennington Battle Day. Check our website and subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when the application is open.

The deadline to apply is October 1, 2020. However, keep in mind that grants will be awarded on a first-come, first served basis, so the application may close prior to October 1 if all funds are expended.

Before applying, applicants should complete a W-9 form and gather documentation of losses and costs incurred since March 1, 2020 that are related to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Webinars

Attend a webinar to learn more about the VCAAP Agriculture and Working Lands Assistance Application. A webinar for service providers and partners will be held on August 19. Webinars for applicants will be held on August 21, 24 and 25. Webinars will be recorded and posted to our website.

Contact Us

(802) 828-2430 select #9
AGR.CovidResponse

New England Apple Crop Insurance Listening Session

FYI: It looks like the USDA Risk Management Agency plans to make changes to the apple crop insurance policy. Here’s information on a listening session to cover proposed changes before they go in effect next year.

From: Sereno, Alexander – FPAC-RMA, Raleigh, NC
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2020 9:35 AM
Subject: New England Apple Crop Insurance Listening Session

Good morning New England Apple Stakeholders,

I hope this email finds you well.

Attached is an invitation to an upcoming virtual listening session to discuss proposed changes to the apple crop insurance policy.

Please share this with anyone you know who might be interested.

Instructions for participation in the listening session are in the attached flyer.

Please contact Tracey Keene, RMA, with any questions regarding the content of this invitation. Telephone Number: 816-926-6339 OR email: tracey.keene. If you email, please include “Apple Listening Session” as your subject line.

Thank you,

Alexander Sereno

Director

Raleigh Regional Office

Risk Management Agency

United States Department of Agriculture

4405 Bland Road, Suite 160

Raleigh, NC 27609

919-875-4902

Stay Connected with USDA:

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender

USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer, and Lender 1 .

LISTENING SESSION – NEW ENGLAND APPLE GROWERS PROPOSED CHANGES TO APPLE CROP INSURANCE PROGRAM THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2020

You are invited to participate in a Listening Session with USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) to discuss proposed changes to the Apple Policy.

WHY

In 2017 and 2018, RMA and its contractor, Agralytica, met with apple growers and other insurance stakeholders to discuss the apple program and identify potential changes to enhance coverage while also addressing increasing loss ratios and resultant premium costs. This listening session is a follow-up to those previous sessions. During this session, RMA will present proposed changes to growers and their insurance representatives and ask for their comments. The feedback received will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed changes.

The diagram below provides a timeline of RMA’s continued engagement with the apple industry as well as tentative timing for the revised policy’s release.

WHEN

Thursday, June 25, 2020 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 PM EST

HOW

The listening sessions will be conducted by phone OR by calling in by phone and connecting through the internet. You can participate by calling into the number provided to listen or speak OR you may call in and participate online which also allows you to view the presentation. The information to participate is provided in the instructions that follow on page 2.

2 .

INSTRUCTIONS TO PARTICIPATE

1. Participate by telephone:

Dial 1-888-844-9904. When prompted, please enter the access code: 4965127; OR

2. Participate by telephone AND follow along online to see our presentation. Join on the internet by using the instructions that follow for adobe connect and listen in by dialing 1-888-844-9904 and enter the access code 4965127 when prompted.

INSTRUCTIONS TO ALSO PARTICIPATE ONLINE

Webinar link: https://usda.adobeconnect.com/applegrowers/

Instructions: Use the webinar URL provided to “Enter as a Guest.” In the Name field, enter your first and last names. If you are representing an organization, please list it after your name. (Example: John Smith, Risk Management Agency).

If this is your first-time using Adobe Connect, we recommend testing your connection ten minutes ahead of time.

If you are having difficulty logging in, consider trying the link/URL with a different browser (Internet Explorer, Edge, Firefox, Google Chrome).

CONTACT INFORMATION

Please contact Tracey Keene, RMA, with any questions regarding the content of this invitation. Telephone Number: 816-926-6339 OR email: tracey.keene@usda.gov. If you email, please include “Apple Listening Session” as your subject line.

This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.

2020_VLS_Ann_NewEng.pdf

Buds are bursting- 2020 season is on a roll

By Terence Bradshaw

Growth in the UVM vineyard ranges from bud burst to 2-3 shoots emerged; a few shoots are nearing three inches in length. It’s time to really be thinking about protecting vines from early season disease infections. Most cold-climate cultivars will not need disease protection until 5-8” of shoot growth, but any vineyards with heavy disease pressure last year and organic vineyards may wish to begin earlier, especially if inoculum reduction through thorough removal of diseased wood and mummy berries and/or dormant application of lime sulfur was not performed. I still recommend our fact sheet, An Initial Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Strategy for New Cold Climate Winegrape Growers as the best resource to boil the decisions down to a simple ‘prescription’, with the caveat that since it was written some new pest management materials have been released and inoculum may have increased in your vineyards which could lead to increased disease pressure. Growers should have an up-to-date copy of the New England Small Fruit Management Guide (on-line and hard copy versions) and/or New York and Pennsylvania Pest Management Guidelines for Grapes as a reference for specific materials, their efficacy, and use considerations. Remember however that the guidelines are written largely for vinifera and less disease-resistant hybrids, so the specific spray programs recommended may be overkill in Vermont vineyards.

The warm weather in the past few days may have increased emergence of grape flea beetle or cutworms. Grapes are susceptible through about the one inch shoot growth stage, so vines will eventually outgrow the threat. However, cooler temperatures this coming weekend may hold the vines at this susceptible stage long enough for damage to increase to unacceptable levels. A scouting of your vineyard for feeding on swelling buds or developing shoots may be warranted. If damage is evident on more than 2% of buds, an insecticide treatment may be warranted. But if shoots expand rapidly over the weekend, don’t worry about this pest. More information may be found here.

Since buds at ground level have begun to emerge, applications of systemic herbicides should either be halted or very carefully controlled to prohibit contact with green tissue. Now is an appropriate time for cultivation in vineyards to manage weeds. It’s also a good time to keep water on newly planted or young vines. With soil warming and growth beginning, nitrogen fertilizer applications, if needed based on foliar analyses or observed low vigor last year, may also be made now.

I’d say any time now is good to get your shoots thinned down to 3-5 shoots per foot of canopy. Keep more on more vigorous vines, less on weaker ones.

Where trade names or commercial products are used for identification,

no discrimination is intended and no endorsement is implied.

Always read the label before using any pesticide.

The label is the legal document for the product use.

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.

Petal fall

By Terence Bradshaw

I know that some orchards are still in bloom, so the thinning and insect management portions of this message may not pertain. Hopefully everyone with any hint of risk for fire blight has treated sometime during this heat spell. Cooler weather this weekend and rapidly dropping blossoms will decrease risk, but until then, the pump is primed. Everyone also needs to keep an eye out for blossom blight symptoms, and for the shoot blight that will follow. Growers can apply Apogee (4.5-9 ounces per 100 gallons dilute**) any time now to reduce shoot blight incidence. Apogee treatments will reduce shoot elongation and thicken cell walls for about 2-4 weeks post-application, so retreatment may be necessary every 1-4 weeks until terminal bud set.

All set on FB? Okay, we have some big fish to fry this week. Let’s cover them one by one.

  1. This will all be said in light of the heat that we’re experiencing in the next couple of days. If you can avoid spraying anything (streptomycin excepted) when the weather is >85°, that’s a good thing. Then again, don’t ignore the very real threat of the following pests that need to be protected against. I have an inkling that many of us will be up pretty late/ early tonight/tomorrow morning to get things covered while dodging the heat.
  2. We are all headed for a pretty big apple scab infection period starting tomorrow Thursday 5/28 or Friday. Make sure you are covered going into it, I would not count on any material’s kick-back activity to handle this kind of scab load. As I’ve mentioned before, some materials (captan, sulfur) can cause leaf burning when applied ahead of hot weather. But, given what looks like an extended wetting period and an ample load of mature ascospores, I’d take the chance of a little leaf burn over a major scab outbreak. If you want to put on a lower rate now and follow up Sunday or so with a kick-back material (SDHI, strobilurin, or DMI, see here for more discussion, also mixed with a protectant like mancozeb or captan). Everyone should plan on phasing out mancozeb soon, as it it toxic to beneficial predatory mites that do some great biological control or European red mite and two-spotted spider mite, and we’ll soon have to be thinking about its 77-day preharvest interval. Organic growers, I would apply sulfur before and after the rain event, and maybe consider lime sulfur (LS) for the second spray to provide some post-infection control. LS is caustic, nasty stuff, so use it wisely, wear all the appropriate gear, and wash everything down well as it is very corrosive to steel and other materials.
  3. If you’re at total petal fall, then it’s time to start thinking about insect pests, especially plum curculio (PC). PC love this heat and will be ready to oviposit on fruit as they reach 7-10 mm diameter. Organic growers should plan on getting a coating or Surround on trees asap, and maintaining that coverage for about 400 degree days (base 50°F) after petal fall (NEWA has a good model for this). This is a longer window of coverage than for non-organic orchard management (308 dd base 50°F), because Surround does not kill the insects and so must be maintained longer until the biological urge to oviposit has completely subsided. For non-organic orchards, effective materials include Imidan, Actara, Avaunt, Voliam, and Agri-Flex. Carbaryl, if used for thinning (see below), will have some efficacy, but probably shouldn’t be your primary material of choice given the weather that is very conducive to PC activity. Thinning rates of carbaryl are about half the insecticide rate, and I would plan on using just that lower rate as a thinner and use a separate material for my insect management. Any of these materials will help to manage the other petal fall insects, including European apple sawfly and the various lepidopterans (obliquebanded leafroller, Oriental fruit moth, codling moth, etc) that may be emerging at this time.
  4. Thinning. Okay, this is always a tricky one. First, anything applied in the next 40 hours will be highly active because of the heat, so I’d err on lower rates and a lighter touch. A second application may be needed after this weather breaks. Now, I haven’t been in orchards all across the state, but where I have seen bloom from Connecticut valley, Addison county, and our own orchard in South Burlington, it was good to downright heavy. Pollination and fertilization conditions have been just about perfect, so I’d expect trees to need a decent thinning this year. The New England Tree Fruit Management Guide has some good variety-by-variety recommendations, so I recommend starting there. A good, standard petal fall spray of 1 qt/acre of carbaryl and 8 oz/acre Fruitone N or L (I did the TRV adjustment for you) should do the trick for most orchards. For organic orchards, it’s time to start hand thinning. A lime sulfur spray used for scab can help to knock some fruit off, but it’s not labeled specifically for that use.

I think that covers it for now.

**This reference to amount per 100 gallons dilute refers to Tree Row Volume (TRV), which is a somewhat out-of-vogue method for adjusting spray rates to compensate for canopy volume. I describe it some here, but in simple terms, it calls for measuring the tree canopy volume and estimating the number of gallons of water to saturate the canopy to wetness (dilute gallons per acre, DGA). No one sprays at full dilute, that wastes time, money, and water. For a good rule of thumb, large, standard trees 20 feet tall planted at 30 feet x 40 feet spacing had (notice the past tense) about 420 DGA. A more typical ‘large’ semidwarf orchard on M.7 or similar with 12 foot tall trees planted at 12 ft x 18 ft would have 200 DGA. DGA decreases down to around 100 and stays there pretty consistently for tall spindle and similar high density, narrow-canopy systems. BUT, we often do not recommend reducing TRV below 150, maybe 120 if you have excellent coverage and an easily sprayed canopy. And this TRV is only used to determine the rate of material used per acre, not how much water you put in the tank. So. Let’s just say use 200 DGA for semidwarf trees, 150 for trellised trees. Back to the Apogee example, let’s use 8 ounces per 100 DGA for simplicity’s sake, that would be 16 ounces per acre to the big trees, 12 ounces to the smaller high density trees. Then figure out how much to put in the tank based on the amount of water you spray per acre, which is likely 50 (or less?) to 150 gallons.

Where trade names or commercial products are used for identification,

no discrimination is intended and no endorsement is implied.

Always read the label before using any pesticide.

The label is the legal document for the product use.

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.

Petal fall and spraying this week

By Terence Bradshaw

What an amazing weekend it’s been, weather-wise. I still need to check bud stages, my cider varieties here at 1500’ elevation in central Vermont are still at around half-inch green, and so are not an indicator of what things look like around the state in more typical orchards. However, I imagine many varieties are approaching petal fall, and growers may be itching to put on an insecticide of thinning spray.

The weather for the next three days (Tuesday-Thursday I mean) calls for pretty extreme heat, by May standards, anyway. Given that likely spray materials now include potentially phytotoxic fungicides (captan, sulfur) and insecticides (carbaryl), and that thinners will be very active if applied in this heat, I urge caution. I also don’t like to apply anything in temps of 85° or hotter.

I’ll look over bud stages in the next day or so and check the weather for later this week. Chances look decent for our first apple scab infection period in a while on Friday, and it could be a doozie. Combine that with need to thin and manage post-bloom insects, and we could be in for a complicated spray week.

If you spray anything now, I’d only consider streptomycin on highly susceptible varieties in orchards with recent fire blight infection. In that case, a coat of fungicide (not captan or sulfur because of phytotoxicity issues) may not be a bad idea. But in most cases, I’d lean towards no treatments and plan on an evening / night / crack-of-dawn-when-it’s-cooler treatment window later in the week.

Where trade names or commercial products are used for identification,

no discrimination is intended and no endorsement is implied.

Always read the label before using any pesticide.

The label is the legal document for the product use.

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.

Fire blight & streptomycin questions

By Terence Bradshaw

I’ve received a few questions about the fire blight alert:

  1. If you are in an inland/upland site and no bloom or fresh pruning wounds, this alert does not apply. However, I bet most apples in the state, aside from some late cider varieties, will be in bloom before this disease alert is done.
  2. Strep can be applied within 24 hours before or after an infection / wetting event. So you could wait to see if there is dew, but need to know that there’s no dew if you decide to hold off. Dr. David Rosenberger from Cornell has also been discussing the possibility that high humidity may be enough to cause infections. Bottom line- I’d get out there sometime if you have any risk (susceptible blooming varieties, past history).
  3. A treated flower is a treated flower. So if you’re at full bloom and you’re going to treat anyway, treat any time.
  4. Rate: I was corrected on the rate of streptomycin that I’d recommended, which I’d passed on from another extension warning without reading the label. Harbour is the main (only?) brand of strep we use in the state, and it is labeled for 24-48 ounces per acre. The first application should include Regulaid or similar wetting agent, subsequent sprays, if applied, can and should omit the wetting agent to reduce phytotoxicity.
    The Harbour label is a bit confusing, as it makes some jumps from concentration to rate with an implied understanding of (and I’d say controversial application of) tree row volume. We’ll discuss TRV another time, not during an important disease event. Stick to the label rate, which is 24-48 ounces per acre.

Where trade names or commercial products are used for identification,

no discrimination is intended and no endorsement is implied.

Always read the label before using any pesticide.

The label is the legal document for the product use.

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.

Fire blight alert

By Terence Bradshaw

I’ll keep this short and to the point. In spite of, or rather in keeping with, what I said the other day, fire blight risk is increasing in Vermont orchards. I’m seeing sustained warm, sunny, relatively windless, and dry conditions for the next 5-7 days, with increasing risk of rain as next week starts. The heat is driving the bacterial population to increase pretty rapidly. Warmth suitable for infection is present. Open blossoms are present. The question is whether ot not you a) have fire blight inoculum in or near your orchard and b) whether or not wou’ll get the necessary wetting to cause infection. For the first one, if you’ve ever had any fire blight in the past couple of years, assume that you have inoculum. The population is moving too rapidly to assume otherwise.

For the second, you may want to wait things out until just before a rain on Monday or Tuesday, but what if ypu miss a dew event? Sunday morning looks like there’s potential for some dew, and that’s enough.

Anyone in any stage of bloom, is to get a streptomycin (or pick your organic biocontrol of choice, but I can’t personally vouch for any at this time) spray on sometime between Friday and Sunday morning. Once a blossom is treated, it’s protected, so later is better to ensure you cover the maximum number of blossoms. But don’t wait so late that you miss a good spray window. Strep should be applied 16 oz per acre in sufficient water to get good wetting, amd I recommend Regulaid or another organosilicone wetting agent be included.

Where trade names or commercial products are used for identification,

no discrimination is intended and no endorsement is implied.

Always read the label before using any pesticide.

The label is the legal document for the product use.

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.

Bloom, apple IPM

By Terence Bradshaw

Apple bloom has started in much of the state, and the weather looks about as good as it gets for pollination and fertilization. It’s been dry since last Friday, and, in most sites, that rain wasn’t even as much as expected. So, water if you can, trees in bloom and setting fruit have high energy requirements, and water is a key part of mineral nutrient transfer and photosynthesis. While I’m at it, this is a good time to get your fertilizers on. Nitrogen fertilizers should be applied between bloom and June 15, while your potassium and other fertilizers can go down between now and midsummer. It’s also not too late to put on foliar fertilizers, such as the prebloom nutrient cocktail recommended by Cornell University and New England apple experts. However, given the bloom, the dry weather, and minimal disease pressure resulting from that, I’d put the sprayer away for a while- with the caveat I’ll leave below..

It looks like dry weather will be the rule for a while, so apple scab just isn’t an issue. That means that, when we do get some wetting, an pretty good infection period could result, so keep an eye on things and plan to cover ahead of any rains, which look to be at least a week out. When the weather is dry, ascospore maturation goes into hibernation so we can’t assume the spores will all mature and release with the next rain and scab season will be done with in one event. Of course, use NEWA to help keep an eye on your scab and other disease issues.

The disease we really think about during bloom, and especially during a warm/hot bloom, is fire blight. This bacterial disease acts differently from scab and other fungal diseases in two key ways- first, it is essentially internal in the tree, and therefore can act systemically and therefore tends to stick around for a while. Next, its infective pathogen can ramp up its population rapidly under warm conditions. The cool spring so far has kept fire blight danger (measured as epiphytic infection potential, or EIP) down to a minimum. However, that EIP is expected to ramp up fast in the next week:

The fire blight model does assume that you a) have inoculum present, and b) that you have water to move it into blossoms which allow entry into the tree’s vascular system. You can adjust the latter condition a little in NEWA, and the former is a judgement call as far as making an application is concerned. I would have at least one application of streptomycin on-hand and be prepared to treat blooming trees, particularly if you have a wetting event. This could include heavy dew, especially if you have a day afterward that has high relative humidity. High-value, fire blight-prone varieties may warrant a prophylactic treatment going into the weekend, but that’s a tough call.

For organic growers, Actinovate, BlightBan A506, Bloomtime Biological, Blossom Protect, Double Nickel, Regalia, and Serenade are labeled biological controls. I can’t vouch for any of their effectiveness, and I know that some growers apply copper or lime sulfur (warning- both are very phytotoxic) during bloom to manage the disease but again, no promises are offered from me there. If you can, I would suggest Serenade or one of the other biological materials if you have it on-hand and to watch carefully for symptoms which will require cutting out.

Once the EIP is sufficiently high (in NEWA, 100 is considered high enough to cause infection), you need three factors for infection to occur: open wounds (i.e. blossoms or fresh pruning cuts); mean temperature above 60°F; and wetting, even a spray or dew event can be enough to move bacteria into susceptible openings.

This risk is pretty much widespread across the state. The thing to remember is that protective measures, i.e. application of streptomycin in most orchards, or caustic materials/biological controls in organic orchards, must be applied to open wounds or blossoms within 24 hours before or after infection. So if we assume that an infection event occurs in a rain you’ll want strep or another material (really, if your orchard isn’t certified organic, strep is the only material to consider) on within a day. It will be hot Friday, so blossoms will be opening all day (or petals falling on cultivars that have finished bloom already) and potential for phytoxicity will be greater. The later you can go, the better to make sure you cover any blossoms that open, but don’t delay and miss it.

But, make sure to look at the forecast at least twice a day. We not only are not predicting rain, but also, at least for the next few days, predicting dew, either. The NEWA fire blight model output (see above) includes predictions for rain and dew.

Harbour is the strep material available to most growers. I would recommend applying at 1-2 pounds per acre based on tree canopy volume, if in doubt, err on the lower end. I also recommend including a wetting agent like Regulaid or LI-700. If possible, apply on its own, without other fungicides or insecticides (you are in bloom, so no insecticides anyway). You will get leaf yellowing from this application, expect it and the tree will soon grow out of it. One application Wednesday PM-Friday AM should cover you. Once any particular blossom is treated, it’s protected. Temperatures are expected to drop after Friday, which lowers risk, but if high risk continues through the weekend and you keep having blossoms open, then a second application Saturday-Monday (I have no good idea of what the weather will be five+ days from now) may be warranted.

Trees that are at full petal fall are not susceptible, but straggling late blooms can be infection sites. Ideally, the whole orchard would be treated. If you need to prioritize, go first for cultivars that had fire blight in the last two yearr or highly susceptible cultivars (Gala, Ginger Gold, Honeycrisp, Cortland, Paulared, etc), and of course blocks that are in bloom. Application well after any wetting event,will not give protection against it. Also, despite the wording on the Harbour label, continued treatment every 10-14 days after bloom is not recommended (at all- don’t do it), and doing so is a) expensive, b) a waste, and, most importantly, c) the best way to develop antibiotic resistance in E. amylovera populations.

As for insects, there are management actions you can be doing now. Of course, no insecticides during bloom. But you should be checking pheromone-baited codling moth traps at least every other day and noting the date of first capture in order to set your biofix for the NEWA models we’ll use later. Now is a good time to get mating disruption ties for dogwood borer or codling moth up in the orchard.

Finally, keep a good eye on the bloom and on pollinator activity in the orchard. I suspect that this will be a year that we’ll need to really work on crop thinning, even though we’re in an ‘even year’ which, in the past decade or so, has meant smaller total crop overall. We’ll talk about thinning next time.

Where trade names or commercial products are used for identification,

no discrimination is intended and no endorsement is implied.

Always read the label before using any pesticide.

The label is the legal document for the product use.

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.

Sheep in vineyards survey, bud beak

By Terence Bradshaw

Dr. Justine Vanden Heuvel (Cornell University) is seeking participants for a conducting a survey to determine grower perceptions of using sheep to mow/sucker in vineyards. The goal of the survey is to guide future research and extension efforts in this area. The survey is completely anonymous. You can complete the survey by clicking on this link: https://cornell.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_80QJfMVgdqIqOOh

Buds are on the cusp of breaking in Vermont vineyards this week, which signifies the real start of the growing season. This brings up a few pest management considerations for your vineyards. Most cold-climate cultivars will not need disease protection until 5-8” of shoot growth, but any vineyards with heavy disease pressure last year or under organic management may wish to begin as soon as shoots are 3” in length, especially if inoculum reduction through thorough removal of diseased wood and mummy berries and/or dormant application of lime sulfur was not performed. Since we all likely have a couple of weeks before we need to get out there, now is a good time to make sure that your equipment is ready to go. I still recommend our Initial IPM Strategy for Cold Climate Grapes as the best resource to boil the decisions down to a simple ‘prescription’, with the caveat that since it was written some new pest management materials have been released and inoculum may have increased in your vineyards which could lead to increased disease pressure. Growers should have an up-to-date copy of the New York and Pennsylvania Pest Management Guidelines for Grapes as a reference for specific materials, their efficacy, and use considerations. Remember however that the guidelines are written largely for vinifera and less disease-resistant hybrids, so the specific spray programs recommended may be overkill in Vermont vineyards.

The warm weather in the next few days may increase emergence of grape flea beetle or cutworms. Grapes are susceptible through about the one inch shoot growth stage, so this could be a short window and the vines may well outgrow any threat pretty quickly. A scouting of your vineyard for feeding on swelling buds or developing shoots may be warranted. If damage is evident on more than 2% of buds, an insecticide treatment may be warranted. But if shoots expand rapidly over the weekend, don’t worry about this pest.

Since buds at ground level have begun to emerge, applications of systemic herbicides should either be halted or very carefully controlled to prohibit contact with green tissue. Now is an appropriate time for cultivation in vineyards to manage weeds. It’s also a good time to keep water on newly planted or young vines. With soil warming and growth beginning, nitrogen fertilizer applications, if needed based on foliar analyses or observed low vigor last year, may also be made now.

Where trade names or commercial products are used for identification,

no discrimination is intended and no endorsement is implied.

Always read the label before using any pesticide.

The label is the legal document for the product use.

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.

Working Lands Enterprise Initiative Business Grants Funding Opportunity for COVID-19 Response

FYI

From: Schimoler, Lynn Ellen
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2020 7:55 PM
To: AGR
Subject: Working Lands Enterprise Initiative Business Grants Funding Opportunity for COVID-19 Response

Hi, all:

Please share this new funding opportunity with your agriculture & forestry sector contacts – it’s a very quick turnaround, and an exciting opportunity!

The Working Lands Enterprise Board (WLEB) plans to award a total of $180,000 in COVID-19 Response Business Development Grants within the sectors of agriculture and forestry.

These funds are designed to complement business’s ability to maintain operations while increasing capacity to rebuild and/or recover during this unprecedented time of need.

KEY DATES AND DEADLINES –

Request for Applications Release: May 15th, 2020

Application Opens for Submission: May 21st, 2020

Application Deadline: May 31st, 2020 at 11:59 PM (application closes at midnight)

Award Notification: June 15th, 2020

Estimated Project Start: June 25th, 2020

AWARD RANGE AND MATCH REQUIREMENT –

Grants will be awarded within the range of $5,000 to $25,000.

Match is not a requirement for this particular funding opportunity, though match of cash or in-kind is encouraged, and applications with match will be more competitive

ELIGIBLE PROJECTS –

Applying organizations must have experienced, and be able to clearly demonstrate, negative business impacts due to COVID-19.

Eligible proposals will focus on business response, shifting marketing strategies, or other activities that may improve business recovery. Project activities eligible for funding include:

  • Market development: developing marketing plans and/or sales strategies, accessing new markets and securing new customers, brand development including website design or upgrades, institutional and wholesale market expansion, costs associated with achieving humane and/or organic certification
  • Value-added production: transitioning to operation as a new processor or expansion as an existing processor; transitioning to new pack-size/labeling or enhancing production and/or manufacturing efficiencies
  • Research and development: testing new systems or technologies; developing innovative solutions to production or management issues including accounting, tracking, and/or sales software, (e.g., E-Commerce, Home Delivery or Curbside Pick-up)
  • Operations logistics: workplace modifications to meet worker safety protocols regulations for working lands enterprises compliance, addressing labor force and public health in response to the pandemic
  • Growth strategy: new or expansion of current efforts, expanding consumer outreach and/or expansion of existing marketing strategy, established multi-year marketing plan and growth strategy of the industry represented, with intent to sell goods out of Vermont.

Here is the link to the Request For Application: WLEF COVID-19 Response Business Development Grants

Thanks so much,

Lynn Ellen

Lynn Ellen Schimoler

Senior Agricultural Business Development | Working Lands Enterprise Initiative

Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets

94 Harvest Lane, Williston Vermont 05495 | http://agriculture.vermont.gov

802-622-4477 cell

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