Quick pollination survey

Good afternoon:

https://forms.office.com/r/iNJXAT2t8e

There is a lot of discussion around pollinator health and protection happening at several levels around the state. In order to answer any questions that I expect may come my way, I have pulled together a very quick, short survey for apple producers. This will not be used for any publications and data are collected anonymously, I just want to make sure I answer correctly as a representative for the industry. This should take 1-2 minutes, you can have it done before lunch break is over and you get back to pruning.

https://forms.office.com/r/iNJXAT2t8e

Thanks,

Terry

Upcoming Events – Northeast Extension Fruit Consortium Winter Sessions

Just a reminder, the Northeast Extension Fruit Consortium Winter Sessions are in full swing.

Details are below:

  1. January 24 – "New Options for Chemical Thinning" – Dr. John Cline, University of Guelph
  2. January 31 – "Strawberry Breeding and Cultivar Update" – Dr. Beatrice Amyotte, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
  3. February 7 – "Use, Efficacy and Cost of Reflective Ground Cover in the Orchard" – Dr. Macarena Farcuh, University of Maryland
  4. March 6 – "Mass Trapping for Japanese Beetle" – Dr. Jaime Pinero, University of Massachusetts
  5. March 13 – "How to Effectively Engage with the Press" – Dr. Jessica McBride, University of Connecticut
  6. March 20 – "BioControl, Forecast Models and Apple Scab – Finding the Sweet Spot" – Dr. Kerik Cox, Ms. Liga Astra

Use this link for registration and more information. Registration for each session is required.

128th Annual UVM Fruit / VTFGA Meeting – February 14th, 2024

The 2024 Vermont Tree Fruit Growers Association and UVM Fruit Program Annual Meeting will be Live and In-Person on February, 14, 2024 in Middlebury, VT. Online registration is live at this link: https://go.uvm.edu/24uvmvtfgamtg.

The Meeting Agenda as well as a registration/membership form for those who want to pay by mail/check are available at https://go.uvm.edu/24uvmvtfgaagenda.

Please register at your earliest convenience, meeting registration is $10 less per person of purchased before February 4. This helps us plan for lunch and coffee hour and gives a better sense of planning for the meeting overall.

*** To request a disability-related or any other accommodation to participate in this program, please contact Terence Bradshaw at (802)-922-2591 by 2/7/2024 so we may assist you.***

Registration questions should go to James Bove: jbovevt

Program questions please email me: tbradsha

-Terry

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, UVM Extension, USDA NIFA E-IPM Program, and USDA Risk Management Agency.

UVM Extension helps individuals and communities put research-based knowledge to work. University of Vermont Extension, and U.S. Department of Agriculture, cooperating, offer education and employment to everyone without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or familial status.

Free Farm Succession and Transfer Webinar Series

The “Farm Succession Planning Webinar Series” is for farmers to learn about key issues, tools and resources to help them make informed decisions and take action steps towards transferring their farm to the next generation of their family or a non-family successor. Farmers will learn from professionals who can help in the process and from other farmers. Topics include retirement, financial, and estate planning, taxes, legal entities, and determining goals for retirement, business transitions, and your land. All generations, including family and non-family members, who may play a role in your farms future are encouraged to attend.

This series is organized by info for more information.

2024 New England Fruit Consortium Webinar Series

The New England Fruit Consortium, made up of Extension partners from throughout the region, is hosting an educational webinar series this winter. Topics include: apple thinning; strawberry cultivars; reflective mulches; Japanese beetle management; public relations for farmers; and advanced apple scab management.

Sessions are still shaping up, but the listing and registration information can be found at:
https://ag.umass.edu/fruit/news-events/northeast-extension-fruit-consortium

Please mark your calendars and preregister for any sessions of interest to you.

VT Agency of Agriculture 12/18 Virtual Listening Session

Please consider attending and sharing information about the Vermont Agency of Agriculture virtual listening session on Monday, 12/18

Vermont Agency of Agriculture holding virtual Listening Session 12/18

When: Monday, 12/18 from 12:30 – 2pm (drop in/out as needed)

Where: Virtual – please register here to receive link

Who: All producers, processors and agricultural-adjacent organizations are encouraged and welcome to attend; legislators have been invited to attend as well

Structure: Agency of Agriculture staff will facilitate conversations around: The 2023 growing season/flooding; needs and priorities for business viability; feedback and input for Agency presence and programming; other items as they arise

Future opportunities: This virtual session is part of a pilot series of opportunities for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture to be more accessible to the agricultural communities and hear their needs, priorities, experiences and feedback. The session on December 18th will be followed by 9 in-person sessions across the state in Jan – March of 2024, co-hosted with some of our non-profit and Natural Resource Conservation District partners. Learn more here!

Can’t make it or want to give feedback? Use this form to share your thoughts, priorities and/or input on how these opportunities could and should be shaped in the future

Questions or feedback? Please reach out to Sarah McIlvennie directly at sarah.mcilvennie or 802-261-5866

Thanks,

Abbey

Abbey Willard (she/her)

Agricultural Development Division Director | Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets

116 State St., Montpelier Vermont 05620 | http://agriculture.vermont.gov

Tel:802-272-2885 |

Access Flooding Disaster Response and Recovery Resources for Agriculture.

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Important survey for UVM Fruit Program

In the past year, the UVM Fruit Program completed a redesign of its website as part of the UVM Commercial Horticulture site reorganization. The funding for that work is wrapping up and we will report changes in grower satisfaction in our final project grant report. Please complete this short survey at your earliest convenience:

https://go.uvm.edu/23uvmfruitsurvey

In a twist of institutional planned obsolescence, please ignore the odd urls on the site that begin with legacy.drup2.uvm.edu, as the university overall is in the process of a full site redesign. That will affect top-level content (the UVM banner and search boxes at the top) but our site should remain unchanged after they complete that work.

Thanks so much and we wish everyone happy and restful holiday season.

Best,

Terry

VFN webinar Dec. 13 : Agritourism business planning

Wednesday, Dec. 13: Business Planning for Agritourism Enterprises
with Lisa Chase and Zachary Smith of University of Vermont Extension

Business planning is critical for any type of enterprise, and agritourism is no exception. Hosted by Vermont Fresh Network and University of Vermont Extension, this webinar will cover key steps for business planning and introduce you to a new online tool. In this webinar, we’ll provide a general overview of business planning for agritourism, and we’ll share resources and next steps. For farms in Vermont, we’ll let you know how to receive one-on-one support and guidance for your agritourism business plan. We’ll also discuss an online training series open to all that will take place in February and March for those who would like to develop a business plan this winter with guidance from Extension business planning experts. To request a disability-related accommodation to participate in this program, please contact Amber Hunt at 802-656-7530 or Amber.Hunt so we may assist you.
Register here

We’ll be posting the videos of the last two webinars, and will be sharing those with you all.

-Tara

Tara Pereira (she/her)

Vermont Fresh Network

Executive Director

tara

o:802-434-2000

c:802-999-6137

www.vermontfresh.net

www.diginvt.com

Want to discover new food and farm adventures? Visit diginvt.com for events, trails, place profiles, and feature articles!

DigInVT is a program managed by the Vermont Fresh Network

Fruit quality issues heading into harvest

Good morning:

I was hearing from some growers earlier this week, was called separately by another, and saw for myself when I was looking over the UVM orchard yesterday some concerning issues with fruit quality that I ascribe to a ‘hormone / stress mess’ in some situations. Many of us are seeing frost rings, the rusted bands around fruit caused by cell damage from the May 18 freeze event. In many cases, as those fruit size up, this damaged skin tissue won’t be able to expand and we can expect a fair amount of fruit splitting as a result. That’s not unexpected.

Of another level of concern are issues I am seeing with ripening and sizing fruit. I have been hearing talk of and have been seeing myself fruit that just doesn’t seem to be sizing well, especially given low crop load and more than ample moisture. Now, I am seeing increased preharvest fruit drop and weirdly uneven ripening. For example, we have Liberty fruit in the UVM orchard that are dropping prematurely while showing signs of over ripeness- deep red color, waxy skin, soft flesh- but are flavorless. This was on August 16, and we normally harvest out Liberty six weeks from now.

My hypothesis regarding what’s going on is that we are seeing the results of a hormonal confusion in trees and fruit this year. In spring, developing seeds in the blossom’s ovary excrete hormones that signal the tree to develop a fruit to protect them. Upon inspection of the fruit buds in the days following the freeze, any damage was assumed to result in lost fruit. However, many fruit did form, and some buds that may not have shown damage may have still sustained it. As we approach harvest, we are seeing that many fruit are showing poorly-developed seeds, tissue damage around the core, or even no seeds at all. I believe that this poor or damaged seed development is behind the paradoxical poor fruit sizing and preharvest fruit drop. I also expect this drop to continue as trees have since the freeze been subject to a number of other stressors, including air pollution from the Canadian wildfires and the unceasing rain.

This brings up the question about applying Retain to reduce apple drop and improve fruit quality this season. ReTain is a plant growth regulator that slows ethylene production in fruit and thus delays harvest and fruit drop. It should be applied 7-30 days prior to harvest, based on the need and maturity of the fruit. But the trees aren’t responding normally to anything this year. Furthermore, the ReTain label states to not apply to trees that are “nutrient, water, insect, or disease stressed.” And it’s expensive, in a year when many of us are needing to reduce costs in the orchard.

Here’s my advice- if you have a ‘normal’ to light crop, but enough fruit that you expect 200+ bushels per acre, then you might consider using ReTain. It won’t be worth saving a crop of straggler fruit that are hard to find, and it won’t stop a dropping crop from continuing to drop. And if trees are showing real signs of stress, especially in wet orchards, I wouldn’t expect much for the money you’ll be spending. As I said before, the normal suite of plant hormones that regulate fruiting seems to be out of whack this year, and another hormonal nudge, which is basically what you’re doing when you apply PGRs, may provide similarly unpredictable results.

Good luck out there,

Terry

New Fruit website at UVM Extension Commercial Horticulture

UVM’s new Commercial Horticulture website has officially launched, and some major changes have been made to the site’s format and organization. If you have any difficulty finding the information that you are looking for, feel free to contact Lily Carr (lacarr@uvm.edu), the editor of the new website, and she will promptly answer any questions or concerns.

The new URL for the website is: https://www.uvm.edu/extension/commercial.

Thank you,

Terry