Vol. 16, No. 24.
September 29, 2009
The
Ohio State University Extension Vegetable Crops
On
the WEB at:
http://vegnet.osu.edu
In
This Issue
1. USDA
Hearing on Proposed Leafy Greens Agreement in Columbus Oct. 6
2. 2009
Sweet Corn Hybrid Disease Nursery Report
3. New
& Emerging Cover Crops Field Day.
USDA
Hearing on Proposed Leafy Greens Agreement in Columbus Oct. 6
Writer:
Martha Filipic filipic.3@cfaes.osu.edu 614-292-9833
Source:
Doug Doohan, Horticulture and Crop Science, doohan.1@osu.edu
330-202-3593
COLUMBUS,
Ohio -- Columbus is one of just seven cities across the nation to host a public
hearing on a proposed national marketing agreement covering the handling of
leafy green vegetables.
The
Columbus hearing is planned for 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at the
Greater Columbus Convention Center, Room D130, 400
North High St. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is holding these hearings to
provide the public an opportunity to learn more about the proposal and to offer
comments supporting or opposing it.
According
to the USDA, the agreement, as proposed, would authorize the development and
implementation of production and handling regulations designed to support the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Good Agricultural Practices, Good Handling
Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices in the fresh leafy green vegetable
industry. The agreement would be a voluntary program, so only those handlers
who sign up with proposed agreement would be regulated.
"The
goal is to reduce the risk of food safety problems related to leafy greens,
such as the E. coli outbreak that occurred in fresh spinach in 2006," said
Doug Doohan, fruit and vegetable specialist with Ohio
State University Extension and a leader of the Ohio Roundtable on Safe
Production of Fresh Produce. "However, there are big concerns that such an
agreement would put small growers at a disadvantage. Ohio has many small growers
of leafy greens, and I've heard them express fears that even though this
program is voluntary on a federal level, many retailers would likely not accept
product from any grower that doesn't join the agreement. That could put some,
or many, of our growers out of business, and would likely not increase the
safety of the food they supply."
Doohan, who also has an
appointment with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, said he
hopes many of Ohio's leafy greens growers and other interested parties will
express their concerns -- or their support -- of the proposal at the hearing on
Oct. 6.
Transcripts
of other hearings held before Oct. 6 will be available on the USDA's Web site
at http://www.ams.usda.gov/moab. In
addition, the USDA will video-record hearings held in Monterey, Calif., on
Sept. 22-24, and will make the video available for viewing at the same Web
site.
More information on the proposal is available at http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/moab (click on "Proposed - Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement.")
2009
Sweet Corn Hybrid Disease Nursery Report
From
Dr. Jerald Pataky, University of Illinois
The
summary of the 2009 University of Illinois sweet corn hybrid nursery is now
available at www.sweetcorn.illinois.edu
as Word or PDF files. Table 7 which lists disease reactions and
ratings for 387 hybrids in the 2009 nursery also is available at this site as
an Excel file.
In
the 2009 nursery, hybrids were rated for reactions to three races of common
rust (avirulent, D-virulent, and G-virulent),
Stewarts wilt, NLB (races 0&1), MDM (strains A & B), SLB, and responses
to three HPPD-inhibiting herbicides, Callisto (mesotrione), Laudis (tembotrione), and Impact (topramezone).
Editors’s
Note: For those without internet access, I have copies of the Excel and PDF
file and I can mail you a hard copy if you so desire. The files are too large
to fax. If interested, contact me at:
Bob Precheur, OSU-HCS, 2001 Fyffe Ct ,
Columbus, OH 43210. 614-292-3857. Email: precheur.1@osu.edu
New
& Emerging Cover Crops Field Day.
October 28, 2009, 9:30am to 2:30pm
Steve
Groff’s, Cedar Meadow Farm, 679 Hilldale Road, Holtwood, PA
We are planning a major cover crop
field day here at my farm on Oct 28th, 2009. Over 30 different
species of new and emerging cover crops will be available to see. I planted them
on 3 different planting dates and had manure spread across the ends of the
plots. There are also 4 different cocktail mixes of cover crops and acres of my
fields to see the various covers I am working with on my farm currently. We’ll
have the new Hi-Clearance Cover Crop Seeder here as a demonstration. The corn
field that was seeded the end of August with this machine will be available to
see as well.
Steve Groff
A brochure with more details [pdf file]can be found at: http://vegnet.osu.edu/news/field
day brochure-final.pdf