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Plant & Pest Advisory > Commercial Ag Updates and Farm Food Safety

Plant & Pest Advisory > Vegetable Crops

Contact Information

The points of contact between Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service and the grower & business communities are the NJ County Agricultural Agents. The agents are a tremendous source of information for both new and experienced growers. Visit your local county extension office.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Final Pesticide Container Collection Day in Hammonton for 2011

From Karen Kritz, Ag Development Specialist with NJ Dept of Agriculture:
  
FINAL COLLECTION DAY IN HAMMONTON FOR 2011
Helena Chemical
66 Route 206 (North of the Route 30/206 intersection)
Hammonton, New Jersey
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Friday October 7
DO NOT  
DROP OFF CONTAINERS UNLESS 
IT IS DURING THE SCHEDULED COLLECTION PROGRAM.
For Plastic Pesticide Container Processing Steps & Size Limits: 

Disaster & Food Safety Educational Meeting This Tuesday, Oct 4th at RCE-Gloucester County

Agricultural Disaster and Food Safety
(Fall Meeting of the South Jersey 
Integrated Vegetable Crop Management Twilight Series)
EVERYONE WELCOME TO ATTEND
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Gloucester County Office Building (Bldg. A), 1200 N. Delsea Dr. Clayton, NJ
7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
For the full agenda and pesticide recertification credit details:

Thursday, September 29, 2011

NASA's Cross Promotion with Agritourism

Corn maze with Hubble Telescope
theme at Liberty Ridge Farm,
Schaghticoke, NY
Cross Promotion is an effective marketing tool and is actually quite common and useful in the produce business. You've seen it and probably not even thought about it. Buy Brand X cereal and get a coupon to buy Brand Y bananas, or "Don't forget to grab some Brand A dressing to go with this Brand B salad mix!" 

I hadn't thought about it in terms of the cross promotion technique as I was focusing on finding a niche and positioning when I wrote my American Vegetable Grower Marketing Matters column last fall. That story about a south Jersey corn maze operator working with the Philadelphia sports teams is a great example of agritourism cross promotion. Here's an interesting piece from the upstate NY Extension Vegetable program about NASA teaming up with agritourism operators across the country to celebrate (and educate about) space exploration. 

Effective cross promotion? I'd say so, for NASA and the farms involved!
Rick VanVranken

Updated: Microirrigation Pocket Guide

The California Microirrigation Pocket Guide has been updated and although billed as a resource for California Irrigators, contains how-to information in a "take-to-the-field" size for Irrigators in every state.
Part one explains how to manage and maintain a microirrigation system - irrigating at the right times, and with the right amount of water. Part two gives exceedingly detailed recommendations for maintaining pumps, motors, and engines.
Available through the NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Project: The California Microirrigation Pocket Guide
- Rick VanVranken

Monday, September 26, 2011

Time to get in Cover Crop

To say it's been a tough year for farmers, would be an understatement. The 2011 growing season has been marked by heavy rains, high winds, flooding, and extreme heat. Rob Shortell, former Rutgers grad student and now Assistant Professor at Cal Poly, got it right when he said, farming is about the details… "it's the weather, the timing, the attentiveness to details."

Right now we've got a small window of opportunity to get in cover crops. There are only about 7 NJ fall seeding days for ideal establishment.

At RAREC, we had a perfect day on Thursday, September 22, and planted ...

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