Avocado passion

A group of California avocado leaders, plus officials from USDA and CDFA are going to Mexico tomorrow to discuss circumstances surrounding the detection of the scale "Hemiberlesia neodiffinis" on Mexican avocados by state inspectors. Unlike the CDFA, federal plant health officials at this point don't consider the pest subject to quarantine action.

I just tried calling the California Avocado Commission today but all government and commission offices were closed because of Presidents' Day.

From a discussion with Mexican avocado interests today, here is what I heard.
1. The scale is not a quarantine pest. It is present in many U.S. states, so there is no reason that the USDA APHIS would consider it a quarantine pest.
"This is not a new and exotic quarantine pest but a pest that has always occurred in the United States and may possibly occur in California," one Mexican avocado advocate said.
2. Mexican avocado interests believe California growers are forcing the California Avocado Commission to pressure USDA to consider the pest a quarantine pest.
3. How will it play out? Mexican avocado advocates hope USDA APHIS officials will bring CDFA officials into line.


For the California perspective, see the link here.

TK: Since Mexican avocados have had access to California on Feb. 1, what has the market done? On Feb. 16, the USDA market news quoted Mexican 70s at $19 per carton and California 70s at $16-18 per carton at the Los Angeles terminal market. Also at the market, California hass 60s were $34-35 per carton on Jan. 31 compared with $18-24 per carton on Feb. 16.

Florida citrus spared

Temperatures last night were not harmful to Florida's citrus crop (note the Fort Pierce weather link on the right of the blog) , and sources said temperatures from the upper 20s to mid-30s on Friday night did virtually no damage of this season's citrus crop.

From a Feb. 17 release from Florida Citrus Mutual:

Early indications show only isolated frost damage to blooms and feathered growth in some of the colder locations. “It appears that this year’s crop and trees avoided any freeze damage,” said Michael W. Sparks, executive vice president/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. “We expect
Florida citrus to continue to be able to produce another high-quality product for this season.” It will take approximately two weeks to fully understand the extent of frost damage, if any throughout the industry.


TK: One Vero Beach Florida citrus source told me today the bloom for next year's crop may be hurt, but it was too soon to tell.

Peachy

The ARS has just released information on two new peach varieties.

Early Augustprince, first planted at Byron in 1996, ripens in mid-to-late July, at about the same time as one of its parents, Sunprince, which was also developed at Byron by Okie and his predecessor, V.E. Prince. The other parent was from a cross involving Byron varieties Flameprince and Blazeprince. Augustprince ripens in late July to early August at Byron, about three to seven days after its earlier sibling.
Both new varieties yield large, round fruit that's nearly three inches in diameter. At maturity, the peaches are 70 to 80 percent bright-red, with an attractive yellow background. Their flesh is yellow, with some red coloring if allowed to mature on the tree. The fruit has excellent texture and very good flavor.
Small quantities of budwood of Early Augustprince and Augustprince will be available from the NRSP5/IR-2 Fruit Tree Collection at Washington State University in Prosser. Trees are available from Tennessee nurseries supplying the commercial southeastern peach industry.

Bird flu fallout

If the bird flu becomes a human pandemic, not just chicken strips and nuggets would take a hit. Life as we know could be changed radically. Here is a story in from the AP about what grocers are doing to prepare.

From the story:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates a third of the population could fall ill if the H5N1 strain of the bird flu mutates into a form that spreads easily from person to person. It's not clear if that will ever happen and no human cases of bird flu have ever been traced to eating properly cooked poultry or eggs.
But if a pandemic emerges, the Department of Homeland Security projects worker absenteeism to reach 40 percent or more over a prolonged period. Hammonds said retail food stores would have to contend with worker shortages and disruptions in the supply chain.

The federal government and public health agencies are urging people to stock up on nonperishable food, like canned goods and dried fruit, to ensure they have to food to eat during a pandemic.

TK: If we thought 9/11 was bad.....

Labor shortage, what labor shortage?

Anti-guest worker forces are stooping to ridiculous lows to achieve their goal to frustrate passage of immigration legislation. Here is a story from The Santa Cruz Sentinel that speaks of the latest volley in the fight.
From the story:

With Congress expected to revisit immigration issues this spring, Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for Fair American Immigration Reform, said if there were a shortage, then wages would be rising, not falling, typical of any commodity.
"Somehow there's this myth in the California ag industry that growers are having a hard time filling positions. We know they can always hire people. It's just a matter of whether they're ever going to pay higher wages and offer better working conditions"
Those are fighting words to some California farmers.
Area lettuce and strawberry growers say they have seen a notable decrease in the number of field workers at peak times over the past five years despite the fact that they've increased their wages — as much as $1 an hour, sometimes twice a year.
Pinpointing what farmworkers are paid is difficult. On average, field hands are paid between $7 and $15 an hour depending on their production and the crop, according to growers and worker advocates.
"Obviously, whoever's saying we don't have a shortage hasn't been in the field lately. It used to be there'd be 100 guys waiting in line for a job to pick for me," said Dick Peixoto, a lettuce grower in Watsonville and in the Imperial Valley, east of San Diego. "Nowadays, I have to search far and wide. Last summer, I had to let a whole field of lettuce go unharvested because I didn't have any workers"
Elia Vasquez, a longtime strawberry grower who serves on the labor committee for the California Farm Bureau Federation, said the number of farmworkers across the state was down as much as 30 percent last year as a result of tighter immigration enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border.

TK: Surely this isn't how anti-guest worker/ anti immigration forces are going to position their opposition to AgJobs. Their claim that immigrant labor is more abundant than ever shows how patently wrong and uninformed their views are. That may in the end build broader support for comprehensive immigration reform.

Back to basics for ASDA

What's old is again new. UK supermarket chain Asda has announced a new initiative that could cut the use of packaging on fruits and vegetables dramatically.

From the story by Food Ingredients:

Asda has launched a radical study which could virtually eliminate the need for packaging on fresh fruit and vegetables. It is boosting dramatically the amount of fresh produce sold loose from boxes – recreating the look and feel of a traditional greengrocer shop from the 1950s.
At the same time, the range of pre-packed items on sale will be restricted substantially, cutting overnight the amount of plastic and cardboard used to wrap our food.
The move heralds a return to old fashioned retailing methods – the first step taken towards the past by any retailer for almost 60 years.


TK: Hold on, some retailers have regressed without even knowing it. But back to the story from Food Ingredients:


Over the next 12 months the supermarket intends to slash the amount of packaging it uses on own label food by 25%. Said Asda’s anti-packaging expert Emma Sinclair-Morris: "We believe this return to traditional values could have a huge impact upon the amount of packaging thrown away every day.
"Reducing packaging is one of Asda’s key objectives, and we are considering every option to achieve this goal." A pilot scheme examining customer reaction to the plan will take place in two Asda stores in the North West of England next week.
Around 60 pre-pack products will be removed as part of the trial. Only delicate fruits like raspberries that require packaging to protect them will remain on sale, alongside a small number of convenience products like pre-prepared vegetables.


TK: I'm not sure if consumers share the passion for cutting down on packaging. I think any packaging that adds convenience or offers some other valued utility will be missed by Asda consumers.

A lot of peanut butter

My wife Sally is a first grade teacher and several of her moms have sent her emails about the peanut butter salmonella scare/recall. One of the parents said she had the tainted peanut butter on her shelf. It sounds like she is one of many:
From Yahoo news:

ConAgra said it is not clear how many jars are affected by the recall. But the plant is the sole producer of the nationally distributed Peter Pan brand, and the recall covers all peanut butter — smooth and chunky alike — produced by the plant from May 2006 until now.
"We're talking a lot of jars of peanut butter," said Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer of the FDA.

TK: We wonder how this salmonella outbreak will hurt peanut butter sales, but at least this is brand specific. The choosy mothers who chose Jif must feel vindicated.

A plea for balance

The Tri-City Herald did a nice job on a farm bill editorial yesterday. Of course, Washington state's fruit and vegetable growers would stand to gain if a more balanced farm bill is crafted this year.
From the editorial:

But it's also clear the federal government has awarded subsidies that further enriched a number of wealthy farmers without generating any public good.
We don't want to see farmers going out of business. But we do want to see some equity. The rich don't need to get richer on the our dime.
We hope the new farm bill will strike a balance, preserving farms when it's in the public interest while also pushing for broader recognition and production of fruit and vegetable crops.

TK; Here is another report that speaks of how the rekindled spark in the WTO talks may be at risk from the expiring Trade Promotion Agreement and the reluctance of lawmakers to cut farm subsidies. The WTO appears headed for the cliffs of doom, and some global negotiators want a helping hand from a reformed farm bill. I have a sense many in Congress want to see a familiar farm bill more than they would despair seeing the WTO tumble headlong into chasm.