Conventional farmers using IPM practices, including powerful synthetic organic insecticides, are struggling to manage BMSB, and there are currently no viable solutions for organic farmers, he said.
Gut said there is concern because some growers have already had to abandon less aggressive control measures for more drastic ones.
Theyre using broad-spectrum neurotoxins in an attempt to save their crop from high populations of BMSB, he said. This is detrimental to predators, parasitoids and pollinators, and it increases the environmental footprint of fruit production. It could set pest management back 30 years.
9.19.11
Better than 2010
States apple growers anticipate a 78 percent improvement over last years crop yield
By KIM INGALLS
Tribune staff writer
After a disappointing crop last year, local apple farmers are looking forward to the state's most popular fruit crop bouncing back.
"We should be nicely over last year," says Allan Overhiser, owner of Overhiser Orchards located on 107th avenue. "Last year was one of the worst crops ever."
The USDA's National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) Michigan Field Office predicts that the 2011 apple production should be at 1,050 million pounds - up 78 percent from last year.
The statistics are a little deceiving, however, said Ken Nye, horticulture and forestry specialist with Michigan Farm Bureau.
"Remember that last year we had only half a crop," he said. "The 78 percent increase represents a nice rebound, but it's not going to be a record. There will be plenty of Michigan apples to go around, though, and the quality is good despite the challenges growers faced."
In 2010, a late spring frost trimmed apple buds and contributed to the poor production. This year, weather during apple budding was warmer, although incidents of harsh weather may have caused some problems.
Michigan is the third largest apple-producing state in the nation, and on average harvests about 20 million bushels of apples per year.
As farmers deal with variables year to year, consumers can be assured that for this season they'll have plenty of high-quality Michigan fruit on store shelves at very reasonable prices.
"Prices should remain firm," agrees Ed Raak, owner of Dutch Farm Market on 109th avenue. He also expects to harvest more apples than last year, but says that in 2010 he was one of the few that were lucky enough to have a decent crop.
"We were one of the fortunate ones," he says. "We had a big crop last year and should be up by 15 percent this year."
One of the largest wholesalers in the area, Dutch Farm Market sells the majority of its fruit to markets from Florida to Texas.
"We'll pack nearly every day until the middle of March," Raak said.
With more than 7.5 million apple trees in commercial production, covering some 37,500 acres, the state's reputation for high-quality apples is gaining attention in international markets.
The new markets are expected to boost Michigan's apple exports to five to seven percent of the overall crop, said Denise Donohue, executive director of the Michigan Apple Committee.
"We're seeing brand new markets in Russia, India and Brazil," she said. "We already sell in 26 states, but when the crops are so variable, as they have been in the past four years or so, it makes marketing a challenge. We have to have a steady supply to keep the customers, but when yields aren't consistent year to year, marketers have to keep reintroducing themselves to the market."
Growers have taken steps to level off the season-to-season crop variability, Donohue said, but that creates new challenges.
"Some growers have invested a lot in the last year or so on wind machines and other ways to mitigate some of those lower temperatures in the spring, like the ones that hurt us in 2010," she said, noting that growers who have increasingly replaced older, taller trees with more efficient, shorter trees need the extra frost protection.
"The cold air settles down, and that makes it more difficult to protect from freezes with the smaller trees," she said.
About 40 percent of all Michigan apples are sold ready to eat. The remaining 60 percent are processed into other products, including fresh-cut slices, fresh and shelf-stable apple cider and applesauce. Michigan apples comprise the bulk of all apple slices used in commercially prepared apple pies.
While early freezes are a common worry for farmers, all in all things are looking good.
"This is not a limb-busting crop," admits Overhiser, "but the quality and size are going to be good. The weather is setting up for good color too."
8.16.11
Upton: Free Trade Agreement would help blueberry farmers
By BECKY BURKERT
Editor and general manager
Congressional approval of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement could occur sometime in September and U.S. Rep. Fred Upton is backing it all the way.
For agriculture its a big deal; for blueberry growers it will help them, Upton predicted.
Upton visited several area blueberry farms in the Grand Junction area today as part of a tour of Southwestern Michigan. He talked with growers and met with representatives of MBG Marketing, a cooperative representing more than 300 growers throughout the United States.
The agreement would help Michigan blueberry growers in that Midwest berries will have a better market in the East, because berries from Washington would be going to Korea, Upton said.
Blueberry farmers arent the only ones that could benefit from the pending trade agreement, which would include similar pacts with Colombia and Panama.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture estimates that the agreement could funnel an additional $.5 billion into the states economy over the next 10 years. In addition, the agreement would eliminate more than 60 percent of the tariffs Korea charges the U.S. for selling American agricultural products there, according to the Michigan Farm Bureau. Other tariffs with Korea would be phased out within 15 years.
Upton isnt the only one touting approval of the free trade agreement. In May, Jong-hyun Choi, the minister of economic affairs for the Korean Embassy in Washington D.C., spent three days touring farms in the state, including the farm of Art Thomas in Grand Junction and MBG Marketing. The visit was covered by regional media, including the Grand Rapids Business Journal, which interviewed Thomas and representatives of MBG.
Not everyone is favorable about the pending free trade agreement with Korea, however.
You would think America had learned its lesson from NAFTA, which the Labor Department has estimated cost us 525,000 jobs, wrote Ian Fletcher, author of Free Trade Doesnt Work: What Should Replace It and Why, in the Huffington Post online site. This agreement, like NAFTA and the dozen or so other free trade agreements America has signed since NAFTA, is fundamentally an offshoring agreement. It is about making it easier for U.S. companies to move work overseas. The provisions to protect workers and consumers are unenforceable window dressing.
Democratic U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, both of Michigan, have asked President Obama not to approve any agreement until Congress renews long-term extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance, which helps provide retraining programs for people whose jobs were sent overseas, some income assistance and reduced health care costs.
Many Republicans though think the negatives outweigh the positives in approving a trade agreement with Korea, Columbia and Panama.
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