Protecting Ag Workers Pt 3

Washington State Farm Bureau Report
Ag employers are doing everything they can to keep their seasonal workers safe during the pandemic, according to WSTFA President Jon DeVaney.

Protecting Ag Workers Pt 2

Washington State Farm Bureau Report
Ag employers are doing everything they can to keep their seasonal workers safe during the pandemic, according to WSTFA President Jon DeVaney.

Protecting Ag Workers Pt 1

Washington State Farm Bureau Report
Ag employers are doing everything they can to keep their seasonal workers safe during the pandemic, according to WSTFA President Jon DeVaney.

2016 Gypsy Moth Update

Fruit Grower Report
Harvest is winding down so it's a good time to reflect on what went right and what didn't. Gypsy moths are always a worry, so I asked Karla Salp, Community Outreach & Environmental Education Specialist from Washington State Department of Agriculture for an update

WSU To Provide BC Growers With Important New Orchard Management Resource

Washington State Farm Bureau Report
Washington State University will provide British Columbia growers in the Okanagan with an important new resource to improve orchard management. Washington State University's Decision Aid System (DAS) is a web-based platform designed to transfer time-sensitive information on pest management to orchardists, using real-time, local weather data and scientific pest and disease management information to help predict and manage pests and diseases.

Enhancing Western Orchard Biological Control

Fruit Grower Report
Enhancing Western Orchard Biological Control team is a collaborative project between WSU, OSU, the University of Cal at Berkeley who work to improve IPM programs using natural predators in apple , pear and walnut orchards. The Enhancing Western Orchard Biological Control web page features insects in action and great data.

The Advantages Of Photo-Selective Anti-Hail Nets

Fruit Grower Report
Netting can protect your crop from hail, and Photo-selective anti-hail nets can also provide additional value by reducing plant stress and sunburn.

ODA Helps Oregon Hop Farmers

Fruit Grower Report
While you enjoy that cold brew, it's more than likely that an ODA inspector painstakingly picked out leaves and stems that might be an ingredient. ODA's Randy Black says the lower the percentage of these undesirable elements, the better the price to the grower who has a contract with the brewer:

WA State Agrees With Wafla And Changes Grower Survey

Fruit Grower Report
Last year, wafla advised Washington state that it was not properly following federal guidelines, which mandate that piece rates with hourly wage guarantees such as the ones provided by H-2A employers must be surveyed separately,

Wage and Practices Survey

Fruit Grower Report
In the coming weeks, many growers in Washington and Oregon will receive a wage and practices survey from their state employment agency. The survey is voluntary, and in most cases, individual results will be kept confidential. Should you complete it?

NW Pear Growing Regions

Fruit Grower Report
: We have in Washington, the Wenatchee and Yakima Valley are two of our largest growing regions and then we have along the Columbia River, the mid-Columbia region on both sides of the river so Washington and Oregon. Most of that crop coming out of the Hood River area and then contributing in the Southern part of Oregon is Medford. Which is home to some beautiful Comice, Bosc's and other varieties like Bartlett's as well.

Celebrating Oregon's Organic Week

Fruit Grower Report
There are numerous wineries, tree fruit growers and packers that market organically grown. Oregon Governor Kate Brown is celebrating their efforts by proclaiming September 11th through the 17th as Organically Grown in Oregon Week

2016 Pear Crop Update And Outlook

Fruit Grower Report
Our 5 year average is about 20 million 44 lb cases and we are going to be below that at 18.9 so it's a little less than our 5 year average. What contributed to that, as we were expected this year to be up a bit because our crop tends to be somewhat up and down, each year? It sIt's one of those crops that tends to have a great year and then an off year. So we expected it to be up but what happened was we had a lot of heat in May when the blossom was there and we had a large drop of that early f

Rebuilding After The Carlton Fire

Fruit Grower Report
Rebecca Gebbers a Mutual of Mutual of Enumclaw independent insurance agent for VIP Insurance in Brewster Washington shares how her community is rebuilding after the devastating wildfire.

California Growers Furious at Ag Secretary Tom's Vilsack

Washington State Farm Bureau Report
Recently, this last week when USDA Secretary Vilsack was actually calling assemblymen in this state urging them to support this bill We were outraged

Glass Ceiling In the Tree Fruit And Wine Industry

Fruit Grower Report
I know of a number of women winemakers in the Northwest, but not so many orchards or vineyard managers. So I asked Keely Kopetz general manager of a Wy'East Winery in Hood River herself a millennial if she thought there was a glass ceiling for young women in this industry.

Technology To Aide Growers In predicting Harvest

Fruit Grower Report
Once we are able to detect the fruit we will then try to make a correlation with the number of fruits that we see from the outside to the total number of fruits in the tree and then try to predict the yield of that particular tree.

NEW EPA Regulations To Protect Farmworkers

Fruit Grower Report
With The Fruit Grower Report I'm Susan Allen – Next year fruit growers will have to begin complying with a host of new EPA regulations designed to protect farm workers from any ill effects associated with handling or working near pesticides. Agri-Pulse reports that

These new regulations will afford farm workers similar health protections that are already afforded to workers in other industries. Full compliance is not required until 2018.

Hazelnut Industry Setting Records

Fruit Grower Report
Well as we all know the industry is growing exponentially in the last five to ten years there has been a tremendous amount of acres planted in the Willamette Valley. With the production going up as high as it is there is some new technology out there.

High Tech Harvesting OF Hazelnuts

Fruit Grower Report
So the difference between this and what our growers are doing today is this that this is a one pass machine. The operation in the hazelnut orchard today is that they make several passes with a sweeper then they have to hook up the tractor with the nut harvester and go through the orchard a third time where this Monchiero single pass machine is one pass up and back through the and it will make their efficiencies much better than what they are traditionally used to doing.