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September 22, 2011
· Produce firm openly resists safety regulations
· Plains farmers brace for multi-year drought
· Robot tractor offers precision in the field
· A better test for a pesky potato pest
· Old-time apples are back in fashion
Produce firm openly resists safety regulations
(The New York Times) –When health investigators identified imported cantaloupes as the source of a salmonella outbreak early this year, the importer agreed to a recall. But now that company, Del Monte Fresh Produce, is trying to block additional restrictions on melon imports, setting off an unusually public battle between the produce industry and food safety regulators.
The company, which is one of the country’s largest produce marketers, says the restrictions could damage its reputation, and it has sued the Food and Drug Administration to lift them.
The effort is being cheered by many in the produce industry, who often complain about what they call overreaching by regulators and welcome a company with resources pushing back.
But advocates of safe food said that it was extremely rare for a major food company to take such a publicly aggressive stance, and that they suspected Del Monte Fresh Produce was trying to bully regulators into thinking twice before pursuing recalls in the future.
Aside from suing the F.D.A., the company has threatened
legal action against a leading state food-borne disease investigator in
“This clearly looks like an attempt to intimidate state level investigators,” said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group. “The chilling effect is real, and it could have serious implications for consumers who may be exposed to more tainted products because of delays in announcing the results of these epidemiologic investigations.”
An executive of Del Monte Fresh Produce said that its melons
did not make anyone sick and that the purpose of the lawsuit, filed in
“It’s got to be a comprehensive and reliable investigation, and in our opinion this was neither,” said Dennis Christou, vice president of marketing for Del Monte Fresh Produce, which is based in Coral Gables, Fla. “There’s absolutely no basis in the claim that this was done intentionally to intimidate or bully anyone.”
The company said Wednesday that it was in talks with the F.D.A. to resolve the dispute and expected an agreement soon.
Many in the produce industry, which has been buffeted by recalls for items as diverse as spinach, peppers and papayas, are quietly rooting for the company. “In this particular case, the F.D.A. took on an adversary that has some ability to stand up and say, ‘We’re not going to be treated this way,’ ” said Jim Prevor, editor in chief of Produce Business, a trade magazine.
The dispute is not related to the current recall of Rocky
Ford cantaloupes grown in
The Del Monte Fresh Produce tussle began in February when
people in several states began to fall ill with a rare bacterium known as
salmonella
State public health investigators soon discovered that many of the victims had eaten cantaloupe bought at Costco, the large warehouse retailer.
Using data from Costco membership cards, they found that the
melons came from one farm in
The early investigation involved 13 cases of illness, and officials found that at least 12 of them had a clear link to cantaloupes from Asunción Mita, a very high correlation.
The investigators, working with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the F.D.A., asked Del Monte Fresh Produce for a recall, following the usual procedure. The company at first resisted but, according to its lawsuit, eventually agreed to a limited recall to prevent the F.D.A. from issuing a broad warning about contaminated melons that could have affected the entire cantaloupe market. The recall was announced on March 22.
But in mid-July the F.D.A. issued an import alert, saying that the conditions that caused the contamination might still exist on the Asunción Mita farm. The alert allowed inspectors to stop cantaloupes grown on the farm from entering this country.
Del Monte Fresh Produce fired back, filing its lawsuit and accusing federal and state inspectors of conducting a slipshod investigation. And it questioned the validity of the results because investigators had not found a cantaloupe contaminated with the bacteria that had made people sick.
It also wrote to the State of
Public health specialists said that the evidence implicating Del Monte Fresh Produce cantaloupes was very strong.
“There’s no doubt the data are very
tight,” said Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, director of
the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the
And he said that many investigations involving sickness from produce did not find contaminated food because by the time officials became aware of the outbreak, the tainted produce had been eaten or discarded.
The company’s filings include an audit report of the
The audit, done by a company hired by Del Monte Fresh Produce, found that a pipe containing raw sewage and wastewater emptied into an open ditch about 110 yards from the farm’s packing house. The ditch led into a lagoon containing additional sewage, more than 220 yards from the packing house. The audit recommended that the ditch be eliminated.
Mr. Christou said the ditch was protected by barbed wire to keep large animals from tracking the waste into fields. He said the lagoon contained chemicals to speed decomposition of the waste and was away from fields and wells. After the audit, he said, the company extended the pipe all the way to the lagoon and discontinued use of the open ditch.
Asked if having raw sewage in an open ditch near its packing house was consistent with high food safety standards, Mr. Christou said that tests on melons had found no pathogens.
Plains farmers brace for multi-year drought
(The
New York Times) – David Cleavinger distinctly
remembers looking out to his cornfields on a recent 111-degree summer day in
"We have irrigation, but it doesn't matter how much irrigation you have," he said of the frustratingly fruitless work. In the face of violent winds and extreme heat, Cleavinger's corn was barely able to take in the little available water before it quickly evaporated. "When these winds come across these plains, there's nothing to stop them," he said of the treeless landscape he calls home.
Cleavinger, who farms about 3,500
acres with his son in the Panhandle town, has been growing corn, wheat and
cotton and raising cattle for 33 years. None compares to this year, when the
combination of brutal heat, relentless winds and no rain created one of the
most difficult years in history for
Many farmers across
Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of the agencies that run the Drought Monitor, foresee continued drought through the end of the year (ClimateWire, Sept. 16). But climatologists say there is strong possibility that the drought, nearing 12 months in duration, may extend to become a multi-year event, spanning several growing seasons. This could have painful consequences to the agricultural sector, with few tools for relief.
A double dip of La Niña
The conditions today are a far cry from the climate only a year ago, when favorable weather fostered confidence in farmers eager to take advantage of rising commodity prices.
La Niña -- the weather event marked by cooling Pacific
temperatures that stimulate warming in the center of the country --
kick-started the drought last fall. La Niña persisted through the critical rain
months of spring, said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the
"All of a sudden, we saw 50-50 chance [of La Niña re-emerging]," said Fuchs. "That is really not good news."
The long-term forecast is grim. "Everything, scientifically, is leaning toward this being a multi-year event," said Fuchs.
"We can call it a consensus [among climatologists] of
an increased chance that it's back," added Gary McManus, associate state
climatologist for
Multi-year events are not rare in themselves, and are often a defining attribute of droughts. By nature, droughts -- especially severe ones -- are slow to ramp up and slow to recover, said Fuchs. That sets them apart from other natural disasters. But the timing of these back-to-back La Niña events has not been kind to the Southern Plains, said McManus.
"At least in
The last multi-season drought lasted from 2007 to 2009
through
Tropical storm season in the Gulf of Mexico could provide
some relief to
"We're getting to the end of the season," said Dale Mohler, an agricultural meteorologist with Accuweather.com. "The blocking high [pressure area] that has promoted the dryness and heat is still there, and that keeps the moisture away." Mohler expects La Niña to persist through February.
"The odds are very high that rainfall will be below normal," he said. "Those storms will be too few and too far between."
Thirsty seeds put farmers in a bind
Cleavinger, the Texas Panhandle farmer, did grow crops this year, but not without a large number of inputs and humbling losses. In most years, he harvests 60 bushels of wheat. This year, it was 25. His corn harvest was 40 percent less than last year.
"We started pumping water on the first of March, and the irrigation never shut off until a week ago," he said. "That's unheard of."
In
Wheat farmers are in a bind to plant their seed. Few have chosen to invest in certified seed, opting for saved, bin-run seed. Some, like Cleavinger, are hoping the seed will feel just enough rain to carry the seed through dormancy.
"Producers are very leery of putting seed into the ground," said Fuchs. Despite the slim odds for success, many wheat farmers will keep on planting. Several crop insurance plans insist that farmers sow seeds to be covered. The little wheat that does make it past dormancy will be cattle feed, said Cleavinger.
The seed that does go in won't be the latest-generation certified seed from agricultural companies, but saved seed. Irrigated acres will be cut off and heartier varieties planted, said Steelee Fischbacher, spokeswoman for the Texas Wheat Producers Association.
Short- and long-term damage
The Federal Emergency Management Agency does not recognize drought as a disaster, said Fuchs, limiting the federal aid sources that farmers can receive. Safety nets for traditional crop insurance policies have dropped. Farmers are unable to reach the actual production history -- the average yield figure that insurance companies use to determine payouts for losses -- and they are left to absorb the difference.
The Obama administration strongly supports disaster assistance programs that protect farmers in their time of greatest need. To strengthen this support, the administration proposes to extend these programs, or similar types of disaster assistance that are of a similar cost, for the 2012-2016 crops.
The programs provide assistance to those who have suffered losses in farm revenue, livestock or the ability to graze their livestock and losses due to diseases or adverse weather. The Agriculture Department's Farm Service Agency is allowing farmers to graze cattle and collect hay on normally off-limits conservation land until the end of October.
Cotton has been surviving on its irrigation. Farmers are resting assured for now, given that the planting season for cotton won't begin until next spring. If the drought extends to then, farmers may not have that option.
"Water supplies are dwindling," said Mohler. "That's just more consumption with no replenishment."
But on the ground, farmers are maintaining hope. "As long as we get a little bit of rain, we should be able to make a little bit in the spring," said Fischbacher.
Some losses will take longer to recover. Cattle farmers will need many years to replenish their losses, as long-term genetic bloodlines for top-bred cattle have died off en masse.
But Fuchs, who has studied drought throughout the country, fears this will accelerate the loss of full-time farmers, rippling through the social and economic fabric of small towns. "For the older generation, they've sold off, and they're not coming back," he said.
Robot tractor offers precision in the field
(ScienceDaily) — A farmer rising at the crack of dawn to
till his fields in a tractor all day? This could soon become a thing of the
past.
The tractor adapts itself to terrain conditions and adjusts its speed and turning radius automatically. It can complete a pre-programmed route with exceptional precision…and without the intervention of a driver. The researchers behind the machine will unveil a first prototype at the 30th Annual International Agriculture and Horticulture Days of Mechanisation, on 24 and 25 September in Oudenaarde.
Erik Hostens, project engineer for FMTC, described the tractor's navigation system: "We started by installing a linear propulsion system to press the gas pedal down and steer. Then we equipped the tractor with a computer and various additional positional sensors, including a GPS system." The most important challenge came after these modifications were complete: engineering a steering system that effectively takes over the role of the operator. "Only experienced tractor operators have the skills needed to work a field with precision. The job of an operator is really quite complex: he observes the tractor's current position, makes a judgement based on terrain conditions and the route to be followed, and, based on all this, decides the speed and orientation of the tractor. All these actions had to be integrated into the automated steering system. The system registers positional changes in real-time with a GPS and adjusts itself accordingly."
Traction control
The constantly changing ground conditions in the field present a particularly sticky challenge when developing an automated tractor. Gregory Pinte, of FMTC, explains: "The tractor must be capable of driving in both hard and wet terrain. Traditional navigation systems are unable to handle multi-terrain conditions. Instead, a different setting must be calibrated for each terrain type. That's why we developed a steering system that intuits terrain conditions and estimates the expected wheel slippage. Based on a model of the tractor, the optimal speed and turning radius is calculated, in real-time, for the current terrain type. This 'smart steering' allows for precision down to the centimetre."
Higher precision and low operator costs
What is the benefit of an automated tractor? "The importance of precision steering for agricultural machines has increased significantly, particularly with the arrival of organic farming," says Professor Wouter Saeys, of the MeBioS division. "The accurate positioning of the machine is essential." Another important trend in agriculture is automation. Vincent Theunynck, of New Holland, explains: "By putting automated agricultural machines in the fields, ever-increasing operator costs can be significantly reduced. On top of that, thanks to the 'smart steering' capability of the robot, changes in terrain type have become superfluous."
The tractor-robot is an example of the successful cooperation within the IWT-SBO project Learning Control of Production Machines (LeCoPro) between participating academic knowledge centres and a Flemish industrial partner. As part of the project, the FMTC partnered with the Flemish universities K.U.Leuven, VUB and UGent to establish a knowledge base geared toward developing smart steering strategies for use in production machines. The techniques developed in the course of this program will allow Flemish industry to bring the 'smart machines' of the future to the market.
A better test for a pesky potato pest
(USDA-ARS) – A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist has created a new weapon in the war being waged against the potato cyst nematode-a diagnostic test that identifies the type of nematode infesting a grower's field.
Xiaohong Wang, a molecular
biologist with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
There are two types of potato cyst nematode (PCN), the golden nematode and the pale cyst nematode. Being able to tell one from the other is important because breeders have developed potatoes that can resist the golden nematode, but have yet to develop varieties that resist the pale cyst nematode. If the pale cyst nematode is found in a field, potatoes cannot be grown there.
The golden nematode (Globodera rostochiensis) has been a problem in
Traditional methods of distinguishing between the two PCN species have relied on time-consuming morphological analyses and PCR (polymerase chain reaction) assays. They also require relatively large samples of nematode cysts. But Wang and her colleagues cloned the parasitism gene the nematodes use to produce a protein that plays an important role in the infection process, known as chorismate mutase.
The researchers then sequenced those chorismate mutase genes, compared the sequences, and identified unique regions in each sequence. They then developed a probe capable of recognizing the unique regions in each nematode's DNA. Wang described the process in a paper in the European Journal of Plant Pathology.
The diagnostic test is one of several new technologies designed to distinguish PCN types from each other, but it is a thousand times more sensitive than other systems and is expected to be widely used in regulatory and quarantine programs because it can give reliable results from tiny amounts of nematode material.
Old-time apples are back in fashion
(Associated Press) – After nearly disappearing from the marketplace, apple varieties that were popular decades or even centuries ago are making a resurgence. The varieties, known as antique or heirloom apples, number in the thousands and carry names such as Sheepnose, American Mother, Lady Sweet and Nickajack.
And thanks to growing interest in all foods local and heirloom, they increasingly are showing up at farm stands and markets, at pick-your-own orchards and in ciders and baked goods.
The apples provide a fresh source of income for apple growers, allowing them to distinguish themselves from the average orchard. For consumers, the apples are a chance to buy and taste a uniquely local product, something unlikely to be grown anywhere else in the country.
There's been strong interest in antique apples in recent
years, but the past year in particular has seen enormous growth, said Gary Paul
Nabhan, a chair in sustainable food systems at the
"Foods that are memorable, have an incredible history and incredible flavor and texture all of the sudden are back on our screen," Nabhan said. "These apples are so absolutely delicious and have such remarkable stories with them that once you're introduced to them you can't go back to squishy Red Delicious."
Incredibly, there are an estimated 15,000 or more apple
varieties that have been named and grown in
The top varieties -- the ones commonly found in supermarkets
that most everybody knows -- include Red Delicious, Gala, Golden Delicious,
Granny Smith,
At one time, Steve Wood grew only McIntosh,
But the market changed, and apple growers worldwide began delivering uniform, large waxed apples year-round. No longer able to command a premium for his crop of standard apples, Wood bulldozed his orchard, began growing old-style varieties and branded his harvest as "uncommon apples."
Today, he sells them from his retail farm stand while also
shipping them to wholesalers and retailers along the East Coast and as far away
as
About 25 percent of his orchard still goes to Macs and Cortlands, with roughly 35 percent to uncommon apples good
for eating. The remaining 45 percent goes to other apples -- some of which are
of the old-style variety, which are used to make alcoholic ciders. His eating
varieties include Wickson, Hubbardston Nonesuch,
Wood turned to heirloom apples because it made economic sense. He's not sure he'd still be in business if he hadn't.
"This is a commercial orchard. It's not a museum," he said. "It's not just whether these varieties are worthy of preservation. It's whether we can sustain a business off it."
Clarkdale Fruit Farms in
Some of the old-style varieties aren't good for simply
chomping into, but they're good for cooking (Duchess of Oldenbergs
and Gravensteins, for example) or making cider (Baldwins, Golden Russets and Roxbury Russets),
"Horticulturally, it's
interesting, and it helps out sales, growing different things,"
Dan Bussey's Albion Prairie Cider
Orchard & Mill in
"We have to get people used to trying these again, and realizing how good they are they should be part of our diet," he said. "Once we get people to try them, they are very receptive."
Christie Higginbottom, a gardening historian at Old Sturbridge Village, said each apple variety has a story of its own and is typically named for what they look like (such as the Sheepnose), the person who introduced them to market (the Baldwin, for example) or where they came from (such as the Westfield or the Roxbury Russet). The Roxbury Russet can be traced back to the 1640s and is considered the oldest still-surviving apple of American origin, she said.
Each one has a "different personality" that makes them good in different products, Higginbottom said. The Rhode Island Greening is good in apple sauce, the Golden Russet makes a good cider and the Ashmead Kernel is one of her favorites for eating out of hand.
In
Bunker also spends much of his time tracking down and
rescuing heirloom apple varieties in
"If we're smart about it we can redevelop, reclaim a
whole system of local varieties all over the place," he said. "So
like
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