Growing California Avocados

To assist agricultural operations in implementing the revised Pre-harvest Agricultural Water (Subpart E) rule in the Food Safety Modernization Act, several webinars are available. Of note, the revised portion of this rule has moved from an emphasis on testing pre-harvest water to performing an agricultural water assessment.

The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources department is hosting a one-day Vertebrate Pest Conference Seminar Series on February 20

The California Department of Food and Agriculture has made several Produce Safety Program Portal training resources available on its PSP portal information website.

The CDFA is launching an agricultural workforce survey for the specialty crop industry to determine employer needs. Recognizing that ag industry jobs and careers are adopting more technologies and require new skills, the Specialty Crop Ag Workforce Development Program has developed this survey to identify workplace trends and necessary job skills.

Zero Foodprint is now accepting application for the Restore Grant, which provides up to $25,000 to agricultural operations that implement conservation practices to build healthy soil and sequester carbon. Applications are due February 19

CAC is calling on growers to sign a petition urging the USDA to fully restore its inspection of avocados from Mexico. Since USDA unilaterally downgraded its inspection obligations by shifting orchard inspections to Mexico, detections of stem and seed weevils in packing facilities increased with APHIS acknowledging “the number of recent interceptions is notable given the infrequency of such interceptions over the history of the program.”

The Agricultural Pass Program provides members of agricultural operations with access to restricted areas during or following a natural disaster to care for livestock, maintain irrigation access, access property/facilities that are part of the operation and transport/deliver necessary equipment for irrigation systems.

The California Avocado Commission’s pre-season crop estimate survey has been completed. The data have been compiled into the CAC Pre-season Crop Estimate and Harvest Projections report, which is now available online. The report is based on survey responses submitted in late December/early January from eight AMRIC handlers.