Growing California Avocados

A team of Iowa State University weed scientists and sociologists are conducting an anonymous survey among specialty crop growers to determine what weed control tools and technologies growers are aware of or are interested in and what factors drive or hinder growers from adopting weed management technologies.

The Specialty Crop Ag Workforce Development Program is conducting an employer survey to better understand the workforce needs in agricultural production, processing and support services while identifying current gaps in workforce skills and education. Data will be used to shape workforce training programs.

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.”