Growing up in rural Douglas, Georgia, a town of 11,000 people, Brown actively participated in Future Farmers of America. She also liked to watch cooking shows on TV, and she enjoyed science.

But she wasn’t sure how to combine food with science.

Flash forward a couple of decades, and now she’s the new state specialized agent for food science for the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Extension in southwest Florida.

“When I was in high school, I was selected to attend the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program as an agricultural sciences major,” she said in a news release. “It was a great opportunity to get a first glimpse into what college or other academic pursuits could look like outside of a traditional classroom setting. What made this program unique was there was not a set curriculum, no tests and (we had) freedom to pursue what we were interested in learning. This program was a game changer for me.”

Later, as a sophomore at the University of Georgia (UGA), Brown was looking for a course to satisfy one of her core degree requirements. She was intrigued by a class called, “Food Issues and Choices,” adding, “Who doesn’t like talking about food?”

She wound up earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in food science at UGA, then a master’s in animal science from the University of Connecticut (UConn). In August, she will receive her Ph.D. in animal science from UConn.

While earning her doctorate, Brown worked as a food safety specialist at Oregon State University. Now, Brown plans to help residents, entrepreneurs, members of the food industry and others understand more about food safety statewide – but with an emphasis on stakeholders in Southwest Florida.

Brown admits to having a lot to learn about the specific food science and safety needs of Florida.

“I foresee one of the biggest needs being to provide assistance — through outreach and education — to the food industry with understanding and compliance of new and changing federal regulations,” she said.

For example, in November 2022 and May 2024, the Food and Drug Administration released the final Food Traceability Rule and Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water Rule, respectively.

Both rules fall under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which was signed into law in 2011. This act was one of the most sweeping changes to food safety regulation in decades, with one of the big outcomes being a shift from reacting to problems to a focus on preventing them.

Not all food operations are required to comply with FSMA regulations. However, Brown and others still need to train smaller food operations on other food related regulations (at the local, state, and federal level) and food safety best practices. The food safety team at UF/IFAS has already done a fantastic job creating and adapting courses and resources for some of these audiences, she said.

“However, as industry needs change, it is important that we continue to meet those needs,” Brown said. “I have talked with several food science and food safety faculty and staff at UF/IFAS about this topic, and I look forward to our future collaborations, so we can deliver information to our constituents.”

Brown works at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center in Immokalee, Florida, which employs scientists from many academic disciplines.

“Although I greatly miss my Oregon collaborators and friends, this position had everything I was looking for in the next stage of my career,” she said. “Through my job- searching over the years, I had not found many positions that allow you to solely focus on helping people, which was one of the major reasons I got into science as a career path. Extension is great in that regard in that it allows for direct interactions with your community and lets you use your skillsets to help solve real problems.”

— Brad Buck, UF/IFAS.

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With prolonged triple-digit temperatures pummeling the state’s key agricultural regions—topping 110 degrees in some areas — farmers are irrigating fields more frequently, deploying misters and fans to cool livestock, and shortening daytime work for agricultural employees or working after sundown.

Persistent, scorching temperatures can put crops such as table grapes at risk. At Mirabella Farms in Fresno County, grower Philippe Markarian said he was working to prevent damage to the fruit. But he said he anticipates some crop loss.

“The vines will be under a significant amount of stress,” he said.

Last week, most of the varieties Markarian grows were going into veraison, when the grapes begin changing color and ripening. With high-enough heat, the berries will cook on the vine, especially if they’re in direct sunlight, making the fruit unsalable.

Markarian said he was increasing irrigation to help the vines weather the heat. He was also experimenting for the first time with applying a polymer coating designed to prevent vine stress by mitigating transpiration, helping the plants regulate their internal temperatures.

He typically begins picking Flame Seedless — the first variety to come off each year — around July 10-14, but heat stress on the plant will delay harvest, he said.

For Dave Vierra, who grows fresh-market fruits and vegetables in Yolo County, the growing season is still early enough that the heat won’t be too detrimental to his crops. He said he expects “minimal loss” on his watermelon, which might get a bit sunburned. His sweet corn will fare OK, he said, as will his tomatoes, which are still on the green side, with the plant’s huge canopy to protect the fruit from sunburn.

With high heat, there is concern of increased pest pressure, especially mites, worms and moths, all of which he’s monitoring for in his corn crop, he said.

Perhaps his biggest heat-related impact so far is on sales, especially at farmers markets, which have seen attendance drop. To maintain his presence, he said he continues to participate in all his usual markets. His on-farm fruit stand also remains open, he said, though sales have not been as severely impacted as at farmers markets. He credited the installation of shade and misters at his fruit stand for keeping customers and employees comfortable.

One bright spot has been watermelon sales, which he said benefited from the heat. Sweet corn and watermelon are typically big sellers during the summer, but he said sales of sweet corn have been sluggish due to higher prices at the retail level.

“It’s an interesting landscape at the moment, to say the least,” Vierra said.

With harvest crews working fewer hours due to the heat, he said there’s more spoilage in the field.  Trying to keep crops cool through the heat will add to his costs, Vierra said, noting the increased energy used for cold storage and other cooling equipment. Because they are running full throttle, he said, they tend to need repair.

“We rarely get out of a heat wave like this without some sort of equipment failure,” he said.

— Ching Lee is an assistant editor of Ag Alert.

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Scheduled for Oct. 22-24 in Woodland, California, 11 miles from the Sacramento International Airport, FIRA USA is set to provide growers and other industry personnel the opportunity to view new agricultural technology in action in the global ag robotics sector.

The core focus of the conference is to afford growers the opportunity to network, exchange feedback and to learn more about existing solutions through grower roundtables on specific crops sponsored by commodity boards, said Gwendoline Legrand, co-director for show sponsor FIRA and GOFAR (Global Organization for Agricultural Robotics).

“The end-users are the key. You can not develop disruptive solutions without having them in the loop,” Legrand said. “They need to share their vision, they need to touch, to test, to say ‘No, I want this that way’ and finally, get the exact systems that work for them. The growers’ needs is where everything started for FIRA. We are not showcasing and presenting robots and autonomous solutions as an end by themselves. Those machines need to represent a proper solution to specific needs, as diverse as the farmers are. The manufacturers understand that, and are very often building the solutions together with the growers, directly operating in the fields.”

Free grower admission

This year growers will receive free admission, a longtime World FIRA Europe policy that allows even more industry stakeholders and small to large-scale growers to leave the event with more autonomous and robotics technology information and vision, Legrand said.

To address the tree fruit industry’s automation needs, the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission and the California Almond Board are signed up as new sponsors.

Both organizations have long been part of FIRA USA support, promoting the event to their communities and visiting the show. This year, however, will be the first year the grower organizations decided to sponsor the event, to highlight the problems faced by tree fruit and nut growers, and to help them discover stand-alone solutions already on the market, Legrand said.

The sponsorships also prompt interest from other commodity boards and research institutes and motivate them to organize specific programs for their growers, she said.

As previous FIRAs explored many topics relating to ag robotics, organizers want this year’s education component to be as relevant as possible for growers, and include sessions designed to discuss issues growers are facing and existing autonomous solutions for individual crops.

Commodity group and research involvement are critical. Panelists are set to share stories on how the industry is “automation-ready” and provide examples of vendors working in the space with commodity groups and universities.

Tech solutions

The educational portion includes crop-specific themed roundtables covering topics including tree fruit automation and reducing spray drift and improving spray coverage in the almond and tree nuts industry. To address the tree fruit industry’s tech needs, sessions will include strategies, failures, plans and expectations and be focused on priority areas and timelines to affect crop load management and harvest labor, Legrand said.

Real-life demos will occur in the fields, displaying existing autonomous solutions from a variety of agtech firms. FIRA plans to include suppliers of autonomous irrigation solutions, a big leap forward for this year’s edition, she said.

To allow growers to lace their boots and trek through fields to see automation in action, a new event is being offered — a pre-show bus tour, Oct. 17- 21. The Cal Ag Robotics Discovery Tour is scheduled to show growers and other industry participants the latest in agricultural technology by visiting a wide range of farms and crops using tech across the Sacramento, Central and Salinas valleys.

Through viewing the operations’ daily challenges and the solutions they use, the California Ag Robotics Discovery tour will allow participants to immerse themselves in and deepen their market understanding of tech in California’s leading and most powerful growers, Legrand said. The five-day tour will bring a broad vision into fruit and nut trees, vineyards and berries, vegetables, including tomatoes and leafy greens, and supply a network of growers and participants at the stops, she said.

“This is what is impressive with many ag robots: They are versatile, they can adapt,” Legrand said. “This is also what we do with FIRA, through traveling across California to meet different growers, and present what could be their next-gen machines.”

The show will also tackle commodity commission funding, industry collaboration and automation readiness, with sessions showing participants the need for funding and investment to move products across the finish line, Legrand said.

France-based GOFAR is a nonprofit organization that promotes and develops the agricultural robotics sector at international level.

For more information, visit fira-usa.com.

—  By Doug Ohlemeier, Assistant Editor

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“It is critical for growers to supply melons, especially watermelons, to retailers in time for the July Fourth holiday,” said Bryan Van Groningen of Van Groningen and Sons, a grower, packer and shipper of watermelons based in Manteca. “Much of the summertime watermelon demand is dependent on family consumption and people having parties and picnics.”

Van Groningen, whose family grows and ships seeded, seedless and miniature watermelons to retailers in California and other states, said crews began harvesting watermelons last week near Manteca.

Early-season miniature watermelons are packed under the Yosemite Fresh label and sold in supermarkets in California and across the West. Photo by Christine Souza.

Melon season has shifted to the San Joaquin Valley as harvest wraps up in the Southern California desert in the Imperial Valley and in Yuma, Arizona. Harvest in the San Joaquin Valley is expected to continue through October and resume in the desert from October to December.

In mid-March, when planting typically begins in the San Joaquin Valley, Van Groningen said wet weather and soggy field conditions interrupted ground preparation and delayed planting.

“This year, we had to wait to plant until the third week of March because it was too wet and cold,” he said. “Due to the delay, we only got a chance to plant about two-thirds of our acres for the early marketing window, so our volume is probably going to be down a little.”

Because the late-season melon market is usually not as lucrative, Van Groningen said he was concerned that he would not be able to supply the volume of watermelons he initially planned for June and July. With the supply of watermelons short right now, he noted, “the price and the demand are very good.”

“I’m kind of afraid for that August to September market, but we’ll see what happens,” he said, adding he hopes the market will continue to be strong in July. “August is when demand starts to slow because there are more watermelons available.”

Producing some 100 million pounds of watermelons annually, Van Groningen said about 80% of the family’s watermelons is shipped to retailers in California, with additional volume distributed in Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Utah and Colorado. He said he anticipates a grower price of $450 to $500 per ton, which he described as about average for watermelons.

While figures are not yet available for the San Joaquin Valley watermelon crop, prices for the Southern California desert region are running below last year’s pace, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service.

As of mid-June, a 45-count carton of seedless watermelons was selling for $154 to $189, while the 60-count carton went for $105 to $155. This was a slight drop from the 2023 price, according to USDA.

Brawley-based farmer Joe Colace of Five Crowns Marketing, which grows, packs and ships watermelons, cantaloupes, honeydews and specialty melon varieties, said he expects to finish melon harvest in the Imperial Valley in about a week.

“There’s just a little bit of an oversupply here in the desert, but it has been a very nice year for quality,” Colace said. “Our sugar, or soluble solid levels, seem to be above average.”

When harvest began in the desert region in early May, Colace said many cantaloupe and honeydew growers reported smaller sizes and less production due to wind and below-average temperatures through late February and into April. He noted that he “saw size and production pick up in the middle part of June.”

“One thing about cooler-than-normal temperatures: Quality typically tends to be a little better because you don’t have nearly the stress on the plant,” he said.

Colace said he is pleased with two new specialty melons—the Picasso and Picasso Sunrise, available from late May to early July. The Japanese-origin Picasso variety is a white-flesh melon with a high level of sugar. The Picasso Sunrise has similar traits but with salmon-color flesh. Colace said he worked with seed company breeders to develop the new varieties that are exclusive to Five Crowns Marketing.

“We try and develop varieties that check off all of the critical boxes for delivered product to the stores, and Picasso and Picasso Sunrise, right now, are checking all the boxes,” Colace said.

In the Imperial Valley, Colace relies 100% on water supplied by the Colorado River. “There seems to be not an abundance of water, but water is available, and that has taken some of the pressure off all the respective growing areas,” he said.

Growers in all regions tend to agree that costs to grow, pack and ship melon crops have escalated.

This includes Stanislaus County farmer Matt Maring, a partner in Patterson-based T&M Farms, which grows watermelons, cantaloupes, honeydews and mixed melon varieties. He estimated the cost to grow watermelons is about $4,000 an acre, while growing and packing can run about $12,000 an acre.

“If you don’t have historical sales and relationships with chain stores, you are crazy to go plant and pray that you have a market,” he said.

Maring said he expects to harvest melons from early July to November. The westside region had good growing conditions this spring with mild temperatures, Maring said, noting he observed no pest or disease issues. In addition, the region had more water this year.

Much of Maring’s water is supplied by the federal Central Valley Project, which received 40% of requested supplies this year. The number of acres he planted this year was not based on water availability but demand from the company that markets his crop.

As the season progresses, Maring said there may be a surplus of melons on the market. “It’s definitely setting up that way,” he said.

Due to his location, Maring said it is not always easy to supply melons to customers by July 4. But he said he is impressed with melon quality this year, adding flavor is “ridiculously good.”

“I do a lot of shopping at my house,” he said, “and when stores have six pallets of watermelons at the store entrance at $6 or $7 each, that sparks interest.”

— Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. 

This article was originally published by the California Farm Bureau Federation and permission was granted for its use.

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The OSU South Centers Soil, Water, and Bioenergy program will host the July 25 event.

The event is to be held at OSU South Centers, 1864 Shyville Road, Piketon, Ohio.

The field event will cover topics such as drone use, new fertilization programs, soil amendments and more. The information presented is based on research funded by the Ohio Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant.

There is no charge for the event, thanks to sponsors and is in collaboration with the Pike Soil and Water Conservation District.

The event includes dinner, according to a news release from the OSU College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

For those interested in attending, registration is available online.

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Moleaer Inc., a nanobubble technology firm, is collaborating with Griffin Greenhouse Supplies Inc.

The two are sponsoring a July 10 webinar the week before Cultivate 24, North America’s largest horticulture trade show and educational conference, sponsored by AmericanHort.

Nanobubbles are tiny bubbles, invisible to the naked eye and 2,500 times smaller than a single grain of salt that help agriculture and other industries.

In 2023, Moleaer partnered with Griffin to enhance growers’ access to Moleaer’s nanobubble technology. With Griffin’s 75-year history as a provider of products and solutions to greenhouse and nursery producers, the partnership accesses Griffin’s knowledge and capabilities, according to a news release.

The combination of Moleaer’s more than 1,000 global horticulture and agriculture installations and Griffin’s expertise should offer growers the productivity-boosting and cost-saving advantages of nanobubble technology, helping them achieve their economic and sustainability objectives, according to the release.

The “Get More from Your Irrigation Water: How Nanobubble Oxygenation Enhances Crop Quality & Reduces Costs” webinar is designed to share the benefits of nanobubble oxygenation with horticulture growers looking to optimize their operations and reduce costs.

Increased dissolved oxygen levels in irrigation water are widely recognized to maximize oxygen utilization by plants and beneficial microbes, promoting healthy root development and enhancing resilience to environmental stressors like drought and heat. However, economically oxygenating irrigation water has historically been challenging, according to the release.

Dissolved oxygen produced by Moleaer’s nanobubble technology enables growers to cost effectively oxygenate their irrigation water while providing the unique benefits of nano-sized bubbles, including biofilm control, pathogen and algae reduction, better infiltration, increased water quality and more, according to the release.

The technology is noted for its stability and transfer efficiency, allowing growers to maintain longer and more consistent dissolved oxygen concentrations in their irrigation water, according to the release.

With more than eight years of horticulture expertise, Justin Leavitt, Moleaer’s North American business development manager for horticulture, will cover common water quality issues for growers, the benefits of dissolved oxygen, the science behind oxygen nanobubbles, and ways nanobubble technology has helped over 1,000 growers worldwide improve operational efficiency, increase crop quality and reduce costs.

“We’re excited to share the benefits of our technology with Griffin’s customers,” Leavitt said in the release. “As a grower myself, I truly believe in the power of nanobubbles and how they can enable growers to get more from their irrigation water while becoming more sustainable and profitable.”

“We are looking forward to partnering with Moleaer on this informative webinar to help growers better understand the benefits of this nanobubble technology that will allow growers to improve their operations and reduce costs,” said Mandi Maloney, Griffin’s irrigation specialist, said in the release.

More information and registration is available here.

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The pilot program, launched and administered through USDA Office of Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) in Fresno County, works to recharge groundwater supplies by flooding crop fields.

The NRCS initiated the program in reaction to groundwater depletion becoming a significant resource concern. The trial is working mostly with permanent crops, including grapes. While NRCS has been testing groundwater recharge for several years, the pilot program began in the fall of 2023, said Dave Krietemeyer, an NRCS area engineer.

NRCS is working with 20 grower contracts, up from 15 in 2023, with four more recharge basins, higher than the sole basin before.

Krietemeyer works with the state’s numerous water districts, which operate differently. Participating water districts are in Fresno, Kern, Madera and Tulare counties, and include Chowchilla, Madera, Delano, Fresno, Tulare and Delano districts. Krietemeyer reports favorable grower interest.

“Some districts operate where they have winter flow deliveries based on their share of what’s in reserve behind dams,” Krietemeyer said. “Historically, irrigation districts’ objective is to deliver irrigation water, not so much with floodwater delivery. Because of SGMA, that is different today.”

“But now that we’re in the mess we’re in with shortages of water, districts are doing everything they can. Some districts, it’s putting on excessive irrigation water. We’re not trying to leach nutrients below the root zone and into the aquifer, but it’s really to recharge water into the water tables by applying winter flood water or excessive irrigation beyond the crop demand.”

Growers are offered a $100 an acre incentive, which can help support labor as growers must employ workers to ensure water doesn’t run outside the bounds of their fields. NRCS requires berms around outside edges, which most operations already have, he said.

Richard and George Matoian of Matoian Brothers in Fresno plan to flood their table grapes and pistachios. Richard said the farm planned to participate in 2023, but was unable to fully implement the program because of lack of floodwaters.

The grant money will help Matoian and other growers fund the labor and time investments needed to perform and monitor the recharge.

Even though Matoian is fortunate to have enough surface water available where he grows, he can’t utilize that surface water for flood irrigation because of managing any number of spraying crews that must be done, he said.

As the program’s rules require the grapes to possess no leaves on vines or trees during recharge, the December or January dormant season would be an opportune time for recharge. Matoian said he hopes to show other growers in the area that recharge can be accomplished during dormant season and that all growers can benefit from the program.

“My interest in this is I want to be part of the solution to help utilize excess water to help recharge the aquifer,” Matoian said. “Our neighbors who do flood irrigation are really doing everyone else a favor because whatever’s not used by the plant is able to go into the aquifer. But, we use drip, and are only putting enough water on there for what the plant needs and uses. I saw this as an opportunity for us during a time of the year that we don’t have people and tractors in the fields to be able to put some water in the ground.”

Matoian said his sandy loam ground is highly conducive to water infiltration and slowly makes its way into the aquifer. In preparation, Matoian mapped his fields and coordinated with the Fresno Irrigation District to use surface water for flood irrigation during the dormant season.

Krietemeyer expects practices employed in the pilots to become permanent next year and hopes to open the program to more California growers.

“It’s all about timing and placement,” Krietemeyer said. “With SGMA (the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act) and the declining groundwater tables, it’s very important. It’s another tool in the toolbox. These GSAs (Groundwater Sustainability Agencies) are reaching for anything and everything they can try to do to mitigate subsidence and declining water tables, while still being able to pump groundwater. In the process of trying to make water available, we don’t want to create a new resource concern, as in degrading the water quality.”

Passed in 2014, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act established a new structure for managing California’s groundwater resources at the local level by local agencies. SGMA required GSAs to form in the state’s high- and medium-priority basins and subbasins. More than 260 GSAs in more than 140 basins were formed by SGMA’s initial planning milestone.

Matoian farms 130 acres of grapes and pistachios. The farm’s roots go back to 1928.

— Doug Ohlemeier

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The study was recently released by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Cooperative Extension and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

The study, “2024 Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Organic Strawberries,” can be downloaded from the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website. 

The 20-page study shows costs for each operation, material inputs and costs, and cash and non-cash overhead costs in a variety of formats for one production and harvest cycle. A ranging analysis is also included and shows potential profits or losses over a range of prices and yields.

The cost study models a management scenario for a 30-acre farm, 27 acres of which are planted to organic strawberries. The remaining acres are for the irrigation system, roads, and buildings.

The study describes the cultural practices used in organic strawberry production and harvest, including land preparation, soil fertility and pest management, irrigation and labor needs.

“This study provides growers with a baseline to estimate their own costs, which can help when applying for production loans, projecting labor costs, securing market arrangements, or understanding costs associated with water and nutrient management and regulatory programs,” Brittney Goodrich, UC Cooperative Extension specialist and study co-author, said in a news release.

For a detailed explanation of the assumptions and calculations used to estimate the costs and potential returns for each crop, readers can refer to the narrative portion of each study.

Sample cost of production studies for many other commodities grown in California are also available here. 

For more information about the organic strawberry cost study, contact Mark Bolda, University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor, at mpbolda@ucanr.edu or Jeremy Murdock in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at jmmurdock@ucdavis.edu.

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Valley participated in the second Celebration of Modern Agriculture on the National Mall, hosted by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).

The event brought together more than 15,000 attendees to explore the latest innovations and technologies driving American agriculture forward.

With more than 228,000 Valley pivots operating worldwide across more than 100 crop varieties, covering more than 30 million acres in over 120 countries, Valley Irrigation is committed to educating on the importance of irrigation management for greater efficiencies. Their presence at the Celebration of Modern Agriculture highlighted the vital role of advanced irrigation technologies in meeting the future challenges of food production, according to a news release.

Valley Irrigation’s participation in the event emphasized the company’s commitment to supporting growers worldwide and advocating for policies that promote sustainable agriculture practices, according to the release.

With a projected 70% increase in food production needed to meet population growth within 30 years, Valley Irrigation is dedicated to collaborating with growers to save time, labor and fuel through advanced irrigation management and technologies, according to the release.

“As we showcase our cutting-edge agricultural technology, we’re not only displaying innovation; we’re representing the resilience and ingenuity of American farmers,” Darren Siekman, Valley’s vice president of policy & industry strategy, said in the release. “Our presence here underscores the critical need for policymakers to witness firsthand the advancements driving our industry forward. By bridging the gap between technology and policy, we’re shaping the future of farming and ensuring its vitality and prosperity for generations to come.”

Based in Valley, Nebraska, Valley Irrigation, a Valmont company, has been working to improve agricultural irrigation productivity, from the first center pivots in 1954 to today’s precision ag technology.

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