CarrotCountry.com
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Fall 2018
All in the Family
Trade Trends New Products Carrots, Weeds and Steel
Magazines For Maximum Yield
PO Box 333 Roberts, Idaho 83444 Telephone: (208) 520-6461
www.carrotcountry.com Carrot Country Contacts Editor Denise Keller
Vol. 26, No. 3
Fall 2018
In This Issue:
editor@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com
Publisher / Advertising Dave Alexander dave@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com Director of Operations Brian Feist brian@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com
EDITORIAL INFORMATION Carrot Country is interested in newsworthy material related to carrot production and marketing. Contributions from all segments of the industry are welcome. Submit news releases, new product submissions, stories and photos via email to: editor@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com, or call (509) 697-9436.
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All in the Family
8
Trade Trends
Heritage Farms
U.S. Exports and Imports of Fresh Carrots
12 Carrots, Weeds and Steel
Mechanical Cultivation, Cultivator-Tolerant Carrots for In-Row Weed Management
ADVERTISING SALES For information on rates, mechanics, deadlines, list rental, direct mail, inserts or other information, call (208) 520-6461 or email: dave@carrotcountry.com
SUBSCRIPTIONS U.S................... 1 year $16 Canada ............ 1 year $24 Foreign ............ 1 year $40 Payments may be made by check, Visa, MasterCard or American Express. Subscribe online at: www.carrotcountry.com or call (503) 724-3581. Email address changes/corrections to brian@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com or mail to: Carrot Country PO Box 333 Roberts, ID 83444
Carrot Country magazine (ISSN 1071-6653), is published quarterly and mailed under permit #410, paid at San Dimas, CA 91773. It is produced by Columbia Media Group PO Box 333, Roberts, ID, 83444. Copyright 2018. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose without the express written permission of Columbia Media Group. For information on reprints call (208) 520-6461.
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Fall 2018
Departments:
10 Calendar 11 New Products 11 In the News
On the Cover: Brothers Ian and Chad Bergeson manage Heritage Farms’ 700-acre carrot crop in Royal City, Wash.
Researchers at Michigan State University are evaluating in-row mechanical cultivation tools in carrots.
See the story on page 4.
See story on page 12.
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All in the Family Story and photos by Denise Keller, Editor
I
t seems Heritage Farms, a family farm in Royal City, Washington, is appropriately named. The Bergeson and Christensen families utilize four generations of farming know-how, balanced with a willingness to adapt, to remain an independent family farm in an industry increasingly characterized by consolidation.
Season-Long Management
Two sets of brothers – Chad and Ian Bergeson and their cousins Aaron and Dan Christensen – manage the family farm, which includes 700 acres of carrots. With the crop bound for the diced carrot market, the growers strive for large carrots to give processors more product and less
The Central Washington sun shines on a handful of dicer carrots at Heritage Farms.
waste. Most years, they grow Red Cored Chantenay, aiming for good stand and uniform, smooth, sweet carrots. Abundant sunshine and long summer days, as well as mostly mild weather during harvest, makes the Royal Slope, located in Central Washington, well suited for carrot production, the growers say. However, because carrots are one of the first crops to be planted in the spring and among the last to be harvested in the fall, weather can also present the greatest challenge to growing carrots in the region. After planting in late March or early April, carrots are slow to establish during the first couple months, especially when cold temperatures delay emergence. Windy
From left, Aaron Christensen, Dan Christensen, Chad Bergeson and Ian Bergeson discuss the quality of this year’s carrot crop.
Two sets of brothers – Aaron and Dan Christensen and their cousins Chad and Ian Bergeson – manage Heritage Farms in Royal City, Wash.
conditions common in spring, coupled with the area’s sandy soil, can make it difficult to keep carrots in the ground. “The wind blows the sand in a way that it can damage the carrots, or if the wind blows enough, it can blow out the field,” Ian describes. “It’s a challenge to get the carrots out of the ground and big enough that the wind can’t damage them.” The growers say that’s where soil moisture becomes important early in the season. To help prevent wind damage, they pre-irrigate all their fields to form good dirt clods. In fields that are particularly sandy, they plant a wheat cover crop to provide protection for the new carrot plants and keep soil from blowing away. Aside from weather, yellow nutsedge also poses a threat to carrots, onions and other local crops. While chemicals are available to stunt the vigorous weed, the
growers say they lack an effective product to kill it. Mildews and blights also remain on the radar as potential problems that can infest a carrot crop, but the growers have been able to control diseases with strategic irrigation practices and a thorough chemical regime. At the end of the day, careful management helps the farm deliver a high quality product to its customers, the growers say. “Carrots are like any crop; you need the right fertility and the right irrigation. And I spend a lot of time in the fields with a shovel monitoring what’s going on out there. It changes year to year and field to field, so it’s important to spend time in the field keeping on top of what’s happening,” Chad explains. “Usually, if you’re in the field enough, you can catch some of those possible diseases early enough that you’re
able to do something to treat them.” Heritage Farms begins digging carrots in October, and harvest often extends into December. Given the timing, an early freeze is always a concern. Rainfall during these months can also make digging difficult. To contend with wet, muddy conditions, Heritage Farms uses a sugar beet digger to harvest carrots, whereas most other dicer carrots in the area are harvested with potato diggers, according to the Bergesons. This has helped minimize weather delays during harvest. Because soil is lifted onto a potato digger and then has to fall through its chains, the equipment doesn’t work well in mud, the growers say. A beet digger, on the other hand, has angled lifter wheels that move directly over the rows and pull up the carrots, leaving most of the soil in place. CarrotCountry.com
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Heritage Farms Four Generations and Counting
In addition to carrots, Heritage Farms grows wheat, beans and corn as rotational crops, as well as 120 acres of apples. The farm has dabbled in the production of other crops through its four-generation history. Chad, Ian, Aaron and Dan say their great-grandfather raised cattle and grew grains, hay and potatoes in Kittitas,
Washington. Their grandpa and his three brothers moved to Royal City in the late 1950s after the Columbia Basin Project brought irrigation to the Royal Slope and were among the first families to farm there. The farm began growing carrots in 1980. About a decade later, their fathers took the reins. After growing up on the farm and attending college, Chad returned to the
Chad Bergeson peels a carrot he pulled from the ground in early August, about two months before harvest.
farm in 2002, Ian came home in 2012, Aaron followed the next year, and Dan joined the operation in 2017. Today, the four growers manage the family farm, combining what has worked in the past with what will be necessary to be profitable in the future. “I don’t think you can totally discount things that previous generations have done that have been successful,” Chad says. “You have to take into account that experience, and it helps when they acknowledge that there are things that come along to help a process be more efficient or effective.” “For any decision you’re making, whether you’re going to change a process or the way you grow something, there has to be a reason to do it,” Dan adds. “In the end, you’re trying to make money, so hopefully that decision either makes you more efficient or increases yield or gives you a better quality product.” The growers say there’s still value in today’s ag market for quality products. This plays well for family farms. While large conglomerates focus on scale, efficiency and control of the market, Dan says small farms are all about quality. “We have to concentrate on quality and doing it right. As long as we can control our costs, I think we can survive,” he adds. In addition to quality, Heritage Farms’ diversification and the growers’ commitment to family are key to thriving as a family farm. “You have to want to remain a family farm,” Ian comments. “Family is important to us.” The growers want to be able to pass on land and a legacy to the next generation. They’re working to teach their children about farming and responsibility. With some of the growers’ oldest kids starting to help more on the farm, the next generation is taking its baby steps in becoming the fifth generation of Heritage Farms.
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Trade Trends U.S. Exports and Imports of Fresh Carrots
By Mark Wocial, Certified Global Business Professional, Wocial & Associates LLC
U.S. exports and imports of fresh carrots by value 150 100 50 0 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 Exports (USD x million) Imports (USD x million)
U.S. exports and imports of fresh carrots by volume 250 200 150 100 50 0 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 Exports (MT x 1,000) Imports (MT x 1,000)
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Fall 2018
U.S.
exports and imports of fresh carrots exhibited opposite trends in the past several years, with exports declining and imports increasing. Last year, U.S. exports decreased to 97,000 metric tons (MT), while imports reached 208,000 MT. However, despite a much lower volume, carrot exports were valued at $115 million while imports were valued at $95 million. This was the result of a very significant difference in the value per ton. On average, exports were valued at $1,185/ MT while imports were valued at $457/ MT.
Exports
The exports statistics collected by the U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Division make a distinction between not-certified-organic and certified-organic fresh or chilled carrots. No such distinction exists for the import statistics. While exports of non-organic carrots declined in the past three years, exports of certified organic carrots showed increases. The latter increased from 20,579 MT in 2015, valued at $27.8 million, to 22,530 MT in 2017, valued at $34.8 million. Last year, exports of certified organic carrots were valued at $1,544/MT compared to $1,072/ MT for non-organic carrots. Canada is by far the largest export market for fresh carrots. Last year, exports of non-organic carrots to Canada accounted for 94 percent of all carrot exports. However, shipments to Canada declined from almost 81,000 MT ($85.8 million) in 2015 to 70,000 MT ($75.8 million) in 2017. Exports to Mexico also exhibited declines, from 4,127 MT ($3.3 million) in 2015 to 3,271 MT ($2.9 million) in 2017. Last year, St. Lucia was the third largest export market for non-organic fresh
U.S. exports and imports of fresh carrots by value Exports (USD x million) 124
120 93
90 carrots, with shipments of 324 MT to the island, valued at $0.3 million. Together with other Caribbean islands, U.S. exports to the region last year totaled at 710 MT ($0.7 million). Other export markets included Singapore (154 MT), Hong Kong (57 MT), South Korea (73 MT), Malaysia (68 MT) and France (61 MT). Canada is also the largest export market for organic fresh carrots. Last year, shipments of organic carrots to Canada amounted to 18,300 MT, valued at $25.3 million. Exports of organic carrots to France and Brazil showed strong increases in the past three years. Shipments to France increased from 153 MT ($0.7 million) in 2015 to 527 MT ($2.4 million) in 2017. In the same period, shipments to Brazil increased from 258 MT ($0.8 million) to 487 MT ($2.3 million). Although exports of organic carrots to Mexico last year amounted to 2,000 MT, their value was only $1.8 million. Exports to the Netherlands also showed strong increases and grew from 27 MT ($0.2 million) in 2015 to 145 MT ($0.9 million) in 2017. Organic carrots were also exported last year to several other countries. In the Middle East, the U.A.E. was the largest market (467 MT), followed by Jordan (149 MT) and Saudi Arabia (38 MT). In Asia, last year organic carrots were shipped to Hong Kong (68 MT), Malaysia (18 MT), Taiwan (14 MT) and Japan (2.9 MT).
Imports
In 2017, 47 percent of imported fresh carrots came from Canada. Those imports amounted to 96,500 MT, valued at $48.8 million. Fresh carrots from Mexico accounted for 43 percent of imports (89,000 MT, valued at $34.5 million). In the last few years, Israel was the third
Imports (USD x million)
2015
2016
115
95
2017
U.S. exports and imports of fresh carrots by volume Exports (MT x 1,000)
215
194 109
2015
Imports (MT x 1,000)
107
2016
largest supplier of fresh carrots to the U.S. Imports from Israel increased from 8,900 MT ($3.5 million) in 2013 to 19,200 MT ($6.4 million) in 2017. Imports from Guatemala also showed steady increases, from 855 MT ($1.4 million) in 2014 to 2,600 MT ($5.0 million) in 2017. In contrast, imports from Costa Rica showed an opposite trend and declined steadily from 2,300 MT in 2013 to 600 MT last year.
208 97
2017 About the Author: Mark Wocial is a Certified Global Business Professional and a member of NASBITE International, a professional organization dedicated to advancing global commerce through education and training. He is an independent international trade specialist focused on the food and agribusiness sector. He can be reached at mwocial@ wocialassociates.com or (317) 362-6906.
This information is based on the author’s analysis of the export and import trade data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Division. CarrotCountry.com
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Calendar
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Nov. 14-15 Pacific Northwest Vegetable Association Conference and Trade Show Three Rivers Convention Center Kennewick, Wash. Sheri Nolan, (509) 585-5460 or www.pnva.org
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Dec. 4-6 Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO DeVos Place Conference Center Grand Rapids, Mich. www.glexpo.com
Editor’s note: To have your event listed, please email Denise Keller, at editor@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com. Please send your information 90 days in advance.
Sept. 19-22 2nd International Symposium on Carrot and Other Apiaceae Kraków, Poland www.carrot-symposium2018.pl/gb
Oct. 18-20 PMA Fresh Summit Convention and Expo Orlando, Fla. www.freshsummit.com
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Carrot Country
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Fall 2018
New Products Manufacturer Upgrades Eliminator
ThorPack Promotes JMC Master Baler
ThorPack, a full-line packaging supply and equipment sales company in Polar, Wisconsin, has added JMC Packaging to its lineup of equipment offerings. ThorPack is promoting JMC’s master baler, the AB-3000HS Baler. The machine, which is most often used in carrot and potato facilities, is equipped to run paper or poly master bags and can be integrated with a sewing system or a heat sealer. It handles 3-pound to 20-pound consumer bags. Features include a user-friendly touchscreen with an Omron programmable logic controller, ethernet capabilities and “no bag, no dump” sensors. Visit www.thorpack.com.
Scotts Precision Manufacturing Ltd. has introduced the next generation of its dirt eliminating Evolution Table, available from Scotts or Harriston Industries. Scotts has added programmable memory roller settings to the latest version of the machine, which is used to separate clods, stones, stems and loose dirt from a wide range of products including carrots. The ability to store and then remotely adjust the spacing of the spiral and clod rollers to saved positions enables users to quickly and easily set up the Evolution Table to suit either the conditions or the crop being handled, according to the company. The latest version also includes a self-cleaning feature. When activated, the Evolution’s spiral rollers spin at high speed to throw off any attached dirt. Visit www.harriston-mayo.com.
In the News Stokes Seeds Adds to Executive Team
Stokes Seeds has hired Fraser Hetherington as its new executive vice president. He will oversee the company’s marketing, product and supplier strategies, while company president, Wayne Gale, will continue to handle distribution and finance. Stokes Seeds management sees great potential in the vegetable seed market over the next several years and hired Hetherington to provide the company with top-level leadership in strategic planning and the support necessary to capitalize on those opportunities. Hetherington is looking forward to meeting suppliers in the next few months and learning more about the vegetable seed industry and its people. NEW/USED WALK-IN COOLER-FREEZER REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS HUGE InvEntory-All SIzES BUy SEll nAtIonwIdE
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Carrots, Weeds and Steel
Mechanical Cultivation, Cultivator-Tolerant Carrots for In-Row Weed Management By Sam Hitchcock Tilton, Daniel Brainard, Chun-Lung Lee, Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University
P
roduction of organic carrots is challenging, due in part to the difficulty of managing weeds. Preventive measures that reduce the weed seedbank – such as crop rotation, fallow periods and stale seedbeds – are helpful, but often growers rely on mechanical cultivation and expensive hand-weeding to control weeds. At Michigan State University (MSU), we are evaluating “in-row” mechanical cultivation tools in carrots aimed at reducing hand-weeding costs and yield losses due to weeds. In addition, we are exploring the potential for “cultivationtolerant” varieties to further improve weed management in carrots.
In-Row Mechanical Cultivation Cultivating weeds between crop rows is relatively easy using a wide range of tools including sweeps, knives, rolling cultivators or cutaway disks. With either camera guidance systems or hand-steered toolbars guiding the cultivator, in-row weeds can be limited to a narrow band of about 2 inches (Fig. 3). Management of weeds in this narrow “in-row” band is far more challenging due to the risk of damaging the crop. Nevertheless, several
Figure 1. Three-tool stacking.
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Fall 2018
tools are available that can help. We evaluated several tools (Table 1, Fig. 1, Fig. 2) including finger weeders, torsion weeders, flex-tine cultivators and mini hilling disks. These can be used alone or “stacked” in various combinations to improve their efficacy. These tools work primarily by uprooting or burying weeds. To work effectively in the crop row without injuring carrots, the carrots must be more resistant to uprooting or burial than the weeds. In short, the carrots need to have a size advantage over the weeds in either root length (for tools that uproot) or height (for tools that bury). This means managing weeds early and often, ideally when they are in the “white thread” or cotyledon stage, so that weeds are as small as possible. In our trials, we flame-weed just before carrots emerge. As soon as carrots have emerged, we use cutaway disks to remove weeds as close as possible to the crop row. If flame-weeding is timed appropriately (just before carrot emergence), the density of weeds can be greatly reduced. Missing this window of opportunity can result in a drastic increase in weeds emerging with the carrots (Fig. 4).
Figure 2. Duo-parallelogram used as mini hilling discs in the trials.
Tool Testing Methods
Bolero carrots were planted on a flat, sandy field at the MSU Horticulture Teaching Research and Extension farm. The same trial was repeated three times during the summer of 2017. We evaluated the effects of all tools on naturally emerging weeds, as well as weeds that we sowed in order to obtain more consistent stands for evaluation. These “surrogate weeds” included a representative broadleaf (yellow mustard) and grass (Japanese millet) species that were sown in the crop row following flame-weeding and carrot emergence. Figure 3. Newly emerged carrots after the first cultivation, using between-row cutaway discs.
Table 1. In-row tool and tool combinations evaluated.
In-row tool(s)
At the time of applying the cultivation tools, carrots were in the one- to three-leaf stage, and weeds were in the cotyledon to one-leaf stage. We counted weeds and carrots before and after cultivation to evaluate the survival of both. After using the tools, we also recorded the time required to hand-weed each plot and evaluated carrot yield and quality.
Effects of Tools
Tool-inflicted destruction to weeds ranged from about 30 percent with the flex-tine cultivator to 95 percent with the finger + hilling disk (Fig. 5). Stacked tool combinations often had higher efficacy than those tools used individually. All tools reduced hand-weeding time by approximately 25-100 hours per acre compared to the control, where cultivation tools were only applied between rows. At the same time, carrot mortality ranged from 15 percent to 40 percent in response to these in-row tools. Although this may seem like unacceptable stand loss to some growers, note that carrot planting densities can be bumped up to compensate. Increasing carrot populations requires extra seed costs, but these are dwarfed by the labor savings. At our relatively high seeding rates of 30 seeds per foot, we did not detect significant differences in carrot yields or quality between the tools, although clearly stand reductions could result in yield losses if initial densities were too low.
Mounting system
Figure
Floating linkage
Fig. 1
None Frato Torsion Weeder (T)
Custom harrow made with Lely Flextines (X) Custom on floating arm
Fig. 1
Kult-Kress Finger weeder (F)
Floating arm
Fig. 1,2
Kult-Kress Duo-parallelogram set to hill (D)
Parallel linkage
Fig. 2
Kult-Kress Finger weeder + Kult-Kress Duoparallelogram (F+D)
Floating arm, Parallel linkage
Fig. 1
Finger weeder + Flextine (F+X)
Floating arm
Fig. 1
Torsion weeder + Finger weeder + Flextine (T+F+X)
Floating linkage, Floating arm, Custom on floating arm
Fig. 1
Table 1. In-row tool and tool combinations evluated
Cultivation-Tolerant Cultivars
Another approach to improving weed management in carrots is to select cultivars that are resistant to the physical forces applied by cultivation tools. This would allow growers to run tools more aggressively and kill more weeds with reduced risk of stand loss. To test this idea, we planted eight commercially available carrot cultivars in replicated plots, ran several individual tools over them and evaluated survival. Noting that the size of carrot seeds within each cultivar sometimes varied a lot, we also sieved seeds of one cultivar (Bolero) to obtain just the largest fraction, and
separately evaluated its tolerance to the tools. We hypothesized that larger seeds would result in larger plants with greater tolerance. We repeated this trial once in 2016 and twice in the summer of 2017. Carrots were managed as previously described, with preemergence flame weeding and near-row cultivation with a cutaway disk. Results were mixed (Table 2). For finger weeders, we did not detect any clear differences in cultivar response. However, for flex-tine cultivation (trial 1) and the torsion weeder (all trials), cultivars varied in their tolerance. For example, for the torsion weeder, Danvers stood out as a
Table 2. Effect of tool on survival percentage of carrot cultivars. Letters within a column indicate significant differences between Table 2. Effect of tool on survival percentage of carrot cultivars. Letters within a column indicate significant differences between treatments at a=0.05 treatments at É‘=0.05.
CarrotCountry.com
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Weed Management
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relatively susceptible cultivar, while Bolero was relatively tolerant. In trial 2, the larger fraction of Bolero seeds also resulted in greater tolerance. These results suggest that growers can improve weed management by choosing existing cultivars that are resilient to cultivation tools.
Greater understanding of the traits associated with this cultivation-tolerance may guide carrot breeding programs to improve the performance of their varieties in mechanically cultivated systems by selecting for and amplifying those traits that make a carrot resistant to cultivation.
Figure 4. Propane flame-weeder applied preemergence to the row on the left but accidently shut off over the row on the right, resulting in a perfect opportunity to show the effect of preemergence flame-weeding.
Figure 5. Survival of carrots and millet following cultivation.
Carrot Country
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Fall 2018
Of course, carrot growers choose varieties based on many characteristics, and the tradeoffs associated with cultivation tolerance must be considered. But given the challenge of managing weeds, we believe this approach has potential to improve grower success with organic carrot production.
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