PLUS:
On Trial
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Insects on the Move
•
Award-Winning Career
•
New Products
Winter 2019-20
Variety Buyers’ Guide
For the Advertiser Index click here
Magazines For Maximum Yield
PO Box 333 Roberts, Idaho 83444 Telephone: (208) 520-6461
www.carrotcountry.com Carrot Country Contacts Editor Denise Keller
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.
ADVERTISING SALES
Vol. 27, No. 4
Winter 2019-20
In This Issue:
4 Carrot Variety Buyers’ Guide 6 Insects on the Move 10 On Trial University of Wisconsin Carrot Trial 12 WSU Internship Inspires Award-Winning Career
13 Campaign Encourages
Consumers to Crunch Carrots
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Carrot Country magazine (ISSN 1071-6653), is published quarterly and mailed under a standard rate mailing permit at Idaho Falls, Idaho and at additional mailing offices. Produced by Columbia Media Group PO Box 333, Roberts, ID, 83444. Copyright 2019. 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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Winter 2019-20
Anita Browne received the 2019 Young Farmer of the Year Award for the Gauteng Province of South Africa. See the story on page 12.
On the Cover: You’ll find 12 varieties from Bejo and Stokes Seeds highlighted in our annual Carrot Variety Buyers’ Guide. See pages 4-5.
Departments:
13 Calendar 14 New Products
WORLD CLASS VEGETABLE HARVESTERS FOR YOUR BUSINESS
ASA-LIFT CARROT HARVESTERS BUILD FOR AMERICA ASA-LIFT is a leading international company developing, producing and distributing vegetable harvesters. For more than 80 years, ASA-LIFT machines have been sold all over the world, and more than 20 years of experience, on the US market.
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Miller Farms, Hancock - WI P. (715) 249 5160 pmillerfarms@gmail.com
Carrot Variety Buyers’ NEW! Navedo 1972 Silver Spur Place Oceano, CA 93445 (805) 473-2199 www.bejoseeds.com info@bejoseeds.com
NEW! Navedo (Bejo 3058)
This new cello/slicer variety is a jumbotype carrot with cylindrical roots, good yield and an 8- to 10-inch length.
Istanbul
With a maturity of 90 days, Purple Sun F1 is excellent for production of sweet and tasty purple carrot juice loaded with anthocyanin.
Istanbul YaYa
YaYa
YaYa is a very sweet bunching carrot and is available as organic seed only. It offers good tops, has very good field holding, and sets a standard for quality and flavor.
Napoli
This bunching carrot offers good flavor. It is a very full-sized Nantes with strong dark green tops.
Aranka
Napoli
This Mokum-type bunching carrot offers nice flavor and texture.
Berlin
This main-season Berlicum type produces large, bulky and cylindrical roots. It is excellent for early cellos, or harvest later for jumbo carrots. The variety has good storage.
Aranka 4
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Winter 2019-20
Berlin
Guide
P.O. Box 548 Buffalo, NY 14240 (800) 263-7233 www.stokeseeds.com stokes@stokeseeds.com
Orange Blaze
Orange Blaze
Orange Blaze has a maturity of 70 days. This is a 9- to 10-inch quality cello/jumbo with smooth, cylindrical, vigorous roots. It is adaptable to muck, mineral and deep peat soils. It’s easy to harvest with high yield potential and good disease resistance.
Maverick
With a 63-day maturity, Maverick is good for early cellos and jumbos. The variety produces strong tops and smooth 9- to 10inch slightly tapered roots with excellent interior and exterior color and taste. The variety is for sandy soils only. It has intermediate resistance to Alternaria leaf blight, bolting and cracking.
Maverick
Achieve
Achieve has a maturity of 72 days. This F1 hybrid is a mid-season Flakkee type. Strong 9-inch roots have good crack tolerance and extra strong tops for machine harvesting. Use as a late jumbo or dicer type. Upright tops have some disease tolerance.
Eagle Pak
Achieve
This F1 hybrid is a multi-purpose carrot well suited for early cut-and-peel production, as a slicer and as an early cello carrot for the fresh market. This smooth-skinned, 10- to 12-inch long carrot has good flavor and color that is consistent throughout the interior with no green shoulders. Tops are good with medium leaf blight resistance.
Eagle Pak
Envy
Envy
Envy is an F1 hybrid with a maturity of 66 days. This early jumbo is 12 inches long with 1.5 – 1.75 inch diameter, which may vary depending on spacing. Envy produces smooth, bright orange roots with blunt tips and is suited for mineral and muck soils.
Cellobunch
Cellobunch
With a maturity of 61 days, Cellobunch has standard resistance to Alternaria leaf blight. The variety produces early jumbo or cello for muck soils. Cylindrical roots grow to 9 to 11 inches with blunt tips and have good color and taste. CarrotCountry.com
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Insects on the Move Story by Denise Keller, Editor Photos courtesy Silvia Rondon, Oregon State University
W
ith the increasing acreage of carrots in the Columbia Basin, Oregon State University (OSU) is renewing its research efforts in the crop. Entomologists at the Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center are conducting a trial in carrots for the first time in 15 years. They’re evaluating the insect community in Columbia Basin carrot crops. Among other objectives, the researchers are working to determine what insect pests are present in the crop and how these insects might impact diseases in carrots and other crops in the area. In potatoes, a major crop in the Columbia Basin, zebra chip disease and potato purple top disease are vectored by potato psyllids and beet leafhoppers, respectively. The importance of these diseases in the region made OSU entomologist Silvia Rondon wonder where the insects are present other than potatoes. In Europe, a relative of the potato psyllid was found to vector bacteria in carrots, and similarly, leafhoppers are known to vector purple top in carrots, Rondon said. “I thought it would be interesting to study the role that the carrot crop plays in insect presence and distribution and to also evaluate if carrots could serve as a ‘green bridge’ for pathogens,” Rondon explained.
Insect Community in Carrots
Tiziana Oppedisano, a post-doctoral scholar in Rondon’s lab, is taking a lead role in the research project, which is now in its second year. Craig Arnold, a student 6
Carrot Country
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Winter 2019-20
Tiziana Oppedisano, a post-doctoral scholar at Oregon State University, uses a sweep net to sample for insects present in carrots.
from Maine, started the project in 2018. From the time carrot plants emerged in mid-June until harvest in September, Arnold and Oppedisano collected insects from commercial fields and research plots weekly to track changes in insect populations during the season and to determine the diversity of the insect population. “It is important to know what kinds of insects are present and when insects arrive in carrots for better pest control,” Oppedisano said. “I think it’s the most important thing to prevent the pest and the presence of insect vectors of pathogens.”
Oregon State University researchers are studying how pathogens could potentially move between potatoes and carrots.
An Oregon State University research trial evaluates how water and calcium impact the presence of insects, as well as crop quality and yield.
Stokes Seeds Trial Evaluation
Researching the best for our customers since 1881. W
NE
ORANGE BLAZE
EAGLEPAK
70 days. 9-10 in/23-25 cm quality cello/jumbo with smooth, cylindrical, vigorous roots. Adaptability to muck, mineral and deep peat soils.
F1 hybrid. This smooth skinned, 10-12 in/25-30 cm long carrot has good flavor and color that is consistent throughout the interior.
ENVY
MAVERICK
66 days. F1 hybrid. Early jumbo. 12 in/30 cm long with 1.5-1.75 in/ 3.8-4.5 cm diameter, smooth bright orange roots with blunt tips.
Contact Your Area Territory Manager:
63 days. For early cellos and jumbos. Smooth 9-10 in/23-25 cm roots, strong tops. Excellent interior/exterior color and taste. Slightly tapered root.
Tom Pagels
Randy DeMay George Dobson James Young
Tom Jacobs
609-247-7140
585-747-3379
616-307-4322
New York
New York, MA, CT
MI, OH, IN, IL, MO, WI, MN
Tom Dauria
Tim Clark
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Ken Wagner
Carol Korey
908-489-4896
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NJ, PA, DE, MD, VA, LI
NJ, PA, DE, MD, VA, WV, LI WI, MN, IA, ND, SD
585-405-4160
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New York
— Quality Seed Since 1881 — 1-800-263-7233 │www.stokeseeds.com │ Box 548 Buffalo NY 14240 CarrotCountry.com
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Oregon State University researchers weigh carrots to gather yield data.
She is focusing on leafhoppers because several species of leafhoppers can transmit phytoplasma diseases such as aster yellows disease. Phytoplasmas are the most prevalent pathogens in carrots in the region, according to Rondon. Oppedisano’s research this summer showed that leafhoppers moved to carrots from nearby weeds when carrot plants emerged in June. She began seeing plants with symptoms of phytoplasma infections in mid-July. Knowing which pests are present in the field at the time plants become infected can help researchers identify an association between the pathogen and a potential vector. 8
Carrot Country
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Winter 2019-20
Hayden Cissnea, a high school student, helps Oregon State University researchers survey for insects.
Possible Impact on Potatoes
In addition to gaining a better understanding of the role of leafhopper diversity in carrots, Oppedisano hopes to learn how the insects could impact other crops, as well. In preliminary tests, OSU researchers found two phytoplasmas in carrot. One of the pathogens is most commonly found in potato. So this year, Oppedisano is studying how the pathogens could potentially move between potatoes and carrots. At the end of the season, Oppedisano counted the infected plants in the experimental and commercial potato
and carrot fields. Molecular techniques are being applied to analyze the plants to clearly distinguish the two pathogens, which cause similar symptoms, and to test insects collected in the field. Oppedisano is now working to determine the role of particular types of leafhoppers as vectors of phytoplasmas. Specifically, the core of her work this winter will be to determine if some species of leafhoppers can move one or more pathogens from carrots to potatoes and vice versa.
Other Objectives
The research project also includes a look at whether the amount of water and fertilizer – specifically, calcium – applied to a carrot crop could affect the incidence of insects or phytoplasma. Oppedisano will evaluate how the different treatments included in the trial impacted the presence of insects, as well as crop quality and yield. She expects that more calcium results in larger plants that may be more attractive to insect pests. “It’s exciting that soon we could have a lot of information about the diversity of the insect community,” Oppedisano said. “This information can help growers because it’s very important to have the basic knowledge about the biology and ecology of insects and how they behave in the field during the season. It’s the best tool to help us think about pest control for the future.”
Tiziana Oppedisano collects insects with an inverted leaf blower. Among the objectives of her research project is to determine the best insect sampling methods.
CarrotCountry.com
9
On Trial University of Wisconsin Carrot Trial
D
This experimental hybrid ranked first in the baby carrot category.
espite heavy rains putting a damper on the day, the USDAARS and University of Wisconsin carrot trial still gave a glimpse of some promising new hybrids. A small crowd of carrot breeders, growers and others from the industry gathered in Madison, Wisconsin, Oct. 1 to view the results of the trial. The annual trial includes commercially available varieties from seed companies and experimental hybrids from the USDA cooperative breeding program. The roots were grown in sandy soil at Paul Miller Farms before being harvested and displayed. Entries included 48 baby, 45 cello and 30 novel carrot hybrids. The purpose of the trial is to provide a side-by-side comparison of different varieties and to find new improved cultivars from the experimental lines. Attendees scored each of the varieties on display. Experimental hybrids earned the highest marks in each category of carrots. Organizers point out that trial results demonstrate how the varieties performed this year in this location. Carrot breeders are looking for hybrids that rank well repeatedly in different environments.
Carrots for the University of Wisconsin trial were grown at Paul Miller Farms, north of Madison, Wisc.
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This red experimental hybrid earned the highest scores from the judges Country-.5H page.v1.outlines.pdf 1 2019-11-04 in the novel19-11 carrotCarrot category.
This experimental hybrid beat out 44 other entries for the top spot in the carrot category.
1:00cello PM
CarrotCountry.com
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WSU Internship Inspires
Award-Winning Career A
former Washington State University (WSU) intern has received the 2019 Young Farmer of the Year Award for the Gauteng Province of South Africa. Anita Browne, a carrot grower at Greenway Farms in South Africa, says her internship at WSU was pivotal in leading her to this point in her career. Despite growing up on a farm, Browne initially had no plans to farm. Instead, she began studying human molecular biology in college, not knowing exactly what direction she wanted to go, other than to pursue a career related to science and biology. Her father, Vincent Sequeira, who is one of the founders of Greenway Farms, began learning more about soil testing and other agronomic aspects of farming. In the process, the family became more acquainted with academics, and in 2012, Browne was offered an internship at WSU with Lindsey du Toit, a plant pathologist and a native of South Africa. “At the time what just seemed like an internship really played a big role in opening my mind to the huge opportunity I could have as a woman in agriculture,” Browne says. du Toit says South Africa’s agriculture industry is extremely male dominated – far more so than in the U.S.
Listen Up!
ONION PODCAST THE
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Produced by:
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Winter 2019-20
Browne finished her month-long internship at WSU overwhelmed with new possibilities. Upon returning home, she changed her field of study to plant health and ecology. She began working as a technician on the family farm during time off from school, studying soil test results and learning more about the production process. Browne has been with Greenway Farms for five years. Greenway Farms produces 40 percent of the carrot supply for southern Africa. Browne’s main roles are focused on the production of the carrot crop, including planning, growing and maintaining the crop. Browne is the first female farmer to receive the provincial Young Farmer of the Year award and is now in the running for the national Young Farmer of the Year award. Nominated for the award by one of her suppliers, Browne says the most important judging criteria deal with the management and business philosophy of the farmer as well as the technical competence with which the philosophy is applied. The candidate must be involved in the decision making and execution of all the management functions (planning, implementation and control) in crop production, marketing, finance and labor management. Anita Browne displays a handful of Musico carrots, a Nantes variety from Vilmorin, at Greenway Farms in South Africa. Browne, a former Washington State University intern, has received the 2019 Young Farmer of the Year Award for the Gauteng Province of South Africa.
Campaign Encourages Consumers to Crunch Carrots C
alifornia carrot shippers are introducing a new advertising campaign to boost consumer demand for carrots. The Crunch Out campaign is designed to re-engage consumers in the carrot category, inspiring them to revisit the simple pleasures of carrots and enjoy them more often and in new, more compelling ways. The four members of the California Fresh Carrot Advisory Board (CFCAB) – B&P Packing, Bolthouse Farms, Grimmway Farms and Kern Ridge Growers – are working together on this promotion. Seeking to take carrots out from the bottom refrigerator drawer, onto the center plate, the Crunch Out campaign will help remind consumers of one of the
Calendar
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world’s original, simplest, most versatile foods through its distinct and conspicuous crunch, according to Nathan Sano, manager of the CFCAB. “The Crunch Out campaign aims to get people excited about carrots again,” Sano said. “We want to remind consumers what carrots can do to enhance their lives by bringing energy and humor to the category.” The Crunch Out campaign is based on the idea that crunching carrots conquers chaos. In an overstimulated, over-complicated, over-opinionated, over-innovated, over-hyped, instantlygratifying culture, crunching into a carrot
Oct. 5-6, 2020 40th International Carrot Conference
Mount Vernon, Wash. Sheri Nolan, (509) 585-5460 or snolan@agmgt.com
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can take you to a place of calm, the campaign suggests. Crunch Out is a multi-media campaign that will include outdoor, print, transit, digital, public relations and social media. The campaign will be launched in early 2020. The California Fresh Carrot Advisory Board was established in 1987 by the California Department of Food and Agriculture as a research and promotions program. Created to carry out the intents and purposes of the California Fresh Carrot Research and Promotion Program, the board represents only the handlers of carrots in California.
Dec. 10-12, 2019 Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO DeVos Place Conference Center Grand Rapids, Mich www.glexpo.com
Oct. 15-17, 2020 PMA Fresh Summit Convention and Expo Dallas, Texas www.freshsummit.com
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Editor’s note: To have your event listed, please email Denise Keller, at editor@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com. Please send your information 90 days in advance. CarrotCountry.com
13
New Products Certis Selling New Insecticide
Certis USA is now distributing Requiem Prime, a foliar-applied insecticide to control sucking pests in a variety of crops including carrots. An emulsifiable concentrate formulation, Requiem insecticide is powered by a synthesis of terpenes discovered in an insecticidal plant. The active ingredient is attracted to the oily outer surfaces of target pests and is said to work against all lifecycle stages of target pests. Development of resistance is unlikely, according to Certis, making it an option for resistance management, especially alongside other chemistries facing resistance issues. The product has a zero-day pre-harvest interval. Visit www.certisusa.com.
Lindsay Launches Trio of Irrigation Tools
Valley Irrigation Previews New Software Solution Valley Irrigation plans to release Valley 365, a new crop management tool, early next year. The cloud-based platform is designed to simplify the way growers use Valley’s current crop management technologies. With a single sign-on, growers can forecast and plan with Valley Scheduling, monitor and control with AgSense, identify field issues and take action through Valley Insights, and deliver uniform and accurate water to the crop with Valley Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI). Visit valleyirrigation.com/365.
Company Introduces Irrigation Water Optimizer Precision Laboratories has expanded its offering of irrigation water optimizers with the introduction of Stretta. The product is designed to maintain ideal moisture levels in the plant root zone, leading to enhanced soil-applied input performance and reduced plant stress. This, in turn, improves crop quality and increases yield. The company recommends applying Stretta through an irrigation system using drip tubes, tape, micro emitters or overhead sprinklers. It is compatible with most fertilizer products. Visit www.precisionlab.com.
Lindsey Corporation has several new irrigation products coming out to help growers improve productivity and conserve resources. The Zimmatic 9500 pivot is coming to North America this fall. The high-speed pivot will allow growers to operate at up to twice the speed of a standard center drive motor, according to the company. Ideal for root crops such as carrots, potatoes and onions, its quicker water application is said to help maintain moisture during germination and protect crops from heat. The next generation of Zimmatic controllers are launching globally by the end of the year. Features include remote monitoring and control capabilities, smart barrier automation, custom irrigation program options, smart alignment, and more end-gun areas and management capabilities. Also expected by the end of the year, Zimmatic’s new 9520 pivoting lateral is built to irrigate more land with maximum flexibility. The pivoting lateral is billed as an option on large, irregular-shaped fields where multiple traditional center pivot and lateral-move systems may not be cost effective. Visit www.zimmatic.com. 14
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Winter 2019-20
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