October 2009 Regional Fruit Grower Newsletter
| 11/1 | Michigan Farmer Award Application Deadline |
| 11/5 | Women In Agriculture |
| 11/6 | Leelanau Conservation District Annual Meeting |
| 11/10 | |
| 11/11 | "Making It In Michigan" |
| 11/14 | Open House for Merlin Dumbrille Masonic Hall, Greilickville 2- 5 p.m. |
| 12/1 | Pesticide Certification Review & Test NWMHRS |
| 12/2 | Pesticide Certification Review & Test Banks Township Hall (Antrim County) |
| 12/3 | Farmer Rancher Grant Proposals Deadline |
| 12/8 - 10 | The Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market Expo |
| 12/15 | Weed ID and Control Workshop Mount Pleasant |
| 1/19 - 20 | NW Michigan Orchard and Vineyard Show |
| 1/29 | 11th Annual Northern Michigan Small Farm Conference |
| 3/10 | Get Farming Entrepreneur Series |
A free workshop for aspiring and veteran farmers, particularly women,
will be held Thursday, November 5 from
6-9 p.m. at the NW Michigan Horticultural Research Station. The evening begins with a presentation on
farm succession strategies by Ellen Fred, an attorney with the law firm of Smith,
Haughey, Rice and Roegge in
To register for this free
event, call the Michigan Land Use Institute at 231-941-6584 and for more
information, contact Nikki Rothwell at 231-946-1510 or rothwel3@msu.edu; Jim Sluyter at 231-941-6584, ext. 15 and jimsluyter@mlui.org.
Men are also welcome to attend!
The Leelanau Conservation
District’s 65th Annual Meeting will be held on November 6th at the Maple City Health and
This year’s program will pay
tribute to the retiring Merlin Dumbrille who has been a friend and supporter of
conservation and agriculture in the area for many years. Merlin’s voice on WTCM’s Farm and Orchard
Show will be greatly missed…don’t miss this opportunity to pay tribute to
Merlin and to wish him well in his retirement.
The District will also
recognize volunteers extraordinaire, Nancy Miller and Jo Walker for their
efforts in eradicating Phragmites,
the invasive weed invading our shorelines. The Leelanau Conservancy will also be receiving honors for their efforts
in Farmland Preservation. In addition,
there will be a director’s election, a silent auction, 50/50 raffle, and lots
of door prizes.
Tickets are $18 and can be
purchased through October 30. For more
information and to purchase your ticket, call 231/256-9783.
Jennifer Vincent, Editor,
This is the 6th year Michigan Farmer, Michigan Agri-Business Association, and Michigan Farm
Radio Network are sponsoring the Michigan Master Farmer awards.
Farmers are humble people,
but they’re also incredible businesses men, environmentalists, innovators, and
community leaders. This award is designed to recognize those qualities.
We’re asking agri-business
people, neighbors, fellow farmers, agronomists, industry leaders and anyone
involved in agriculture to nominate farmers worthy of this award.
Each year we recognize three
Master Farmers during a luncheon ceremony at the
Michigan Farmer will feature
the farmers, their families, and their operation in the January issue of the
magazine and will prepare a special tribute to them during the luncheon.
They also receive a plaque,
Carhartt jacket, and a $1,000 cash award, courtesy of our sponsors GreenStone
Farm Credit Services, Mosiac and Great Lakes Hybrids.
The application deadline is
approaching. Applications must be postmarked or received via e-mail by Nov. 1, 2009.
The applications are
available online at www.Michiganfarmer.com,
by requesting one through e-mail at jvincent@farmprogress.com or by calling 989-224-1235.
The application forms ask for
basic information about the farmer and the operation, but the most important
part is the nominator’s statement – please explain why this farmer really
stands out and be specific. Multiple letters are encouraged.
There are many people who
have great respect for farmers and the food and fiber they grow. This is your
chance to stand up for them and let them be recognized.
MAKING IT IN MICHIGAN – Michigan’s Premiere Specialty Food Show
Are you ready to be the
next great entrepreneur?
Are you an existing business looking for help with the next great
product? Then this
day is for you!
This full and exciting
event brings you all the resources and networking you'll need to bring your
dreams and goals to reality. Come meet the
The food show will be held November 11, 2009 at the
NCR-SARE ANNOUNCES 2009
FARMER RANCHER GRANT CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The 2009 North Central
Region - Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (NCR-SARE)
Farmer Rancher Grant Call for Proposals is now available online at http://sare.org/ncrsare/cfp.htm.
Farmers and ranchers in the
North Central Region are invited to submit grant proposals for projects to
explore sustainable agriculture solutions to problems on the farm or ranch.
Proposals should show how farmers and ranchers plan to use their own
innovative ideas to explore sustainable agriculture options and how they will
share project results.
Sustainable agriculture is
good for the environment, profitable, and socially responsible.
Projects should emphasize
research or education/demonstration. Grants can range from $6,000 for
individual farmers up to $18,000 for groups of 3 or more farmers.
NCR-SARE expects to fund
about 50 projects in the twelve-state North Central Region with this call.
The deadline for proposals is Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 4:30 p.m.
For more information,
contact Joan Benjamin, NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher Grant Program Coordinator, at jbenjamin2@unl.edu or
402-472-0809 or (800) 529-1342.
The NCR has funded more
than 700 farmer rancher grants worth more than $4,300,000 since the inception
of this program.
Each state in SARE's North
Central Region has one or more State Sustainable Agriculture Coordinators who
can provide information and assistance to potential grant applicants.
Interested applicants can find their State Sustainable Agriculture Coordinator online
at http://sare.org/ncrsare/PDP/pdpstco.htm.
UPDATE ON GAP AUDIT SNAFUS
Erin Lizotte and Nikki
Rothwell, NWMHRS
Amy Irish-Brown, CHES
Dawn Drake, MACMA
During this first year of
USDA GAP audits in the fruit industry, the learning curve has been steep. However, many growers have passed their
audits successfully. Those growers that
have been through the USDA GAP audit process have helped us construct the
following pointers based on their experiences. We hope this continued collaboration will result in further audit
success. Due to the differences in GAP
manual organization, these suggestions are listed under the section names
utilized by the USDA GAP and GHP Audit Verification Checklist.
IMPLEMENTATION OF A FOOD SAFTEY PROGRAM
Maps – Indicate on your maps how you and/or your farm
workers identify the individual blocks. For example, if you have an
aerial photo, simply identify (whether it is by # or name) each block. You can
simply handwrite the information on the picture/document. This step is an
important part of satisfying Questions G1 and G2 and is also important for Part
5 – Traceback.
WORKER HEALTH & HYGIENE
Farm Policies Checklist – A grower had a file of his signed SPANISH farm
policy pages in a file folder, but when the auditor looked at the file folder
he could not understand the policy pages as he was not fluent in Spanish.
Growers should make sure to include a copy of the ENGLISH version
of the policies as well the SPANISH version to ensure the auditor knows what
the checklist/policy the workers were signing includes.
Field Harvest Visitor
Policy – Growers should
instruct the auditor to follow the guidelines set up in the Field Harvest
Visitor Policy, which may include washing his/her hands before beginning the
inspection. The auditor
may be looking for this request and you will be demonstrating your Visitor
Policy (G7).
Field Sanitation
Facilities – Wording in
this section of the food safety plan should be amended to define how often the
facilities are serviced (cleaned, pumped out, etc.) to satisfy Question G10.
Product Contamination
from Blood/Body Fluids – At this time, there is variability between MACMA
and MSU manuals on this point but the policy wording should include the
following verbiage “destroy the product, clean any equipment, and
remove/replace any clothing that may have been contaminated” in order to
satisfy Question G13.
MANURE & MUNICIPAL BIOSOLIDS
If your farm does not use manure and/or municipal
biosolids (Option C as defined in the USDA Audit), include a policy in the plan
that states that no manure or biosolids are utilized in order to satisfy
Question 1-22. Remove the other
pages under this tab that reference Options A or B.
FIELD HARVESTING & TRANSPORTATION
Light Bulbs & Glass – Clear packing tape placed across the light bulbs
would be considered taking steps to satisfy Question 2-9 and protect the
produce in case of breakage.
TRACEBACK
Be
sure to include a completed bin/tank tag as an example - a blank tag will not work. All
bins should be tagged in the field or before they leave the farm as part of
your policy for ‘traceback’. You should include a policy for
traceback as well as a mock recall procedure (an example of a mock recall can
be found in the MSU USDA GAP
manual under the Traceability Policy). Include this policy or a
similarly crafted policy in the manual that fits your operation.
The 11th Annual
Northern Michigan Small Farm Conference, “Changing Realities in Farming and
Food” will be held January 29-30, 2010,
at the
Some of the workshop topics
to date will cover hydroponics; GAP, Laws and Regulation updates; Poultry
production; Building your CSA; Permaculture: Integrating Animals into Your
Farm; Hops and Saskatoon production; and Farm-sized Wind Energy.
Registration forms will be
available in early December. For more
information, call 231-533-8818, or check the Northern Michigan Small Farm
Conference website: www.msue.msu.edu/antrim. Exhibitors of farm products and services
welcome. For information, contact
Presque Isle MSU Extension at 989-734-2168.
NEW FARM PROGRAM LAUNCHES THIS MONTH!
N.L. Rothwell, District
Horticulturist
The New FARM Program is official. We are setting
into motion a two-year program that will help young farmers develop valuable leadership skills that will be used to
maintain the agricultural tradition and heritage of northwest
To launch the New FARM Program, we will hold
our first event as an overnight at the
Don’t forget to make your room reservation for the
Great Lakes Expo as rooms at the Amway go fast! Also, the pre-registration deadline is November 10 for savings on registration fees. Visit GLEXPO.com for registration, program,
and other information.
Please send any comments or suggestions regarding this site
to:
Bill Klein, kleinw@msu.edu
Last Revised:11-13-09
