The Monthly “Beet” Volume 7, Number 8
April 2011Volume 1, Number 1
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The Produce Press vol 1 issue 1 / 1This newsletter is intended for those interested in commercial fruit and vegetable production, farmers’ markets and local foods issues, business planning and North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service programs. Back issues of this newsletter are available at the Jones County Extension website- click on the Commercial Horticulture, Nursery & Turf menu option on the left side of the website. The website address is:
Nicole Sanchez
Extension Area Specialized Agent
Commercial Horticulture & Marketing
(252) 448-9621 or
April 20, 2011 (WED) 10AM –NOON
Integrated Pest Management Workshop: Jones County Extension Office, Trenton. Pesticide Applicator’s Credits Available. Contact Jones County Extension Office (contact info upper right) to register.
April 16, 2011 (SAT) 7AM-1PMLenoir County Master Gardeners’ Annual Plant Sale. Annuals, perennials, variety of garden plants. Lenoir County Extension Center. Kinston, NC. (252) 527-2191.
April 16, 2011 (SAT) 7AM-NOON Grand Opening, Lenoir Co. Farmers’ Market,
Kinston.
April 16 (8AM-5PM) and April 30 (8AM-Noon), 2011Spring Honey Bee School: Introduction to Beekeeping Short Course Interested in Honeybees or Beekeeping?The Onslow County Beekeepers Association andNC Cooperative Extension Service, Onslow County are offering this course at the Onslow County Extension Office, 4024 Richlands Highway, Jacksonville. To Register, contact:Jeff Morton (910.330.5732) or Lisa Rayburn (910. 455.5873). Fee: $15
May 24, 2011 (Tues) 9AM-4PM. Agritourism in Southeastern North Carolina Tour. Presented by Southeastern Agritourism Association. Tours of agritourism enterprises in New Hanover County. Contact New Hanover County Extension Office to register (910.798.7660). Fee: $25 includes lunch.
NEW EVENT MAY 2011- Safety Training for Spanish Speakers Tired of showing your Spanish Speaking workers that video? Your extension service is planning two sessions of training in safe pesticide application/ PPE for your Spanish speaking workers. Two-hour sessions are tentativelyset for Wed, May 4 (Greene Co) and Wed, May 11 (Onslow County).
If you are interested in enrolling your workers, contact Nicole Sanchez at 252.448.9621. This course will be offered free of charge.
About Your New Horticulture Agent
As this newsletter goes “to press”, I have been on the job just over a month, and meeting with as many of you as possible. I hope to have met each of you personally very soon, and look forward to assisting you with the challenges you encounter in the production and marketing of horticultural crops.
While I have worked in horticulture for more than twenty years, this is my first experience working in Extension. My professional background includes experience in retail florist and garden center management, floral design, research in integrated pest management, botanical garden management and administration, and teaching in the areas of horticulture, entomology, and floral design. I even spent a deeply tanned year as an intern for a commercial landscaping company learning to “mow, blow, and go”.
As for educational experience, I enjoyed six years at the University of TN where I earned a bachelor’s degree in Horticulture (business minor) and a master’s degree in Entomology and Plant Pathology (botany minor). It is my sincere hope that my varied experience and thirst for knowledge will enable me to serve you well as a horticulture agent.
From my perspective the importance of your efforts, and the impacts that local food producers can and do have on the community are clear. I also believe that world events and consumer demands are converging to create stronger and stronger need for the products you produce. As your horticulture extension agent I am deeply committed to helping you succeed in meeting those demands.
Future Greene County Farmers’ Market
Through the partnership of multiple government and community entities and a grant from the Golden Leaf Foundation, Greene County will soon break ground on the Elaney Wood Family Heritage Farm, Farmers’ Market and Alternative Agriculture Training Center in Snow Hill, NC.
This prominently located center will become an agritourism destination that will include much more than a Farmer’s Market when development is complete. Farmers’ Market vendors will ultimately be able to draw upon visitors to the center’s other attractions, as well as local consumers, for sales.
An incubator kitchen that will enable producers to test value added or prepared products without having to fully invest in the required equipment is also planned.
The permanent Farmers’ Market building is expected to be ready late this fall and will be the first component of the complex to be completed. An opening celebration is anticipated in conjunction with the Greene Co. Sweet Potato festival.
An interim market is being planned for summer 2011. The interim market will be held on Saturday mornings from 8-12 beginning May 14; longer hours are planned for the permanent market. We are actively seeking participants in this interim market.
If you are interested in participating as a vendor, contact Shenile Rothwell-Ford at the Greene County Extension Office (252.747.5831).
Insect Spotlight- Big-Eyed Bug
Big-Eyed Bug (Geocoris spp.) is a native insect found in many crop systems. Photo courtesy of University of GA.
Do you know the Big-Eyed Bug? A beneficial insect related to the seed bugs, it’s one of the few predators in the family Lygaeidae, and feeds on many different prey species, both as an adult and as a nymph.
Using long, straw-like mouthparts, the Big-Eyed Bug (BEB) spears eggs or slow moving insects and drains them dry. Long considered a promising candidate for use in commercial biological control programs of insect pests, difficulty and expense in rearing BEB in artificial conditions are the primary factors suppressing its availability as a biological control agent available for purchase.
As a grad student, my thesis and research work partly consisted of rearing BEB on an artificial diet being developed for commercial potential, and collecting wild BEB to compare the predatory virtues of the insectary-reared and wild BEB. Of all the crops grown on the experiment station, BEB was easiest to find in peppers raised in black plastic. The BEB took shelter at the base of the plant under the plastic at night, making them easy morning pickings in comparison to collecting BEB from cotton, supposedly its favorite crop.
I wonder how many BEB are helping out fruit and vegetable growers using black plastic? When you encounter this insect, you’ll know that it is hard at work protecting you plants from herbivores, eating them and their eggs.
While not currently available commercially, BEB is native throughout the southeast. It is thought that BEB supplements its diet with pollen when pet numbers become low. You can encourage BEB in your operation by planting flowers in the Asteraceae family, especially sunflowers. These will also encourage other pollinators.
Social Media is Changing Your World
Do you Facebook? Tweet? Have a web page? Today, I heard a radio news piece that claimed Facebook, through uniting people over geographic distance, is largely responsible for the recent uprisings in Middle East Countries. If that’s true, then by extension, Facebook has impacted each of our lives by influencing world events and thus oil prices!
Even if you have no desire to use a computer, learn to post, tweet, or create a web page, you may want to consider using the powerful medium of social networking to help promote your business. You probably have a child or grandchild in your family that can do this for you! Websites and Facebook pages can be especially helpful to pick- your- owns, roadside stands, and agritourism establishments, but need not be limited to these.
Things have changed vastly since, when I was in high school, two computers were available for students to use via a waiting list months long. Now, my four-year-old son regularly uses computer terminology in conversation. You may not use the computer much, but most of your customers do.
Using social media as a promotional tool for your business is inexpensive and provides results. As a recent convert to such technologies myself, I understand the reluctance of those of us rooted in tradition to adopt new technologies. I became much more convinced of the power of social media when able to see examples of successes that were relevant to me.
A good friend recently described Facebook as her “water cooler”. Her apt description illustrates the word of mouth nature of social media’s mega-success. In future issues of this newsletter we will explore ideas for using social media to promote your business and examine enterprises that are already engaged in this new world of advertising and promotion.
Your Business, Your Needs
Each of you are in a different place in regards to the maturity, direction, goals, and efficiency of your operations. You also have different expectations regarding how Cooperative Extension can best enable you to take advantage of university knowledge and research.
A new agent transition is a good time to evaluate programs and priorities. Over the next few months as I am shaping programs and efforts to come, I will be asking for your input.
Meanwhile, please be thinking about what kind of educational programs would be most helpful to you and/ or your staff. I genuinely look forward to working with you all.
Disclaimer: North Carolina Cooperative Extension does not endorse the products or services named nor discriminate against similar products or services not mentioned.
If you have questions about any of the information, upcoming meetings, business strategies, or crop production management issues, please call me at the Jones County Extension Center at (252) 448-9621. I can also be reached by email at:
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The Produce Press vol 1 issue 1 / 11