Fruit ICM News

In This Issue:

Calendar
Proposed Ohio Uniform Food Safety Code
Tribute to Dr. Paul Steiner
Apple Labor Survey
Terminal Market Wholesale Fruit Prices

Calendar

December 12: Small Fruit Production School, at the Licking County Extension Office. This school will address the fundamentals in getting the right start in small fruit production and will focus on production issues. Cost will be $12.00 for lunch, refreshments, and handouts. For more information, contact Howard Siegrist at 1-888-838-0219, Extension 6900.

January 29-31, 2001: Indiana Horticultural Congress, at the Adams Mark Hotel in Indianapolis. The Congress is for participants; let them know what issues you would like them to address. Check the website often for updates: http://www.hort.purdue.edu and follow the link for Indiana Horticultural Congress.

February 7-9, 2001: Ohio Fruit Growers Society Congress, in conjunction with the Ohio Vegetable and Potato Growers Association and Ohio Direct Marketing Association, in Toledo. Wednesday - general sessions, trade show opens, tree fruit marketing & cider sessions. Thursday - breakfast & society business meeting, tree fruit session, trade show, joint tree fruit and roadside marketing session, cider session, general sessions. Friday - tree fruit session, general sessions.

Proposed Ohio Uniform Food Safety Code

Changes to Ohio law in regard to licensing and inspection of retail food establishments and food service operations could affect you. "I know you are busy, but if you retail food to customers, take a few moments to help yourself and me. If you exclusively retail fresh, unprocessed fruits and vegetables, you will be exempt from these regulations. The introduction of one jar of honey, jam, or gallon of apple cider, one cut melon, etc. could bring you under regulation."

"I had a brief article in the October Today's Grower that provided some background on this topic. I was hoping that behind the scenes, quietly working with the Ohio Department of Agriculture would solve the problems I knew were possible. However, last week I received three communications from around the state that told me these regulations will cause direct agricultural marketing real trouble if we don't make our voice heard during this comment period. Some cider producers are improperly being informed their license fees will be in excess of $500; another market was told she needed to lower her ceiling, lay linoleum on the floor, and close in the market (remove open air atmosphere). Local health departments are not properly applying the proposed rules because the process is flawed, and few understand the details as they relate to farm markets. Let me make it clear that this is a process problem and we should be careful not to attack individuals."

The Ohio Department of Agriculture and Ohio Public Health Council held a joint hearing on these proposed regulations on Thursday, Nov. 16. More information can be obtained by calling Jacqueline Vermillion, Office of the General Counsel, Ohio Department of Health at (614) 466-4882.

"Most of you would prefer to fax comments. Those can be faxed to the Ohio Department of Agriculture to Shannon McQuade at (614) 644-0720. For those wanting to see all the detail behind these rules you may visit the following web sites:

http://www.state.oh.us/agr/FoodSafetyDivrfsac.html

and click on Chapter 3717... and

http://www.odh.state.oh.us/Rules/Pending/Chap3717/Pr3717_lst.htm

"If you have questions, please e-mail me (Jwargows@ofbf.org) since I will not be able to handle a large number of calls on this issue over the next couple of days. Ohio Farm Bureau will also be helping on this issue."

Tribute to Dr. Paul Steiner

Dr. Paul Wilson Steiner, 58, died early on October 28, 2000 at his home after a long illness. He worked on his plant pathology course lecture notes until about a week before his death. He was born October 13, 1942, in Gettysburg, the son of the late Harold Metzler and Virginia Wilson Steiner. His wife of 35 years, Leila (Tharp) Steiner, also of Gettysburg, survives him, along with two sons, Adam John Steiner, of Silver Spring, Maryland, and Matthew James Steiner of Baltimore. Dr. Steiner was Professor of Natural Resources and Landscape Architecture (Plant Pathology) at the University of Maryland. He joined the Department of Entomology staff at Cornell University, where he earned his Master's Degree in Entomology in 1971 and his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology in 1975. He served in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Missouri, Columbia, from 1975-1980. In 1980, he joined the Department of Botany at Maryland and soon advanced to full professor.

Dr. Steiner was more recently known for his research in fire blight. With computer expert Gary Lightner, he created Maryblyt, a computer program to determine the most likely symptom outbreak of fire blight. This program is used by fruit growers and academics in 31 states and 26 countries. He was an invited visiting professor in several European countries and chaired sessions at national and international congresses to discuss forecasting methods to improve detection of plant diseases. He has been a frequent area visitor at the Penn State University Fruit Research Laboratory in Biglerville, where his father, Harold, was once an associate professor of entomology from 1938 through 1946 when the lab was located in Arendtsville. On his birthday Dr. Steiner was honored at home by members of the Maryland Fruit Growers Association, who named him Maryland Fruit Grower of the Year 2000 in recognition of his 20 years of service to area fruit growers. We all extend our sympathies to Paul's family and friends.

Editor's note: I am listing two web sites for presentations that Paul gave in 1998. The first is titled "Problems in Managing Fire Blight in High Density Orchards on M-9 and M-26 Rootstocks"
http://www.caf.wvu.edu/kearneysville/articles/SteinerHort1.html

The second is titled "Orchard Site Bio-renovation Program" http://www.caf.wvu.edu/kearneysville/articles/SteinerReplant.html

Apple Labor Survey

If you have helpful information, could you please complete the following survey? Dr. Schotzko is trying to get a sense of conditions facing apple growers and ways they have found to cope with limited labor supplies. He is more than willing to share the results with anyone who is interested.

Return to:

R. Thomas Schotzko, Ph.D., Extension Economist

Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163

by surface mail or e-mail to: schotzko@coopext.cahe.wsu.edu

Pruning:

How do you pay (hourly, tree, etc.) _____________________________

How much do you pay? ______________

Approximate cost per acre ______________

Average employee earnings per day? ______________

Do you use any mechanical assistance equipment

(pruning wagons, pneumatic shears, etc.)? ___________________________

Approximate hours to prune one acre/hectare? __________

Thinning:

How do you pay (hourly, tree, etc)? _______________________

How much do you pay? ______________

Approximate cost per acre? ______________

Average employee earnings per day? ______________

Approximate hours to thin one acre/hectare? ___________

Harvest:

How do you pay (hourly, bin, contract, etc.)? _______________

How much do you pay? ______________

Do you mix payment methods (e.g. hourly plus $/bin)?________;

If so, please describe:_______________________________________________________

Approximate cost per acre for harvest? __________________

Average employee earnings per day? ______________

Approximate hours to harvest one acre/hectare? _________

Are mechanically assisted harvest aids used?_______; if so, what?_____________________

Average yield per acre/hectare? __________

How are the fruit harvested? (Individuals with ladders and bags, groups with bins on trailers, etc.

Please elaborate)_________________________________________________________

General Information:

If there is a legal minimum wage, what is it? _____________________

Source of labor in per cent: household ________; local ________; immigrant ________

We would also like to know if employees receive paid vacations, medical benefits, and/or retirement benefits. If provided, indicate who pays and how they pay. Also, please indicate if any of these are mandated by the government.

Vacation______________________________________________

Medical_______________________________________________

Retirement_____________________________________________

Please indicate the state/province and country for which the information applies: ______

Additional comments would be appreciated:

Terminal Market Wholesale Fruit Prices
November 16, 2000

Ted W. Gastier
Extension Agent, Agriculture
Tree Fruit Team Coordinator
Ohio State University Extension Huron County
180 Milan Avenue
Norwalk, OH 44857
Phone: (419)668-8210
FAX: (419)663-4233
E-mail: gastier.1@osu.edu

Copyright © The Ohio State University 2000

All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status.

Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Adm. and Director, OSU Extension.

TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868