Thanks

Your Florida Blueberry Growers Association held its’ fall meeting October 22. It was held at the Sumter county extension offices located at the fairgrounds. There were 349 in attendance as well as 44 vendors. The facility is an excellent central location for accommodating such a large gathering.

Special thanks to the following sponsors:
S & S Packing
Elixson Wood Products
Farm Credit
BudPro
U.A.S. United Agricultural Services
Without our sponsors the cost of these meetings would come from our association dues.

Along with the educational presentations a business meeting was held to elect new officers and board members.
Jerry Mixon a long time board member and Florida blueberry pioneer is leaving the board and was recognized for his service.
He will be replaced Dan Ebbecke. Dan is also the alternate southern region representative on the US Highbush Blueberry Council.
Donna Miller the current president was recognized for her many contributions. Under her leadership the association has established an internet presence as well as improved the look and marketability of the quarterly newsletter. Prior to Donna, the association had never been in a financial position to fund large scale research projects. In the last two years we have funded over $300,000 of research on mechanical harvesting and disease control. In the very near future we will disburse additional funding for integrated pest management research. Thank you Donna.
The president and vice president positions will be filled by Bill Braswell and Alto Straughn respectively.

We have tentatively scheduled our next meeting in late Feb 2010. This time frame was chosen to avoid conflict with the beginning of our harvest.

The next newsletter will be out in December. If you have any specific topics please email me or leave your comments on this post. We want to keep our newsletters fresh with informative articles.

The new website will be up and running in the next few weeks. It will complement the newsletter in appearance and content. Once up and running I will let you know via this blog.

I am asking all active members to send me your name and email address. Starting next week we are going to begin a series of webinar presentations for our membership. I will need an email address to send an invitation to link to the webinar. If you are not familiar with webinars they are basically a power point presentation over the internet. You will view the power point on your computer screen and listen on the phone via teleconference. This allows for questions from the participants. Our first webinar is scheduled Oct 30, 2009 at 10am. It will be presented by Fred Simons of Carden and Associates. The topic will be crop insurance and the new AGR Lite program. This is an alternative to traditional crop insurance. Fred can answer all of your crop insurance questions. If you are interested in the subject please email me at wcbraswell@hotmail.com to get your invitation. Don’t forget the deadline for this coming seasons’ crop insurance is November 20th. You must have a signed contract prior to that date.

In November we will present our second webinar. It will cover the subject of labor. Grower requirements, paperwork, liability issues etc.

Again thanks to all of you who attended the meeting and stay tuned for more updates.

Forecast for Chile

I was unable to get this to link so copy it and paste in the http address line.

http://thepacker.com/Suppliers-push-huge-Chilean-blueberry-crop/Article.aspx?articleid=848265&authorid=129&categoryid=273&feedid=216&emc=elm=519695&l=6&v=f3d9692c1a

Organic Farm Tours

Greetings,

Florida Organic Growers (FOG) and certified organic farmers team up to host two upcoming farm tours. Participation is free, and a registration form is attached. Please forward this invitation to anyone you feel may be interested.

Farm tours in Southwest and North-Central Florida offer insight on organic agriculture

Participants at two upcoming farm tours will learn about diverse vegetable production, crop rotation, soil fertility and organic approaches to pest and disease control. A 9am to noon farm tour Oct. 21 in Alachua County will provide farmers first-hand knowledge of a diversified organic production system at John Beville's 100-acre mixed vegetable farm, Promised Land. Beville has been certified organic since Jan. 2006. The 55-acre Worden Farm in Punta Gorda will host a Nov. 9 farm tour from 1pm to 4pm. Worden Farm produces more than 50 varieties of certified organic vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers and also holds field trips, farm tours, workshops and special events. Registration for the farm tours is free.

The farm tours are part of FOG's Organic Transition Project that allows qualifying producers to work alongside experienced organic production crop advisors and receive answers to questions about organic production, regulations and certification. Thanks to grant support from the EPA, the project covers all costs for expert crop advisors to work with participating growers.

To register for the farm tours and for more information about the Organic Transition Project contact Florida Organic Growers at 352.377.6345, email matt@foginfo.org or visit http://foginfo.org/epa.

Many thanks,

Matt Vargas

Florida Organic Growers (FOG)

PO Box 12311

Gainesville, FL 32604

www.foginfo.org

352-377-6345 (t)

352-377-8363 (f)

Meassage From Donna Miller

Dear Growers, October 17, 2009
It has come to our attention that ABC News “Prime Time” will be airing an investigative
show about Child Labor Violations in the blueberry industry. They will be sighting the
Department of Labor’s findings concerning some Michigan and possibly North Carolina
blueberry growers.
If local media personnel contact you for an interview concerning your opinion or thoughts
on the subject, please refer them to Mark Villata from the United States High Bush Council
(USHBC) phone number (916) 983-0111.
Thanking you for your attention to this matter.

Donna Miller President
Florida Blueberry Grower’s Association
P.O. Box 12
Inverness, Florida 34451
(352)637-0882
www.FloridaBlueberryGrowers.com
P.O. Box 12, Inverness, FL 34451

Block Grant for Florida blueberries

$49 MILLION IN USDA GRANTS ANNOUNCED FOR SPECIALTY CROPS

Florida’s specialty crop industry has been awarded $4.1 million in block grant funding, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Oct. 15. The grants are for a variety of purposes, from citrus greening research to marketing of tomatoes. The USDA announced a $49 million block grant allocation for all 50 states and the U.S. territories for 2009. For 2010 and the remainder of the farm bill funding period (through 2012), the amount will increase to $55 million per year. Florida’s grant will fund 17 projects, including:  - Four research projects to fight citrus greening - Exploration of opportunities to reverse eroding sales of Florida tomatoes and identify new markets - Promotion of the health benefits of watermelon - New curricula for Florida Agriculture in the Classroom - A training program on legal compliance and workplace safety for farm labor contractors and crew leaders who supervise farmworkers - Integrated pest management strategies for blueberries “We greatly appreciate all the hard work Commissioner Bronson and the team at FDACS put into assembling an outstanding package for USDA to consider,” said FFVA President Mike Stuart. “The initiatives funded for Florida focus on many of the major challenges faced by specialty crop producers in the state.” The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, in which FFVA played a leadership role, was instrumental in creating the block grant program and in obtaining expanded funding during the 2008 farm bill debate. A state-by-state summary of projects is available online.

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New pest for Fla. blueberry growers

See the link below regarding a new pest from Japan. Here's a picture:

http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=51385