Laser-guided ‘intelligent’ sprayer is good for all kinds of green

A CFAES research team has developed a laser-guided pesticide sprayer, for use by orchards, vineyards and nurseries, that gives control of diseases and pests but uses less pesticide to do it. Farmers’ wallets, food safety and the environment stand to gain.

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They’re seeing if toxins from Lake Erie algae get into food you might eat

Do toxins from Lake Erie algal blooms get into Lake Erie fish you might eat? What about vegetables that growers watered with water they pulled from the lake? Scientists with CFAES, funded by Ohio Sea Grant and the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative, are helping find answers.

Produce growers: ‘Find your path(ogen) to clean water’

June 20.The Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series continues on Monday, June 20, with Find Your Path(ogen) to Clean Water: Food Safety Water Quality Standards and Testing Protocols for Produce Growers in Delaware in central Ohio. The series booklet says the event is “designed to shine a bright (UV) light” on produce-related water quality standards in the Food Safety Modernization Act. Get details here on p. 18.

Wednesday: Good sense food safety practices for organic veggie farms

Webinar imageeOrganic’s free organic farming webinar series continues at 2 p.m. EST on Wednesday, March 16, with “Good Sense Food Safety Practices for Organic Vegetable Farms.” Chris Blanchard of Decorah, Iowa-based Purple Pitchfork will be the speaker. Blanchard raises 20 acres of vegetables, herbs and greenhouse crops and, as owner of Purple Pitchfork, provides consulting and educational services to farms and farm businesses around the U.S. and Canada. Register for the webinar here.