- Author: Ben Faber
PPE in short supply for farm work
during the COVID-19 crisis
While most Californians are staying home to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, California farmers, farmworkers and other agricultural professionals are out in the fields and packing houses working to produce food.
With increased demand for personal protective equipment, or PPE, to protect against COVID-19, these essential workers are facing shortages. Agricultural commissioners in 28 counties are hearing from farmers who are having trouble getting PPE for their employees and farmers in another 11 counties who are worried about running out of PPE in the next month or twoaccording to a California Department of Pesticide Regulation survey.
Gloves, N95 respirators, coveralls and other gear that workers wear to protect themselves from COVID-19, pesticides, dust and other health hazards are in short supply as priority is given to health care workers during the pandemic.
To reduce the spread of COVID-19, workers may wear homemade face coverings, but for applying pesticides, they must wear respirators specified on the pesticide product label, said Whitney Brim-DeForest, UC Cooperative Extension rice advisor.
Pesticide applicators may use gear that is more protective than required by the product label and regulations.
“Although this could change in the days ahead, half-mask and full-mask respirators are more available than disposable N95 respirators for now,” said Lisa Blecker, coordinator for the UC Pesticide Safety Education Program.
Before the pandemic, 10% of N95 respirators from 3M went to health care, but that number is now 90%, the company said in a letter to distributors. This has led to significant backorders of PPE supplies for distributors.
Carl Atwell, president of Gempler's, an online distributor of worker supplies,, said that before the crisis, normal lead times for PPE was up to 10 days. He estimated disposable respirators will become available in the fall and other PPE supplies in August.
In the meantime, there is alternative PPE that agricultural professionals can use during the shortage.
Atwell suggests looking for lesser known brands of PPE as opposed to the first tier of choice: “It's sort of like searching for Purell hand sanitizer. Purell brand might be out of stock, but can you find a different disinfectant?”
On Gempler's website, the more recognizable Tyvek coverall from Dupont is sold out, however disposable protective clothing is available from other brands. Reusable chemical-resistant clothing is also available as opposed to their disposable counterparts. Supplies in high demand are reusable and disposable nitrile gloves, protective clothing, disposable respirators and certain protective eyewear, such as goggles and face shields.
For workers who will be applying pesticides, Blecker and Brim-DeForest offered some guidelines on how to meet PPE requirements as the shortage continues.
General PPE requirements: “Remember, the label is the law,” said Brim-DeForest. “PPE requirements for agriculture are not being loosened.” The UCCE advisor recommends purchasing only what you need for the season and choosing reusable PPE whenever possible. Growers who have excess supplies of PPE can coordinate with their county agricultural commissioner or UCCE advisor to help other producers in their area.
Respirators: If you can't find the respirator required on the label, Blecker said, “Use an alternative, more-protective respirator. For example, if an N95 is required, you can use a half-mask with N95 particulate filters; these can be stand-alone filters or ones that attach to an organic vapor cartridge. You could also use a different pesticide that doesn't require a respirator. Consult with your PCA (pest control adviser) for options.”
Gloves: Chemical-resistant gloves, usually 14 mil or more in thickness are required for most California pesticide applications and should be worn by mixers, handlers and applicators. If nitrile gloves are not available, viton and laminate gloves are universal chemical-resistant materials for most pesticide labels. If the glove material is specified on the label, that instruction must be followed.
“Disposable gloves less than 14 mil can be worn, but not for more than 15 minutes at a time,” Blecker said. “Farmers should also note that thinner gloves cannot be layered on top of one another.”
Coveralls: Coveralls should be worn when required by the pesticide label or when the signal word is “WARNING” or “DANGER,” or when applying by backpack or airblast. “Coveralls can be made out of high-density polyethylene fibers (Tyvek and other brands), which are disposable, or cotton, which are reusable,” Brim-DeForest said. “If reusable coveralls are worn, the employer must ensure employees are provided clean coveralls.”
Goggles/faceshields: Faceshields are required for mixing and loading pesticides only if it's stated on the label. “If a faceshield is unavailable, a full-face respirator can be used,” Blecker said. “Goggles or protective eyewear should always be worn in California when handling pesticides, regardless of what the label says. The faceshield, goggles or safety glasses must provide front, side and brow protection and meet the American National Standards Institute Z87.1 standard for impact resistance.
For more information about PPE, contact your county agricultural commissioner or see the California Department of Pesticide Regulation's posters at https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/whs/pdf/gloves_for_pesticide_handling.pdf and
https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/whs/pdf/n95_alternatives_for_pesticide_handling.pdf.
UC IPM also covers these topics in their pesticide safety webinar series at http://ipm.ucanr.edu/IPMPROJECT/workshops.html.
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources brings the power of UC research in agriculture, natural resources, nutrition and youth development to local communities to improve the lives of all Californians. Learn more at ucanr.edu.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Lisa Blecker, coordinator for the UC Pesticide Safety Education Program and Office of Pesticide Information and Coordination, lblecker@ucanr.edu
Whitney Brim-DeForest, UC Cooperative Extension rice advisor in Sutter and Yuba counties, wbrimdeforest@ucanr.edu
Katrina Hunter, UC Integrated Pest Management Program pesticide safety writer, akhunter@ucanr.edu
To read more UC ANR news, visit our newsroom at http://ucanr.edu/News.
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- Author: Ben Faber
Laurel Wilt Disease of Avocado and the relatives of avocado in the Laurel Family has devastated the the forests along the east coast from North Carolina down to Florida and along the Caribbean into Texas. It has caused significant losses to wildlands and to the Florida avocado industry.
The extent of the native tree loss is shocking and there is very little that can be done to correct the problem, other than to curb the spread of contaminated wood that is spread by humans, There has been some success in the avocado orchards. While there is no "silver bullet", there is some progress, e.g. pruning to increase light levels to suppress Ambrosia Beetle activity. In addition, research has continued for:
- Vaccinations to protect avocado trees from the LW pathogen
- Developing a faster LW diagnostic tool
- Screening scions and rootstocks for tolerance/resistance
- AB control tactics and suppression
- Molecular understanding of the pathogen
- Economics and the LW epidemic
Read the latest results in these two recent publications:
Photo: Dead avocado trees from Laurel Wilt in Florida
- Author: Kristian Salgado
For more information on the CDFA Healthy Soils Program: Click here
Kristian M. Salgado
University California Cooperative Extension- Imperial County
Community Education Specialist 2 (CES2)
Climate Smart Agriculture
(760) 693-8938
- Author: Ben Faber
Citrus greening, also called Huanglongbing (HLB), is devastating the citrus industry. Florida alone has experienced a 50 to 75 percent reduction in citrus production. There are no resistant varieties of citrus available and limited disease control measures.
Some scientists think it is possible that orange juice could one day become as expensive and rare as caviar. In an effort to prevent this, three plant pathologists at the University of California-Berkeley and United States Department of Agriculture conducted research into ways to boost citrus immunity and protect the valuable fruit against citrus greening.
Because the bacteria that causes citrus greening cannot be grown in a lab, scientists have to find novel ways to conduct experiments. The University of California-Berkeley/USDA team looked at many different strains of the bacteria that cause citrus greening to see if they could identify peptides (a compound of two or more amino acids) that would trigger immune responses.
"This was a long list, so we narrowed it down by selecting small peptides that were a bit different in their peptide sequence, which might imply that the bacterium had made those sequence changes so that they wouldn't be recognized by the plant immune system," explained Jennifer D. Lewis, group leader of the research team. "Then we further narrowed that list to peptides from strains that caused disease in citrus."
Through this research, they showed that two peptides could trigger immune responses in multiple plant species, including citrus. These peptides may play a role in preventing or reducing yield loss from citrus greening.
According to Lewis, "We thought it was particularly interesting that some of the peptides predicted to elicit a response, could actually trigger immune responses in multiple plant species. This suggests that the immune response to these peptides is conserved across species."
Ashley Bergman Carlin
acarlin@scisoc.org
651-994-3832
@plantdisease
- Author: Ben Faber
A great source of information on what's happening to produce around the world, including citrus, avocado, blueberries and occasionally cherimoya and star fruit but all things strawberry and lettuce and whatnot, I check daily on Fresh Plaza to see what's going on. Friday, April 17 has an overview of the world avocado industry. Check it out: FreshPlaza.com
OVERVIEW GLOBAL AVOCADO MARKET
Avocado bars may have had to close due to the coronavirus, but the demand for avocados has clearly not dropped. The season in the Northern Hemisphere is coming to an end and the production from countries such as Peru and South Africa is steadily increasing. The productions from Peru and South Africa in particular could clash on the market between weeks 17 and 22/23.
The Netherlands: Good avocado sales; shortage of larger sizes expected in the short term
The coronavirus crisis seems to be driving up the demand for avocados. A Dutch importer says that avocados are among the most sought-after categories, together with citrus and summer fruits. Peru and South Africa are the countries that will be supplying the fruit in the near future, although the importer says that the volumes arriving are still small. "In the short term, I foresee a shortage for the larger sizes. Of course, that can change later in the season, but now the demand for Hass avocados is particularly good. Sales prices range between 12 and 14 Euro (4 kg) for sizes 14-20 and between 11 and 12 Euro for the smaller sizes.
Belgium: Trade going well
Germany: Low demand due to start of German strawberry season
France: The logistics is causing headaches at supermarkets
Spain: High demand will cause season to end earlier
Italy: Shift from Hass to Greenskin avocados
South Africa: Larger volumes this year; formidable competitor for Peru in Europe
Mexico: Higher prices than usual
Colombia: Avocado cultivation continues to expand in the country
United States: California almost had surpluses
California's avocado production is strong this year. Growers have already harvested 21.2 tons, compared to 2.3 tons around the same period last year. This time we can speak of a normal avocado harvest. The avocado industry in the US has been holding its breath for the past two weeks, given the threat of an avocado surplus. The rainfall, which temporarily brought the harvest to a halt, and a decline in Mexico's production over the holidays have prevented an excessive accumulation of stocks.
The demand has shifted to the retail. Not only has the coronavirus played a part in this, but also the large volumes and strong demand early this season. Almost imperceptibly, the avocado market in the United States has undergone a major shift. First, the volumes skyrocketed, but then the situation changed radically due to the closing of food service establishments and the hoarding in supermarkets. It remains to be seen what will happen in the coming weeks, but sales to the food service will be very meager. "I don't know anyone in this business who isn't concerned," says someone from the California Avocado Commission. It is also unclear how prices will develop in the coming weeks. Prices skyrocketed when people started hoarding, but then plummeted again and now seem to be stabilizing somewhat.
China: Avocado market slowly picking up again; imports from Peru and Philippines
Australia and New Zealand: Campaign to promote local production
Publication date: Fri 17 Apr 2020
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