There is a laws and regulations meeting sponsored by Brigitte Higgins from the Santa Cruz County Agricultural Commissioner's office planned for this Friday, December 14.  Two hours of continuing education will be offered.

Agenda is posted below:

http://cesantacruz.ucanr.edu/files/157450.pdf

Mark Bolda, Laura Tourte, Rich De Moura and Karen Klonsky 
of University of California Cooperative Extension have authored "Sample Costs to Produce Fresh Market Raspberries" for primocane bearing varieties and this study is as of today is posted at: 

http://coststudies.ucdavis.edu/files/2012/RaspberryCC2012.pdf

The cultivation and production of fresh market raspberries on the Central Coast of California is a thriving industry of some 2500 acres. This study, which took several months of research and a number of thorough interviews with local raspberry growers (once again many thanks to each one of you!), is a thorough examination of this crop and its cultural methods (including the use of macro- tunnels), its costs and returns.  For growers currently growing or considering taking on the production of fresh market raspberries in coastal California, "Sample Costs to Produce Fresh Market Raspberries" is a must have addition to one's library.

Introduction: A major purpose of this blog is to educate and inform on new emerging issues and developments in strawberries and caneberries. In addition, we also want to review and update common, well known issues that readers may be very familiar with. The following article is a review of a very important disease affecting the strawberry and caneberry industries: gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea. 

Causal Organism: Botrytis cinerea belongs to the fungal phylum Deuteromycota (sometimes also known as fungi imperfecti) and reproduces by forming asexual spores (conidia). The sexually reproducing stage has not been seen on strawberry or caneberry. The young mycelium of this fungus is septate, branched, and basically colorless. When this fungus is grown on potato dextrose agar, a common medium used to culture fungi, Botrytis cinerea is at first white and later turns gray as spores form. The spore producing structures are branched, up to 5 mm tall, and light to dark gray in color. Even under the low magnification of a dissecting microscope, one can readily see the distinctive “botryose” (Greek for bunch of grapes) clusters of spores at the ends of the spore-bearing branches (see sixth picture below).

Symptoms on Fruit: The rot from Botrytis is fairly simple to distinguish from the other fruit rots occurring in strawberries and caneberries. Generally, Botrytis rot will start as a light brown to gray spot (see third photo below) without any distinct margin around the affected area. This spot remains firm as it spreads and even a fruit completely rotten with Botrytis will retain its original shape. After a few days, if conditions are favorable (temperatures between 59^o- 77^oF), a brown to gray velvety growth will appear on the surface of the infected fruit.

Disease Cycle: Botrytis fruit infections on the Central Coast generally begin when the spore lands on the strawberry or caneberry flower. Given cooler temperatures and the presence of water, the spore germinates and infects the flower. If conditions are really favorable, the disease will progress in flower tissues and result in blighted blossoms that will no longer develop into fruit. Partial flower infections can cause brown lesions to form on the fruit receptacle; such flowers will not produce normal, fully developed fruit. In other cases the flower-invading Botrytis can become dormant and will not resume growing until fruit sugar content is more amenable for growth, at which point the disease will become evident from the brown lesion and subsequent gray velvety growth that occurs on the ripening fruit. If conditions become unfavorable for further disease development, Botrytis growth will stop and the lesion will become dry and leathery.

Because Botrytis is an aggressive colonizer of plant wounds, direct infection of the fruit can also occur if the fruit is injured from physical abrasion (rubbing caused by winds, for example), insect feeding, environmental extremes, other diseases, and other factors. Mature, ripe fruit are especially susceptible to infection because of their high sugar content and sensitive tissues. For this reason, Botrytis is an important component of post-harvest fruit losses.

Epidemiology: Botrytis spores (primary inoculum) are everywhere. The fungus grows well on senescent, dead tissues (old, dead strawberry stems and leaves; crop residues of other adjacent crops). Spores are blown by winds or splashed by rains onto flower and fruit tissues. It is important to note that the presence of free moisture for several consecutive hours is necessary for spore germination. Therefore, development of gray mold disease is greatest in cool and wet conditions, such as rain and the fog commonly experienced here on the Central Coast.

Control: Growers and managers should take a threefold approach to managing Botrytis gray mold in the field. 

Fungicides: There is a substantial universe of fungicides available for the management of gray mold in strawberries and caneberries and a decent listing of these materials is available at the UC IPM website (http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/crops-agriculture.html). The key point for disease managers is to apply fungicides BEFORE major moisture events. As emphasized above, Botrytis spores need free moisture to germinate; therefore fungicides, which mostly act as protectants,should be in place before the occurrence of humidity and free moisture from rain or heavy fog . It is worth noting that the use of surfactants, which serve to better distribute fungicides over the plant surface as well as stabilize them, is strongly recommended with fungicide applications.

Sanitation: Removal of infected fruit from around the plant during the harvest season is helpful in reducing Botrytis gray mold potential, since each infected fruit produces millions of spores that can move onto nearby flowers and fruit. It is not necessary to remove fruit completely from the field; deposition of diseased fruit into the furrow and its periodic destruction by foot or machine traffic is sufficient. Additionally, removal of dead leaves on occasion can be of benefit because it removes another potential source of inoculum while at the same time maintaining more air circulation around the plant and keeping it drier.

Moisture management: Knowing that free moisture is critical to development of Botrytis grey mold gives managers a key tool in limiting development of this disease. For strawberries, planting so as to account for expected plant size and allowing for more air circulation is one step. It is worth noting that transplants can be chilled with an eye to managing plant size; short day varieties such as Chandler and Camarosa should not be chilled more than three days for most situations, and day neutral varieties such as Albion, San Andreas or Monterey generally should not be chilled more than 18 days. The use of drip irrigation, a universal practice in California, is essential for preventing irrigation water from contributing to favorable conditions for gray mold disease.

The use of macro-tunnels (also called high tunnels or Spanish tunnels) in caneberries results in a tremendous reduction of free moisture from rain or dew and a very real drop in the amount of gray mold disease to the extent that fungicide applications for Botrytis might be dispensed with entirely. There is no bigger step a caneberry grower can take to reduce Botrytis gray mold in their crop than to construct a macro-tunnel over it.

Before using any fungicide products, check with your local Agricultural Commissioner's Office and consult product labels for current status of product registration, restrictions, and use information.

One of the increasing challenges for strawberry and caneberry businesses on the Central Coast in California has been the persistant shortage of labor.  Many large operations over this past year reported a shortage of 10 to 15% of workers with some smaller farms reporting even higher percentages.

My prediction is that this shortage will continue to persist, and as a matter of fact may become more pronounced in the years to come.  I base this assertion on two theses, the first being changing demographics and an improving economy in Mexico affecting the dynamics of labor immigration and the second having to do with competition for labor coming from strengthening rental markets and improved conditions for home building in the United States.

Much of the information for the post below comes from the excellent and prescient article written several years ago by Dr. Philip Martin at UC Davis regarding Mexico USA migration.

http://giannini.ucop.edu/media/are-update/files/issues/v8n2.pdf

The Labor Immigration Dynamic from Mexico:

Many of the people involved in the success of the California berry business come from Mexico and without them we will not do well.   

However, the changing economic and demographic situation in Mexico should be understood when thinking forward who is going to continue to do all the tough and complex work of planting, growing and picking our crops of strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.

Let us consider the drivers of immigration from Mexico in the past and the future:

According to some academics, one of the major causes of immigration to the United States was the disruption to the rural economy of Mexico by the North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) put into force January 1, 1994. By some estimates, the economic effects of NAFTA displaced some 1.4 million rural Mexicans, and in the five years following about half of them made their way to the US.  That such a large number of people were displaced at one time from their homeland is tragic, but it did mean that a large number of people not unfamiliar with tough and demanding farm work showed up for work at US agricultural concerns in the years following the implementation of NAFTA.

Now in 2012, to start to understand the changing immigration picture, we should not be unaware that in Mexico, as in many places around the world, the demographics are changing, especially in reference to decline of population growth.  The population growth rate in Mexico has dropped from 1.5% in 2000 to 1.1% in 2012.  

To gain meaning from this number in terms of what it would mean for immigration from Mexico, one would want to cast this population growth rate against the current economic growth rate.  Mexico has a vibrant economy with productivity growth rate of above 3%, and it is doing well in adapting to the global economic order of the 2010's.  Reforms are currently moving through the legislature and more are promised by the incoming administration of Enrique Peña Nieto, including opening the oil sector, simplification of the tax code and labor market reform to further improve the prospects for economic growth. Drawing on all of this, the Central Bank of Mexico estimates GDP growth of 3.5-3.6% for 2013.   The economy of Mexico has been growing and will continue to grow faster than the US (forecast 2013 GDP growth 2%) and this can be to some extent be understood by comparing the performance of each country's stock market index (Figure 1 below).  

In this economic scenario, one would expect labor (read jobs) growth to be in the range of 1- 1.3%.  So population growth of 1.1%, which of course drives labor force growth, has already fallen below the higher end of the rate of employment growth.  An employment growth rate matching or exceeding labor force growth means there is no reason anybody should be lacking for work.  Perhaps there will be mismatches in skill level and available work, but there is no denying an increasing abundance of work will be a factor in reducing emigration, and could even be a cause of some immigration back to Mexico.

Improving Real Estate and Construction Conditions in the US:

We all know that strengthening rents give impetus for investors to come into the market (especially in an environment of extremely low bond yields), creating eventual demand for the construction of additional office, retail and residential space.  Looking to a good proxy for rental markets, real estate investment trusts (REIT's, corporate entities specializing in real estate), represented by the second chart for the REIT index below, we see that the demand for rental income and subsequently the market valuations of these companies has been rising since the middle of 2009.  

Additionally, after a very tough stretch caused by a credit driven over- supply of houses, the fortunes of American home builders have made a turn for the better.  Indeed, the price of an index composed of the shares of publicly owned homebuilders (Figure 3 below) has been moving strongly upwards for the last year. Knowing that the equity markets think forward, we can assert that what happens on Wall Street tends to be a good predictor of what is to happen on Main Street 6 to 12 months from now. Homebuilders are going to be building again in 2013.

What does all this have to do with the labor force working in berries?  A lot as a matter of fact.  Rising rents and the subsequent creation of demand for residential and other construction will pull workers away from agriculture because construction work tends to be higher paying (albeit substantially more cyclical as the last 2003 - 2009 boom and bust has shown).  Simply put, construction going forward will compete for workers.

In consideration of the above, I think it very difficult to see how immigration of laborers from Mexico will return to the levels experienced in the last two decades.  Population growth there is falling, the NAFTA led displacement has run its course, and the economy there is surging forward and generating a lot of jobs. 

In addition to the strong economic and employment picture in Mexico, the US housing market is starting to pick up again on the shoulders of a strong rental market and will compete with berry businesses for this already shrinking pool of labor.