NASS continues to review its agricultural estimates program to ensure the agency provides the most accurate, timely and useful data, while also remaining within the agency budget. As a result, NASS will make the following changes to its in-season reporting for this year:

Vegetables – Reduce to one in-season report; Apple – Forecast in October only (Eliminate March preliminary summary and August report); Apricot – Forecast in July only (Eliminate June report); Cherry Production – Publish in June only (Eliminate forecast in June Crop Production); Grape – Forecast in August only (Eliminate July and October reports); Peach – Forecast in August only (Eliminate May, June and July reports); Pear – Forecast in August only (Eliminate June report); Pecan – Forecast in October only (Eliminate December report); Banana Revisions in May – Eliminate; Guavas in May – Eliminate; Olives in August – Eliminate; Papaya Revisions in May – Eliminate; Prune Forecast and Revisions in June – Eliminate; and Prunes and Plums Forecast in August - Eliminate.

The current changes affect the 2012 growing season. All programs will be reevaluated in the future. These changes affect only the in-season forecast reports. There will be no changes for the final end-of-season estimates reporting for all fruits and vegetables. For additional information, please see the 2012 Guide to Products and Services, which NASS released on February 1.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) provides timely, accurate, and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture.

For more information contact Lance Honig, 202-720-2127 or
Sue duPont at (202) 690-8122.

The New Jersey Audubon Society’s ‘Jersey Grown’ S.A.V.E. (Support Agricultural Viability and the Environment) initiative has recently won the 2011 New Jersey Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award.

The program was chosen from among numerous entries for the Land Conservation Award, which requires that the selected applicant demonstrate a commitment to and experience in the preservation of open space that protects land from future development.

"Jersey Grown" sunflower birdseed – the first product marketed under New Jersey Audubon’s S.A.V.E.™ brand – is now in its fourth year, and has continually grown in scope during its tenure. The state Department of Agriculture has been instrumental in the growth of the S.A.V.E.™ project, approving the use of the "Jersey Grown" label on birdseed and designating a new label, "Made with Jersey Grown Wood," for related S.A.V.E.™ birdfeeder and bird house products.

For more info visit www.NJAudubon.org

Thousands of orchids of all colors, sizes and shapes will be featured at Deep Cut Orchid Society’s 15th annual orchid show to be held from Feb. 9-12 at the Dearborn Farm Market, Route 35, Holmdel, Monmouth County, NJ. Admission and parking are free. Food will be available.

Show hours are Thursday from 1-6 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The show is sponsored by Deep Cut Orchid Society, a nonprofit organization devoted to the growing of orchids and to education about orchids.

With more than 25,000 named species, orchids are the most diverse flower on earth. There are also more than 250,000 hybrids.

There will be exhibits from growers all over the eastern United States and vendors from all over the country, including Hawaii.

Certified American Orchid Society judges will select the best of the best on Thursday.

Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Middlesex County’s Agricultural Department presents a Food Safety Workshop, Thursday, February 23, 2012 from 9:00am-1:00pm at the EARTH Center in Davidson’s Mill Pond Park, 42 Riva Ave. South Brunswick, NJ 08902.

This workshop is geared towards local farmers.

Topics to be covered include, the Food Safety Modernization Act, Harmonized Food Safety Standards, Developing a food safety plan, Worker Hygiene and How to Prepare for a Third Party Audit.

The program fee is $20 and refreshments will be provided. Please R.S.V.P by February 17 by contacting Carol Richiusa at 732-398-5262 or Carol.Richiusa@co.middlesex.nj.us

This session is supported in part by NJDA/USDA 2012 Specialty Crop Block Grant #12-25-B-1243.

(COLUMBUS, OHIO) — According to an article in The Columbus Dispatch on January 27, Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. has agreed to plead guilty to charges in federal court and pay $4.5 million in fines in two incidents that date to 2008.

That year, the company recalled packages of wild birdseed coated with pesticides that were toxic to birds.

In a separate incident that year, federal officials discovered that the company was selling lawn and garden products with falsified U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pesticide registration numbers. The guilty plea and fines were contained in a plea-agreement document filed yesterday at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Court documents state that, from November 2005 to March 2008, Scotts distributed 73 million units of birdseed coated with insecticides called Storcide II and Actellic 5E. This was done to keep insects from eating the seeds during storage.

Storcide’s label says the pesticide is "extremely toxic to fish and toxic to birds and other wildlife." Documents state that Scotts continued to sell the products despite warnings in the summer and fall of 2007 from a pesticide chemist and an ornithologist, both of whom worked for the company.

Also in 2008, Federal EPA officials discovered that Scotts was selling lawn and garden products with falsified pesticide registrations. Court documents list a Scotts lawn service fertilizer, a garden "weed preventer and plant food" and another product called Southern Max Fire Ant Killer.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) just released the new version of its Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM), updating a useful tool for gardeners and researchers for the first time since 1990 with greater accuracy and detail.

For the first time, the new map offers a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based interactive format and is specifically designed to be Internet-friendly. The map website also incorporates a "find your zone by ZIP code" function. Static images of national, regional and state maps also have been included to ensure the map is readily accessible to those who lack broadband Internet access.

Plant hardiness zone designations represent the average annual extreme minimum temperatures at a given location during a particular time period. They do not reflect the coldest it has ever been or ever will be at a specific location, but simply the average lowest winter temperature for the location over a specified time. Low temperature during the winter is a crucial factor in the survival of plants at specific locations.

The new map—jointly developed by USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Oregon State University's (OSU) PRISM Climate Group—is available online at www.planthardiness.ars.usda.gov

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Hindered by unfavorable planting and growing conditions during 2011, U.S. farmers produced a smaller crop than the previous year according to the Crop Production 2011 Summary recently released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

Depending on location, producers in the United States battled everything from drought and above normal temperatures to heavy rains and lowland flooding which led to decreased production of corn, soybeans, cotton and wheat – the first time such a year-to-year decrease has occurred in all four commodities since the 2002 crop year. The full Crop Production 2011 Summary is available online at www.nass.usda.gov.

For the 14th consecutive year, the New Jersey Tree Foundation is offering free two-year-old trees (1' - 2' tall) to celebrate Arbor Day occurring April 27, 2012. A variety of evergreen and deciduous trees are available.

Schools, local governments, tree groups, non-profit organizations, scout groups, and any volunteer organization may apply for the free trees. All planting must occur on public lands, be done by volunteers and maintained for two years. All applications are due by February 24, 2012. Click here for application.

(TRENTON, NJ) — Richard Nieuwenhuis, president of New Jersey Farm Bureau, and owner-operator of Scenic Valley Greenhouses in White Township, Warren County, was elected to a third term on the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Board of Directors. He serves as a representative of the Northeast Region, which includes New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and nine other states. The American Farm Bureau, with 6.2 million members, has four representative regions: northeast, south, mid-west and west. It is headquartered in Washington DC.

Nieuwenhuis has served New Jersey's agriculture community for more than 20 years, successfully leading the NJ Farm Bureau through often trying times, since 2002. He was appointed to the State Board of Agriculture by Governor Whitman in 1994, and served as its president in 1997-98. He chaired both the nominating committee and the committee to revise the New Jersey Right to Farm Act

Beth Pool, co-owner of Sebowisha Farms, Mickleton, Gloucester County, was also re-elected for a third term on the AFBF Women's Leadership Committee. Pool has served on the New Jersey Farm Bureau Women's Committee for more than 30 years, six of which as state chair. The importance of the women's leadership in agriculture was duly noted in an AFBF statement: "As the number of women as principal operators on farms and ranches increases, so will the role of women in agriculture leadership. The possibilities for involvement in the industry are limitless and the goal of our committee is to provide the leadership tools needed to make a difference."

The AFBF's mandate this year is to scrutinize the new Farm Bill, due in 2012. The organization has endorsed rewriting policy to establish a program that protects farmers from catastrophic revenue losses that can threaten the viability of a farm or ranch.

For further information, contact the New Jersey Farm Bureau, at The Farmhouse, 168 West State Street, Trenton, NJ 08608. Phone 609-393-7163; fax 609-393-7072; email mail@njfb.org; website www.njfb.org