University of Maine Cooperative Extension fruit and pest management specialists, who discovered a destructive non-native fruit fly in five Maine locations, are working with counterparts across the country to collaborate on the latest research about the tiny, spotted-wing Asian fruit fly in an effort to protect 2012 crops.

“Our concern is if you get the spotted wing drosophila in low-bush blueberries — 50,000 acres — it would be disastrous, just devastating to our current Integrated Pest Management program and the crop,” said Jim Dill, Extension educator and pest management specialist in Orono. “And it’s a question of when.”

The fly has made it to Maine just after being discovered in California four years ago.

According to Dill the Drosophila suzukii fly poses a serious threat to Maine fruit growers’ blueberry, strawberry, raspberry and potentially other soft-skinned fruits and possibly even vegetables.

Maine’s blueberry harvest in 2011 exceeded 80 million pounds. The crop value was estimated at about $190 million, with a statewide economic impact to the economy of more than $250 million.

Dill and Extension blueberry researcher Frank Drummond have been monitoring fruit fly traps around the state looking for early detection of the fly that comes from Asia and has spread in the last four years from California to states in the northern and southern United States. In September of 2011 Dill discovered them in five locations in Maine — in a tomato greenhouse in Berwick, raspberries in Limington, Newcastle and Monmouth, strawberries in Farmington and most likely, though unconfirmed, in high-bush blueberries in Clinton.

The Asian fruit fly is particularly destructive because, unlike common fruit flies, which lay eggs only in over-ripe, rotting or fermenting fruit, the spotted-wing Asian fruit fly has a serrated appendage — an ovipositor — used in egg-laying that saws through the soft skin of ripe and unripe fruit to deposit its eggs inside the fruit.

“It’s just as prolific as the vinegar (fruit) fly you find on your bananas, but those guys only attack overripe fruit,” said Dill. The Asian fruit fly “is now out there attacking unripe fruit hanging on the vine.”

Pesticide sprays are the only known control method but applications are expensive and must be done at least once a week, as opposed to a few times a year as determined through monitoring for current pests. Fall raspberry growers often never spray their fruit at all, and at least one grower informed Dill that he’ll go out of the business before applying the necessary sprays.

“We’re looking to see if there are any natural controls for it,” said Dill. “We’ve been working for years to try to reduce applying pesticides. . . there could be unintended consequences of spraying every week.”

The flies can be transported in shipments of fruit and vegetables and even blown by strong winds.

The threat is expected to be discussed at the annual Maine Agricultural Trade Show this week in Augusta.

“We are working to start our own certification system,” said Ichiro Fujikake, a forest economics professor at the University of Miyazaki and an adviser to Himuka Ishin no Kai Loggers.

Fujikake contacted Beth Ollivier, executive director of the Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands (TCNF), to learn more about the Northeast Master Logger Certification (NEMLC) program. TCNF then hosted the Himuka group last October as they traveled throughout Maine to learn from master loggers in action from Brunswick to Passadumkeag. Himuka wanted to see the reality of the NEMLC program, which fosters environmental stewardship. The Fujikake group included loggers, landowners, a town councilor, and an executive director of a sawmill.

“They are going to be using our program as a model for their program,” said Beth Ollivier. “Here they are, halfway around the world, and modeling their program after us.”

Maine’s overall landmass amounts to 20 million acres, of which 17 million acres are forest. Maine’s logging industry was the first in the world to establish a certification program to promote environmentally sound logging. Under Governor John Baldacci’s wood certification program, 7.5 million acres have been certified. During his administration the amount of land in conservation tripled from 6 percent of the state to 18 percent.

The Japanese logging group Himuka Ishin no Kai Loggers tour Pleasant River Lumber Mill in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine.

As in Maine, forestry is a traditional industry in Miyazaki, Japan, where two-thirds of the land is forest, about 40 percent of which is planted. In 2003 a couple dozen loggers in Miyazaki formed a group called Himuka Ishin no Kai. A major goal of Himuka is to promote environmentally sound logging in the region.

“We deeply appreciate the NEMLC program. We anticipate that this trip will be a very good opportunity for us to learn from your valuable experiences and have an exchange between professional loggers in the two countries,” said Fujikake. “Himuka and I have taken the NEMLC program as our model.”

Nine goals guide master loggers in their work. They take into account water and soil protection, while sustaining the forest ecosystems. On the business side, the companies must excel in workplace safety, continued improvement and innovation, and business viability. In Maine, 88 logging contractors are certified under the program.

The Himuka group visited Tom Cushman’s Maine Custom Woodlands in Brunswick, which is a fully mechanized timber harvesting and excavation company. Cushman is the current president of TCNF and Professional Logging Contractors of Maine. They also visited active logging sites in Lincoln and Passadumkeag, as well as Pleasant River Lumber Mill in Dover-Foxcroft and Linkletter & Sons, Inc. in Athens.

Himuka Ishin no Kai Loggers capture images of Maine Master Logger’s in action at Madden Timberlands, Inc. in Passadumkeag, Maine. The group wants to take “best practices” home.

The goal of the NEMLC program is to improve the health of working forests through accountability. The program was the recipient of the world’s first SmartLogging certificate — an international harvest standards recognition by the Rainforest Alliance’s SmartWood program.

In September the University of Maine School of Forest Resources received a $25,000 research grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to take a close look at the Northeast region’s logging industry, including examining its infrastructure, capacity, workforce, and issues that affect its economic health and future.

Nearly 500 volunteer gardeners in about a dozen counties this year donated the nearly 90 tons of vegetables and fruit to 114 food pantries, shelters or charitable organizations around the state, according to Extension educator Barbara Murphy in the South Paris Oxford County office. Murphy, who oversees the program, values the produce at $303,713, based on a sales price averaging $1.69 per pound.

The number of participants more than doubled from 200 in 2010 and the number of organizations benefiting from the gardeners’ generosity more than tripled, from 45 last year. Murphy calculated that farmers and gardeners collectively logged 5,890 hours in this year’s Harvest for Hunger effort.

Murphy considers the program, which is still receiving donated produce as the growing season winds down, highly successful given the challenging, if not poor growing conditions throughout much of the summer. Inconsistent rain, combined with hot, dry periods, took an especially large toll on winter squash, “which always adds tons to the totals,” she said.

Donated fruits and vegetables have increased in volume each year, as has the number of gardeners participating, in addition to the need, Murphy says. Since 2000, volunteers have donated almost 542 tons of fresh produce to the Extension’s Harvest for Hunger program.

Participating counties producing the most produce for the program are listed in order: Kennebec, Penobscot, York, Oxford, Washington, Hancock, Franklin, Cumberland, and Knox, Waldo and Lincoln combined, Piscataquis and Somerset.

In addition, Highmoor Farm in Monmouth and university experimental gardens contributed more than 6 tons. Murphy says with as much as 20,000 pounds anticipated from Androscoggin and Penobscot counties, the grand total could reach 100 tons, the amount donated in 2010.

“Abandoned” and its accompanying soundtrack were commissioned by The Chipotle Cultivate Foundation to raise awareness about the economic hardship family farmers face in the increasingly industrialized American agriculture system.

In the film, director David Altobelli tells the story of three boys exploring an empty house late one night. The boys break into a farmhouse that was clearly abandoned in a hurry some time ago. As the three explore the house – and even begin to vandalize it – one boy slowly comes to see that the family that lived there was not so different from his own. He realizes that the house they are trashing could foreshadow the future of his own family’s farm and home. A frightening moment in the house sends the boys running back to the comfort of their still-functioning farms.

On the soundtrack, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs covers Willie Nelson’s country music classic “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys.”

In the last several years, farmers have stretched beyond traditional markets to reach new customers. This seminar will feature experts in social media and marketing, as well as farmer practitioners who use the Internet to market and sell their products.

Rich Brooks of flyte new media will open the seminar with a presentation on how to increase your online visibility with video, how to use social media to engage your audience, and how to build your email list.

The seminar will also include two panel discussions. The first will feature software developers and producers describing how online sales software works, who should use it, who is using it, and the costs. The second panel will feature producers who are currently selling products online, either individually or as a part of an online farmers market or buying club. Panelists will describe the social media and other marketing tools they use and will share recommendations.

The seminar is free with $5 admission to the Maine Harvest Festival. For more information, or to register by November 7, contact Tricia Cook at 207-778-3885 or visit www.westernmountainsalliance.org. Space is limited, please register early.

This year marks the first annual Maine Harvest Festival to celebrate the best Maine has to offer. The festival will feature renowned local chefs and over 100 State of Maine growers, bakers, cheese artisans, vintners and brewers with demonstrations, sampling, sales and much more! For more information about the festival visit www.maineharvestfestival.com or call coordinator Judi Perkins at 207-947-5555.

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree said today she will introduce a bill later this week in Congress that includes provisions that would significantly change the nation’s foodpolicy. The Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act would expand opportunities for local and regional farmers and make it easier for consumers to have access to healthy foods. Pingree made the announcement today surrounded by dozens of farmers and local food activists at Jordan’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth.

“This is about healthy local food and a healthy local economy. When consumers can buy affordable food grown locally, everyone wins,”said Pingree . “It creates jobs on local farms and bolsters economic growth in rural communities.”

Pingree’s bill is a package of reforms and new programs that will encourage production of local food­­–not only by helping localfarmers and ranchers become more profitable and productive, but also by helping consumers buy locally through improved distribution systems.

“We’ve seen explosive growth in sales of local food here in Maine and all across the country. This bill breaks down barriers the federal government has put up for local food producers and really just makes it easier for people to do what they’ve already been doing,” said Pingree.

Recent reports found the number of farmers markets in the U. S. has grown 150% over the last decade, and supporting new farmers markets is expected to create thousands of new jobs.

Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and co-producer of the documentary Food, Inc said Pingree’s proposal would give local food a boost.

“For too long, American farm policy has favored large, industrial producers over small farmers who want to raise livestock and grow food sustainably. This is a terrific bill for family farmers, the environment, and most of all, for consumers. It will bring fresh, healthy, local food to communities across the United States,” said Schlosser.

Russell Libby, President of the Maine Organic and Farmers Association, said Pingree drew on her experience as an organic farmer in writing the bill.

“Chellie first started farming forty years ago and knows first-hand the challenges small farmers and farm-related business owners face. She knows what it takes to sell directly to consumers and the difficulty of getting products to market,” said Libby.

Pingree’s legislation is a package of reforms to the Farm Bill, which is normally passed by Congress every five years. This year, however, Congressional leaders have indicated they want to write a new FarmBill over the next few weeks and insert it into the deficit reduction package being considered by the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the “super committee.”) Pingree said she’s hopeful that provisions in her bill are included in any legislation that comes out of the Joint Committee’s work.

“The policies in my bill make some major reforms to farm and food policy and we will work to get them included in any Farm Bill that is put together over the next few weeks and included in a deficit reduction package,” she said.

Over the last few months, Pingree created a local and regional food working group to come up with the proposals in the legislation. Some of the participants included the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the Environmental Working Group, the Organic Trade Association, Wholesome Wave, the Union Of Concerned Scientists, the New England Farmers Union and others.

The bill modifies nine of the sixteen titles of the farm bill. Some of those changes include proposals that:

· Provide funding to help farmers build the infrastructure—like slaughterhouses—to process and sell their food locally.

· Require USDA to keep doing traditional seed research, not just on genetically modified seeds.

· Create a new crop insurance program tailored to the needs of organic farmers and diversified farmers who grow a wide variety of crops and can’t easily access traditional crop insurance.

· Break down barriers for schools and institutions to procure local food more easily. Provide schools with a local school credit to purchase local foods, as well as fix out-dated federal policies that inhibit schools from purchasing local food.

· Make it easier for food stamp recipients to spend their money at farmers markets by giving the farmers access to technology necessary to accept electronic benefits—that money goes right back into the local economy. The bill includes a pilot program to test smart phone technology to accept food stamp benefits at farmers market.

Jim Gerritsen, a Maine organic potato farmer with a decades-long record of community involvement and activism, has been named by the editors of Utne Reader to the magazine’s 2011 list of 25 “People Who Are Changing the World.”

Gerritsen was selected for his ongoing work leading efforts by independent family farmers to protect themselves from the threat of Monsanto litigation related to the corporation’s patents on genetically modified seeds, an effort he sees as critical to the preservation of organic farming itself and organic foods as a choice for consumers and their families. Gerritsen wants to keep core seeds that are like the building blocks of each countries agricultural health preserved for generations to come. Big corporations denigrate this seed stock by cross pollination, chemicals and uniformity.

Each year, Utne Reader selects 25 people “who possess an inspiring combination of imagination, determination and energy,” said Utne Reader’s editor-in-chief David Schimke in a statement. “These are people who don’t just think out loud, but who walk their talk on a daily basis.”

Working with Other Family Farms for a Better Planet—

Gerritsen, who grows organic seed potatoes on his family’s Wood Prairie Farm in northern Maine, is president of the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (www.osgata.org), the national membership trade organization of the organic seed community, lead plaintiff in the OSGATA et al v. Monsanto lawsuit.

OSGATA is joined in the lawsuit by 82 other family farmers, seed businesses and agricultural organizations. The plaintiff organizations have over 270,000 members, including several thousand certified organic family farmers.

This landmark organic community lawsuit asserts that Monsanto’s patents on transgenic (gene-spliced) seed fail to meet the “social utility” requirement of patent law and are therefore invalid.

The suit also seeks court protection for innocent family farmers from Monsanto patent infringement lawsuits in the perverse situation where their farms are contaminated by Monsanto genes through unwanted genetic trespass, such as when wind-borne transgenic pollen is blown from one farm to another.

“Our lawyers asked Monsanto to provide a legal covenant not to sue our group of family farmers, and Monsanto refused. We thus are forced to seek justice and protection in court,” said Gerritsen.

The lawsuit is currently in pre-trial procedural motions.

A Longstanding Commitment to Community—

For 35 years, Gerritsen and his family have owned and operated the organic Wood Prairie Farm in Bridgewater, Maine. Located in Aroostook County, which is the top potato producing county in the country, Wood Prairie Farm is a small Certified Organic family farm producing various types of seed and specialty potatoes, including the award-winning Prairie Blush variety discovered by the Gerritsens, plus vegetable and grain seed.

The farm’s modest scale allows Gerritsen and his family to focus on growing the highest quality seed potatoes for an ever-increasing number of committed catalog customers in all fifty states.

Gerritsen believes organic farming produces a superior result and is better for the land. “Northern Maine has been growing potatoes for 200 years, and some of the best potatoes anywhere in the world come from here,” said Gerritsen. “And I like to think our hard work and commitment to our soil and organic farming at Wood Prairie Farm produces some of the best potatoes in Aroostook County.”

Gerritsen is a tireless advocate for organic farming and family farms, regularly speaking at conferences and events, including the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) Common Ground Country Fair and Farmer-to-Farmer Conference, The Organic Seed Growers Conference, the Slow Food Terra Madre Conference in Italy, and other conferences across the United States and Canada.

For over 35 years, Jim Gerritsen, his wife Megan and their family have used organic farming techniques on the fertile land of Wood Prairie Farm, in Aroostook County, to grow the finest potatoes, seed, vegetables and grain nature will produce. Wood Prairie Farm is MOFGA Certified Organic, and its seed potatoes, kitchen potatoes, seeds and other products are available direct to the customer by mail order from its website and catalog.