GOVERNOR PROCLAIMS MARCH 20 AS AGRICULTURE DAY

Governor Whitman proclaimed March 20 as Agriculture Day in New Jersey as part of the national observance of Agriculture Week, March 15-21, which focused on the global challenges and opportunities for United States agriculture. This year's theme was "Growing Tomorrows." The message we sent out was that food and fiber are essential to everyday life and that New Jersey farmers work diligently to meet the changing demands of consumers, seeking new and more efficient ways to run their farms and new markets in which to sell their products.

DEER FENCING, ENERGY GRANTS AVAILABLE NOW The Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife (FGW) will accept applications from April 15 through May 29 for the $300,000 supplemental deer fencing program. Applications received after May 29 will not be included in the special supplemental program and will be handled through normal FGW channels. Fencing will be distributed in June. The six-foot high mesh fence will be topped with two strands of wire set at one foot intervals to create an eight-foot fence.

The Bureau of Public Utilities (BPU) has received NJDA's $687,050 in BEIP supplemental funding and has mailed letters of notification and project contracts to all eligible applicants whose projects were unfunded. Recipients of the letters/contracts may proceed with their projects and be reimbursed for them when they are completed and BPU has accomplished a site review. For additional information, contact Sharon Wolfe or Molly Davis at BPU, (973) 648-7279.

1998 JERSEY FRESH ADVERTISING PROGRAM PLANNED The 1998 edition of the Jersey Fresh advertising and promotion program will begin in April with television ads again serving as the centerpiece of the effort. Additional Jersey Fresh ads will run in trade and daily newspapers and on radio. The three seasonal Jersey Fresh television commercials will be updated to reflect the return to the state tourism and development theme, "New Jersey & You: Perfect Together," with the Governor's participation. They will air throughout the tri-state region through November with Governor Whitman featured in all three spots. The 1998 expanded media plan will run the summer commercial throughout the New England market, reaching markets in Boston, MA; Hartford, CT; Portland, ME and eastern Canada.

The popular series of 30-second produce tips will return, interspersed among the conventional commercials on network television. Through them, consumers will be reminded about specific Jersey Fresh items in season and receive selection and storage tips as well as preparation ideas. The series will air during the noon and early news hours and cover nursery stock, blueberries, peaches, peppers, squash, milk, greens, herbs, tomatoes and corn.

The promotional effort will also include field merchandising visits to retail produce buyers of major chains doing business in New Jersey and the surrounding region. The department will work closely with retailers in distributing Jersey Fresh point-of-sale materials, including price cards, bin wrap, stickers, banners, produce availability posters and aprons. Jersey Fresh materials are also available for direct marketers. Anyone interested in these materials should call Ronald Good at (609) 292-8853.

RETAIL MILK PRICES MINIMALLY AFFECTED BY EMERGENCY PRICE In January, the first full month following implementation of the six-month emergency price to dairy farmers for Class 1 milk, NJDA's monthly supermarket price survey revealed that average milk prices in northern New Jersey supermarkets rose by one cent to $2.72 per gallon in January from the $2.71 registered in December. In southern New Jersey supermarkets, the price of a gallon of whole milk dropped two cents to an average of $2.61 per gallon in January 1998 from $2.63 per gallon in December.

January 1998 school milk prices increased by less than one cent ($0.007) per half pint in northern New Jersey and less than a half-cent ($0.004) per half pint in southern New Jersey. New Jersey schools will see no change in their milk prices for the next five months. The Division of Dairy and Commodity Regulation will continue to monitor consumer milk prices closely.

SYLVIN FARMS WINS 1998 GOVERNOR'S CUP A Sparkling Muscat Ottonel (NV) from Sylvin Farms Winery in Germania, Atlantic County, won the 1998 Governor's Cup for the best wine produced in New Jersey in 1997. The award was presented this month to winemaker Dr. Frank Salek and his wife Sylvia during AGrape Expectations,@ a day-long symposium on viticulture and enology, the sciences of growing grapes and making wine. The annual event was sponsored by Rutgers Cooperative Extension and the Department of Agriculture's New Jersey Wine Industry Advisory Council.

Sylvin's wine took one of six gold medals that were awarded to this year's competitors. The other gold medalists included two wines from Unionville Vineyards, one each from Cape May Winery and Tomasello Winery, and a jointly-produced sparkling wine from Sylvin Farms/Tomasello Winery.

HORSE PARK OPEN FOR 1998 SEASON The Horse Park of New Jersey has launched its 1998 season with the fourth annual Eastern States Dressage and Combined Training Associations "Old Fashioned Clear Round" event. Activities will continue throughout the season with very few open weekends left on the schedule. Construction continues on the grandstand project with completion anticipated by May 1.

SIRE STAKES SCHEDULE SET The Sire Stakes Board approved a new racing schedule for the 1998 Fair Program with five events at Freehold Raceway starting in late June and running through early August. The final Fair event will be held at Garden State Park in late August along with the Phil Alampi Memorial Fair Finals on September 10. With the need for portable stalls negated by having the Fair events at the pari-mutuel tracks, the Board also voted to provide the stalls owned by the Sire Stakes to the Horse Park of New Jersey on a long- term loan.

EQUINE HEALTH DATA SOUGHT BY USDA; NEW SYSTEM BEGINS Several years ago USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service established a national animal health monitoring system (NAHMS) to provide national animal health baseline measures and snapshots of health and management practices. Since 1990, NAHMS has collected information for swine, dairy, beef, sheep and catfish populations in the United States.

This year, NAHMS has identified the horse as the survey species. With assistance from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), horse owners will be identified in 28 states including New Jersey. Three field survey visits to the New Jersey farms will be conducted jointly by USDA and NJDA, one each in the spring, summer and winter.

Participation by New Jersey horse owners is voluntary and confidential. Horse owners may decline to participate at any time or decline to answer individual questions on any questionnaire. To assist the effort, the American Horse Council is offering a 25% discount on recreational memberships to horse owners who complete the program.

NAHMS survey objectives include obtaining baseline health and management data, determining the type and use of horses on selected operations, and gathering data regarding the prevalence of specific infectious agents and health problems including colic, lameness, respiratory disease, equine infectious anemia and equine protozoal myeloencephalitis.

Even as this survey is under way, USDA is beginning the phase-out of NAHMS and its replacement with the National Animal Health Reporting System (NAHRS). This new reporting system is being developed with input from state and academic animal health professionals. In the NAHRS pilot phase which began this month, NJDA will report specific laboratory findings for diseases listed by the International Office of Epizootics (OIE). The OIE will review all participating laboratory findings in an effort to standardize laboratory analyses and reports nationwide before moving into the next step of this new animal health surveillance program.

GYPSY MOTH ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT COMPLETED FOR MAY SPRAYING The department plans to treat 790 acres of forested residential and recreational areas for control of the gypsy moth in May. In order to qualify for federal cost-sharing funds, the department prepared and submitted an environmental assessment of the cooperative gypsy moth suppression program as required by the USDA Forest Service. The assessment addressed the purpose and need for gypsy moth suppression activities in New Jersey, public involvement in the program proposal, scope of the affected environment, and an evaluation of the action alternatives considered, including a Ano action@ alternative versus treatment with Bacillus thuringiensis.

AMENDMENTS TO "DISEASES OF BEES" RULE PUBLISHED IN NEW JERSEY REGISTER Undetected and untreated diseases of honey bees can cause serious economic losses to both the grower who depends on bees for crop pollination and beekeepers who depend on the colonies for honey production. In recent years new, highly destructive pests of honey bees have caused widespread loses of both managed and feral colonies. This has resulted in an increased need to inspect colonies and recommend appropriate treatments to reduce these losses.

Based on these factors, the department has proposed several amendments to N.J.A.C. 2:24 which describe specific procedures to follow when American foulbrood (AFB) or Varroa mites are detected in a colony. The amendments are based on suggestions from the New Jersey Beekeeping Advisory Group and on new information gathered from monitoring diseased colonies and Varroa mite infestations. The proposed amendments to N.J.A.C. 2:24 appeared in the New Jersey Register on February 2 with the comment period ending on March 4. Few comments were received and those pertained to certain definitions, mandatory treatments for Varroa mite infestations, and modifications of AFB disease treatments to avoid total destruction of equipment when only light infections are detected. The department's full response to these comments will be printed in the New Jersey Register in the near future.

OPEN BURNING AUTHORIZED With extremely cold temperatures forecast for the week of March 9, which could have seriously affected fruits crops in bloom or near bloom around the state, the department received NJDEP authorization of open burning to help fruit farmers protect their crops. By the end of the week, however, it did not appear that the cold snap had caused any economically serious damage and there was no indication that any farmers had sought the individual approvals required to be able to burn wood or smudge pots in their orchards.