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News

California: Prioritizing harvester sanitation to limit spread of pests and disease

07/10/2022 - Ag Alert , François-Xavier Branthôme

Researchers are actively working to develop best management practices for harvester sanitation approaches. Extension Specialist at UC Davis, Dr. Cassandra Swett said they have been working in processing tomatoes and found that harvesters present the biggest risk for spreading pests and disease. Motivated by the threat that branched broomrape presents to the industry, Swett noted that they have been working closely with the California Tomato Research Institute (CTRI) in the development of informational resources for industry members.

“This is version one – draft version – because this is being developed as we are presenting it. Broomrape is such an imminent problem and we really, in a perfect world, would have had this all figured out, but we don’t. So, we’re trying to give people real-time information,” Swett noted. “We’re working with CTRI to put out this information as widely as possible. We’re also distributing it directly to the seed companies and distributors, many of the PCA groups, and so on.”

One of the challenges that will need to be overcome to achieve effective harvester sanitation throughout the industry is timing. Swett explained that a practical timeframe for cleaning equipment is a central issue they are evaluating. “Right now, it’s sort of a list of visual, optimal situations and what we’re trying to do is provide a time component since time is the critical element of harvester sanitation. Having enough time to do what needs to be done to minimize your risk,” Swett noted.

Feedback from the industry has already been positive based on the work that has been presented and the information exhibited during field days. Swett said that some operations are working to adjust timelines to better accommodate harvester sanitation practices and incorporate them into their harvesting schedules. A critical component of the work has been communication between industry members and researchers.

“There have been many proactive groups that are working on that, and they really are role models,” said Swett. “So, we are doing a lot of one-on-one meetings with people to learn what different groups are doing and what is feasible.”

Keeping tomato fields safe from pests and diseases
Efforts to mitigate the spread of pests and diseases within tomato production include developing better strategies for equipment sanitation. While harvesters present the biggest risk, other pieces of equipment are also evaluated for their propensity for moving pests between fields. Extension Specialist at UC Davis, Dr. Cassandra Swett said they are working with industry members to look at improving trailer sanitation practices.

Equipment Sanitation
“Every trailer once it goes through the field comes back to the cannery. So, there’s really a wonderful opportunity there to do effective trailer sanitation and that’s something the industry has been very receptive towards,” said Swett. “That is another piece of this puzzle that we’re working on is reducing the risk of spread on trailers and other pieces of equipment.”

Researchers have understood that pests within plant material and soil are being moved around by equipment for quite some time. However, Swett notes that the issue is still somewhat of a poorly researched area. The movement of the different types of equipment without adequate sanitation can exacerbate a variety of issues in tomato fields. “That’s nematodes, and that’s fungal pathogens, and that’s broomrape seeds, and other things,” Swett explained.

Coordinated efforts with the California Tomato Research Institute are helping to further research related to equipment sanitation. The proliferation of the quarantine pest broomrape has been a significant driver in sanitation research efforts. Information will continually be provided to industry members as it becomes available, to help mitigate the spread of pests and diseases. Swett said there are still several questions that will need to be answered as the research continues to move forward.
“What do we know about what sanitizers are effective? What conditions are needed for those sanitizers to be effective? What are high-risk areas that are critical control points that are not being effectively cleaned?” said Swett. “And what can we do about it?”

Sources: agnetwest.com

Related companies

California Tomato Research Institute, Inc.

Professional or non-profit organisation See details

UC Davis

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Related researchers

Dr. Cassandra Swett

USA

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