Alabama tomatoes safe to eat

According to Alabama Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Ron Sparks, Alabama-grown tomatoes are going to be placed on the FDA’s ’safe to eat’ list this evening.

From the FDA’s web site: “The Food and Drug Administration is alerting consumers nationwide that a salmonellosis outbreak appears to be linked to consumption of certain types of raw red tomatoes and products containing raw red tomatoes. The bacteria causing the illnesses are Salmonella serotype Saintpaul, an uncommon type of Salmonella.

The specific type and source of tomatoes are under investigation. However, preliminary data suggest that raw red plum, raw red Roma, or raw round red tomatoes are the cause. At this time, consumers should limit their tomato consumption to tomatoes that have not been implicated in the outbreak. These include cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, and tomatoes grown at home.”

Earlier today it was announced that several restaurants and grocery stores have halted sales of tomatoes, following FDA guidelines.

Goat Management Field Day - Saturday

Tomorrow the Tuscaloosa County Extension Office will be conducting a goat management field day from 10-3, at Abby Farms.  According to a Tuscaloosa News article on the topic, more people in West Alabama are raising goats, leading to an increase in calls to the Office, so they decided to host a workshop.  The day’s activities will include “presentations and demonstrations to address healthcare and nutrition, management and marketing, hoof trimming and basic care for meat goats.”  The event is open to the public, and free.

Each county in the state has an extension office.  The Tuscaloosa County Office’s annual report is available on their web site - it’s pretty interesting all of the activities that the Extension Office does!  In fact, the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service web site contains a great deal of information on agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture, and even the Master Gardeners program!

Economic Research Service: Alabama Fact Sheet

The ERS (part of the USDA) has pulled together data from various government resources (Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Agricultural Statistics Service, etc.) and compiled a fact sheet for each of the 50 states.

Population, education, and economic data are broken down between urban and rural areas of the state. Data pertaining to farm characteristics, farm financial indicators, etc. is covered over a couple of years.

The Alabama fact sheet is available, with data current as of January 11, 2008.  It’s also available as an excel file, so that data can be downloaded & manipulated.   As a non-native, I found it interesting to look at some of the farm data - especially the number of farms and the number of those still owned by families.  Also, the number of women farmers looks to be on the rise [2,886 in 1992, 4,610 in 1997, and 4,821 in 2002].

NAL Digital Collections

The National Agricultural Library continues to add historic content to their digital repository, NALDR. In addition to the Agriculture Handbook, the Yearbook of Agriculture, and Annual Reports of the Commissioner/Secretary of Agriculture, NAL is also in the process of digitizing the publications “Fruit and Vegetable Market News Report” and “World Poulty Conference Proceedings.”  The Fruit & Vegetable Market News Report can be pretty useful for determining what crops were shipped or received in particular Alabama counties.  Currently the publication is available back to 1952.