Per reports from Chestnut Hill Nursery in Florida, chestnuts can make growers a tidy little profit. They report wholesale prices for large, high-quality chestnuts range from $3 to $5/lb. (and higher for organically grown chestnuts). Retail prices can range from $3 to $10/lb. However, just like any o...

It is never too early to start planning for retirement, especially for Millennial farmers who have some success under their belts in the industry but still have plenty of years until retirement approaches. Michael Robertson, NY FarmNet farm business specialist, gave tips for retirement planning to M...

Pondering planting pear trees for a profit? You should know all cultivars are not created equal – at least when it comes to fire blight resistance. Emma T. Alstott, Suzanne M. Slack and Xiaochen Yuan, researchers from Iowa State, have been studying the fire blight susceptibility of European ( Pyrus ...

“The three main tenets of the Worker Protection Standard [WPS] are informing folks about pesticide safety, protecting individuals from potential pesticide exposure and mitigation,” said David Huber at a Vermont Vegetable & Berry Growers Association meeting. Huber is the deputy director of the Public...

Often on farms, we get so busy in the day-to-day management we don’t get the time to step back and evaluate our operations from a 30,000-foot view. As the calendar turns the page on summer, I encouraged many of my farmer clients to prioritize the time to zoom out and look at their big picture. Fundi...

In stating the obvious, a group of Extension educators noted, “We’re in a changing environment – the Midwest and the Northeast are getting more precipitation in winter and spring but hotter and drier summers.” That’s why irrigation management and efficiency especially are so important as the hot sum...

Each summer, Connecticut comes alive with rows of strawberries ripe for picking, and families wander fields throughout the state with baskets in hand. Strawberries have long been a beloved crop in the state, both culturally and as a valuable crop for farmers in an increasingly competitive market. Bu...

Kevin O’Dwyer’s farming career began when he was 14, working on the field crew at Ward’s Berry Farm in Sharon, MA. One of his first jobs was picking strawberries. He continued working at Ward’s through high school and college and was eventually hired as the head grower. In 2010, O’Dwyer decided it w...

RENICK, WV – Hellebores are late-winter blooming, giving rise to the nicknames Lenten rose and winter rose. Their attractive flowers are formed by five delicate sepals, except in the double versions, which feature multiple layers of sepals. These perennial, evergreen plants grow about 12 inches tall...

You may or may not be familiar with celeriac (or celery root). This root vegetable is commonly found in European cuisine and is part of the same species as celery, just a different variety. At the New England Vegetable & Fruit Conference , Peyton Ginakes, a UMaine Cooperative Extension research asso...

The goal of integrated pest management (IPM) is the prevention and control of pests, and to lessen the use of plant protection products to ecologically healthy levels. That was the definition of IPM given by Erich N. Schoeller, Ph.D., Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, during his prese...

Microgreens are a quick turnaround, high-value crop which can extend the growing season for indoor and outdoor growers alike. While microgreens can add “green” to your wallet year-round, keeping them free of pathogenic bacteria requires some effort and adherence to food safety practices. Sprouts, wh...

Lindsay Allen, owner of Fern Hill Farm in Buckland, MA, lives in the house that once belonged to the town’s beloved doctor, the late Dr. Mark Purinton, who provided care for his community from his home for almost 40 years. Following in his footsteps, Allen is providing care for her community by grow...

Healthy buds mean healthy flowers mean healthy fruits. And using sprayers to protect all those parts of the lifecycle is important, but how do you know which sprayer works best for your operation? “Comparing efficiencies of spray technologies in tree fruit orchards” was presented by the team of Emil...

Evan Lentz, a commercial fruit crops assistant Extension educator with UConn, recently spoke about Aronia berries at the New England Vegetable & Fruit Conference . The Aronia berry has “been around for quite a while now, but it’s retained its kind of novel-niche status,” Lentz said. A lot of people ...