Location is everything. Greenwood Tree Farm is just 25 miles from Boston. Families return every year as a Christmas tradition to choose and cut their Christmas tree or choose a pre-cut tree. Glenn Card of Greenwood Tree Farm in Billerica, MA, is a second-generation Christmas tree farmer. His parents...

At the most recent Great Lakes Expo , a team comprised of Hannah Cushman, Alex Engelsma, Alaina Cavin, Rebecca Grumet, Randolph Beaudry, Ning Jiang and Courtney A. Hollender from the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University shared the presentation “Mutations Matter: Apple Sport Resear...

Emily Meacham and Doug Morin have established a destination farm, the core mission of which is to create a low-spray, U-pick apple orchard along with other agricultural specialty products in Whitefield, NH. The pair, in their mid-thirties in 2019, bought the property from Tanya and David Tellman who...

“Better eat that peach on the kitchen counter before it draws fruit flies.” Nearly everyone has either heard or said that. Although common fruit flies are easy to manage in the kitchen, genetically similar spotted wing drosophila (SWD) adults are close to the same size and also seek fresh, ripe frui...

Two research teams are tackling one of the trickiest puzzles in apple production. In the presentations “EverCrisp, but not everlasting: Addressing internal browning issues in ‘EverCrisp’ apples” and “‘Honeycrisp’ internal browning: Chilling or CO2 injury?” Özge Horzum (Ankara University), Nobuko Sug...

What if summer-like temperatures in April brought a flurry of fruit tree blossoms, followed by a temperature drop to the 20s that resulted in a hard freeze that not even the best frost protection could mitigate? Growers in several states, including Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Virgini...

State of the Industry keynote tackles tough topics at Cultivate‘26 Once again, the place to be the morning of Monday, July 13 in Columbus, Ohio, was the State of the Industry keynote session at AmericanHort’s annual Cultivate . A standing-room-only crowd was introduced to the organization’s new pres...

Rhianna Zadravec and Alex Libenson, who spent four years farming together on leased property in Lisbon, NH, are very happy they were able to buy a 68-acre farm in Lunenburg, VT, that’s only 100 yards from the Connecticut River. The pair spoke informally, one-on-one, for 30 minutes at the Colonial, a...

Consumers want to purchase the perfect Christmas tree. Growers want to grow perfect trees. Unfortunately, a problematic disease threatens many Christmas tree nurseries and fields. Dr. Gary Chastagner of Washington State University recently discussed research gaps in managing Phytophthora root rot (P...

Growing Christmas trees requires patience and a lot of time. To grow a good Christmas tree takes “just short of 10 years,” according to James Earle Brackbill III, owner of Crane Neck Christmas Tree Farm in West Newbury, MA. Better known as Jeb to his customers and friends, this Christmas season, he ...

When March Farm in Bethlehem, CT, was started in the early 1900s, it was a typical small dairy. Today, Emily March, her brother Tommy and their cousin Shane Collett are fourth generation farmers. The 1940s version of the farm was home to a larger dairy herd and poultry. Apple orchards and a variety ...

Wholesaling farm products has its own set of variables when compared to other marketing channels like farm stands, CSA programs or farmers markets. At a Vermont Vegetable & Berry Growers Association meeting, Rose Wilson and Annie Harlow gave an overview of what farms need to consider before jumping ...

There was a party atmosphere at the second Farm Stand Friday at Good Bunch Farm in Shelburne Falls, MA. All that was missing was the music, but it was quiet to allow owner Dan Greene’s nine-month-old daughter Phoebe to sleep as he held her in her carryall and waited on customers. In the space of an ...

Disease, frost, floods, heat and cold are not a shock to growers, but many who operate customer-facing business models such as on-farm markets will likely find themselves fielding questions about why their favorites won’t be available this season. Penn State Extension recently hosted a grower panel ...

Plants eat light. Animals eat plants. And we humans eat plants and animals, so sunlight – or a really good substitution for it – is essential for life. One important plant in a healthy human diet is spinach. It’s high in vitamins A, C and K and iron and magnesium. But to get the most from those mine...