The growing and harvesting season for farmers can only be extended so far. The entertainment season, however, can be year-round for those who are investing in agritourism ventures to expand their offerings. Perhaps you host a Halloween haunt or a winter wonderland, but not both. A professional event...

Ann Miller, Extension educator with Penn State Extension’s Energy, Business and Community Vitality Unit, said input costs have gone up for everyone and consumers are behaving differently. “If there was a weakness in your business, there’s a good chance it was brought to the forefront,” said Miller. ...

Women are important players in agriculture, and often perform tasks that require personal protective equipment (PPE). However, most PPE is sized for men, which means women are often forced to wear bulky, oversized clothing. Charlotte Halverson, RN, clinical director, AgriSafe Network, said eliminati...

If you haven’t had labor issues in the past 24 months, you will, but a lot of autonomous equipment is coming down the pike for smaller farms, not just those with thousands of acres. That’s according to Mark Ledebuhr, principal of Application Insight LLC, an organization focused on the design and eva...

There are many tools to help manage the birds that can damage a farmer’s crops. With help from Dr. Page Klug, a research wildlife biologist with the USDA National Wildlife Research Center, and Catherine Lindell, associate professor in the Integrative Biology department and Center for Global Change i...

Keeping crops healthy is the focus of farmers no matter what crop they cultivate or how they grow it. Although growers are familiar with disease preventative measures, protective treatments when coping with disease threats and treatment options when disease occurs, the plant’s own defenses are often...

The summer is progressing, along with vegetable crops being harvested and sold at all levels of the supply chain. Even though growers are very busy, it is time to think about direct seeding or starting transplanting for those autumn vegetable crops or cool season crops that will keep the cash flowin...

The new varieties and the networking and the education sessions are all great reasons to attend AmericanHort’s annual Cultivate conference, but the highlight every year is the State of the Industry address. It provides a critical snapshot of the industry’s previous year as well as qualified predicti...

The team from Country Folks Grower and Lee Newspapers Inc. once again visited Columbus, Ohio, to be a part of AmericanHort’s highly anticipated trade show, Cultivate22 . Be sure to check out upcoming issues of Country Folks Grower to see what we learned and what our partners are up to! Ralph Hutchin...

In 1930, Sam Bridge Jr. started growing evergreen cuttings in a cow pasture. Not long after he started that venture, the enterprising young horticulturist built a greenhouse to grow geranium cuttings for his mother and her friends. Sam studied horticulture at Cornell University and Kew Gardens in En...

It’s getting to be that time again when farmers of a certain mindset gear up for spooky season. Whether it’s your first haunt or your 20th, using this means of expanding your season to visitors takes careful planning and specific considerations. Yes, you can grow crops – but can you also cultivate a...

Many farms have enjoyed extra income from inviting the public onto their farms, especially those that feature autumn and Christmas activities. However, such enterprises come with risk. Jackie Schweichler, staff attorney at Penn State Law’s Center for Agricultural and Shale Law, discussed issues that...

The ongoing labor shortage in America is taking an especially hard toll on farmers. According to Cheyenne Protz, in addition to the recent dearth of job seekers in the marketplace, the temporary nature of agricultural labor keeps many potential applicants away. “Only 5% of our clients report having ...

How to dispose of fruit wastes without attracting the dreaded spotted wing drosophila? That is the question being tackled by researchers at Michigan State University – and their answers (so far) were divulged at the most recent Great Lakes Expo. Matthew Grieshop, who was associate professor of organ...

Organic farmers don’t always get the same attention as conventional farmers, but a recently completed national study helped determine the challenges and needs of those who farm organically. “We consider these surveys and the findings to be the most robust reporting of challenges faced by U.S. organi...