One of the many land uses to which farmland is increasing converted is solar energy. Solar farms are cropping up on farmland across the nation, replacing agricultural land with commercial scale solar panels. But losing food production to produce renewable energy isn’t very palatable. Dual-Use Solar ...

Recently my wife Phyllis and I were visiting my son and his family. As I was eating breakfast, I watched a Shark robotic vacuum moving back and forth, following a programmed map of the floors powered by IQ Navigation. This started me thinking about how much technology is ingrained in our daily lives...

If someone asked you to define your business in one short sentence, how would you respond? Often called an “elevator pitch,” as if pitching your idea in a matter of seconds, your marketing message encapsulates your reason for existing in one quick assembly of words. Words are more than descriptive; ...

When Henry Bennett was 16, he started attending farmers markets to sell fruit grown on his family’s Frankford, DE, orchard. After college, where he majored in international business and Spanish, Henry returned to the farm. Although Henry’s original plans didn’t include returning to the farm, through...

Some people get it and some people don’t. If you are a grower or work in the horticulture industry, it’s more than likely you understand the power that plants can have. Not only can they serve functions (growing fruits and vegetables and making pollen available to pollinators), they can entirely cha...

Are winter cutworms wreaking havoc in your high tunnels? “We have been hearing a lot of people say they have problems with cutworms in their high tunnels,” said Anna Wallingford, a University of New Hampshire Extension state specialist of entomology and IPM. Wallingford was one of five panelists par...

The darling of growers seeking a new commodity, hemp has had its ups and downs. At the recent Grow-NY Summit in Syracuse, NY, Lawrence Smart, professor of plant breeding and genetics at Cornell University, compared the introduction of hemp in New York with a rollercoaster. Although fun to ride at am...

Onion production occurs in volume in select regions throughout the U.S. The Midwest, the Rockies, the Northeast, the Pacific Northwest, all of California, Southeastern states and the Southwest regions each have substantial production of onions. But storage onions are often plagued with rot. Economic...

Holidays in American culture are complicated and most are not coordinated with my growing season in Upstate New York. People want to show their love according to the expected time table. To make our customers happy we must provide flowers when they want them, even if that’s the middle of February at...

Plant growth regulators (PGRs) can be used to control different growth patterns and characteristics of nursery-grown crops, allowing growers to influence factors such as stem elongation, foliage color, leaf bract size, amount of branching, bud set, bloom time and plant compaction. PGRs can also incr...

Having just celebrated a birthday in December, I started thinking that indeed I am growing older – like many in the farming population. To me, clean water and nutritious food are the two most important items as far as securing one’s survival. An aging farm population could have national security imp...

As you develop a marketing plan, consider three main components (and terms) which together form a strong platform for success. Advertising, promotion and branding represent a distinctive part of marketing designed to build customer loyalty and increase sales. Advertising informs customers about a pr...

In 2018, the New York State Department of Labor took a step toward what was considered better pay for hard work by establishing the 60-hour work week before overtime for the ag industry. With only a few years of seeing how this affected agriculture, on Jan. 28, the Farm Laborers Wage Board voted two...

The Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) returned to the Baltimore Convention Center Jan. 5 – 7 to jump-start the 2022 green industry trade show season bringing together horticulture industry leaders from around the country. MANTS 2022 welcomed more than 5,700 on-site attendees (including exhibit...

Rosemary Croizet enjoyed growing up on a farm, and farming is how she met her husband Gerard. This year, the couple are marking their 30th year in farming on Berry Creek Farm, the Westfield, VT, farm they purchased from Rosemary’s mother. “It was originally a dairy farm,” said Rosemary, describing t...