It’s been an interesting and challenging 24 months for the horticulture industry. In a recent AmericanHort webinar, “Vaccines, Plants and Dollars The Year in Review,” Dr. Charlie Hall, chief economist for AmericanHort, said there’s no question COVID had a strong influence on the horticulture industr...

In the first of a three-part webinar series sponsored by UVM Northwest Crops and Soils Program, Northeast Extension Risk Management Education and SARE, Rose Wilson discussed the basics of marketing hemp for those interested in entering the industry. Wilson, the former business manager for Harpoon Br...

Both consumers and regulations demand that fruit and vegetable production maintain a certain level of cleanliness, which begins with keeping the packing house and the equipment in it clean and sanitary. Chris Callahan, Extension associate professor of ag engineering at the University of Vermont, foc...

Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) program is hosting a new eight-part online workshop. The series, “Spray Safe, Spray Well: Reducing Pesticide Use Risks for Organic and Beginning Vegetable Farmers,” focuses on the basics of when and how to use OMRI-listed pesticides. The initiative is geared towar...

Vineyard diseases can diminish a vineyard’s profits. Carefully monitoring vineyards and addressing these issues can help growers prevent these losses. To address the topic, Cornell AgriTech, Virginia Tech and Penn State Extension recently hosted an Eastern Viticulture and Enology Forum with presente...

Mary Macdonald recently discussed value-added production and the product development lifecycle during the University of New Hampshire Extension 2021 Direct Marketing Conference. Macdonald is the co-founder of Genuine Local located in Laconia, NH. Genuine Local emerged when Macdonald’s family-owned c...

“I’ve had 20 years’ experience with farmers markets,” proclaimed Brian Moyer, Penn State Extension educator. Farmers markets, he said, “are open-air, once a week (maybe three or four hours long).” Public markets also fit in, like Lancaster Central Market, York Central Market and Reading Terminal Mar...

The labor shortage is continuing throughout all sectors of the American economy, including agriculture and horticulture. And Neal Glatt, managing partner with GrowTheBench.com, believes the problem is only going to grow more dire in this industry. That’s why Glatt, along with Bruce Hellerick, direct...

The other day I was getting my annual checkup with my longtime primary care physician Dr. Michael Flanagan. We always have some excellent discussions on why eating good nutritious food, especially fruits and vegetables, promotes good health. Dr. Mike grows a large garden and has a home orchard and w...

So you want to sell shares to your CSA online. This is an ambitious goal, and seemingly becoming more necessary by the day as the food industry embraces e-commerce. It can also feel like a daunting thing to achieve, especially with all the options out there. Fortunately, there are professionals in t...

A marketing plan is a strong component of any business strategy. It outlines how and where you will deploy resources to reach your target audiences. As with other strategies, such a plan is best utilized when it’s flexible enough to absorb market fluctuations. Developing an alternate course of actio...

We all know the earth’s surface is about 71% water. However, 96.5% of that water is in the oceans, and that water isn’t necessarily usable by all of land-dwellers, whether we’re plants or animals, mostly because of the salt. In some recent, very intriguing science news, it’s been discovered that a c...

High on the slopes of Ashfield, MA, is a plentitude of Christmas trees first planted by Al Pieropan. It’s not a plantation of Christmas trees with trees planted in rows – Pieropan planted his Balsam firs in little pockets and on the borders of over 10 acres of four properties that he owned (three th...

Between operating a Christmas tree farm, an orchard, a tree nursery and raising five children, Matt and Sonya Showers have a lot to juggle. When Matt’s grandparents purchased property in Aspers, PA, the acreage was used for orchards and beef cattle. “In 1963, they started growing evergreens,” said S...

Perhaps you know someone who describes themselves as a plant mom or dad. Perhaps you have customers coming in to your nursery or greenhouse, looking to add to their “families.” The indoor plant trend is showing few signs of slowing down, with people still spending lots of time at home. The founders ...