Health and safety come first, but business does have to continue for those who are open, and that includes garden businesses. Many garden centers and greenhouses are having very profitable springs, but they need to continue to play it safe. Stuart Cofer of Cofer Home and Garden shared his strategies...

Creativity is the key to eye-catching displays, and owners of nurseries and garden centers have become a bit more creative to determine the best way to remain open and offer no-contact sales. Jill Vanduyvendyk, of Dutch Growers in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, said the garden center has offered online sa...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released its 2020 Leafy Greens STEC Action Plan. (STEC refers to Shiga-toxin producing E. coli, a potentially life-threatening illness). Leafy greens, particularly romaine lettuce, are among the most frequently consumed vegetables in the nation. The FDA’s ac...

People are ready to shop for plants, and in some areas, customers will be allowed to do just that at retail garden centers. Despite restrictions, Dr. Bridget Behe, horticulture professor and retail marketing expert at Michigan State University, said it’s still important for retailers to provide a sh...

No matter what crop you’re growing, it’s likely to be susceptible to fungal pathogens. Conventional and organic growers alike seek to protect their crops from these destructive pathogens. Although synthetic chemicals have become a primary tool in many growers’ toolboxes, bio-based products are rapid...

Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) is usually spread by Western flower thrips. During the past several years, the virus has caused severe damage to tomato, tobacco and peanut crops along the Gulf Coast and in Tennessee and Kentucky. Extension specialists from New Mexico State University and the Univer...

Not all microbes are bad. We know this because those yogurt commercials tell us we need some in our gut. In the plant world, there are genes that decide which microbes are allowed to live inside leaves to keep plants healthy – their own version of Jamie Lee Curtis. Scientists at Michigan State Unive...

Inquiring about a CSA membership, the cashier at a local direct market outlet smiled and handed me a flyer. “You’ll notice,” she said, “we have an exciting new policy making it more convenient for our members.” Instead of seasonal sessions or pre-loaded CSA boxes, the market was offering a discount ...

In brassica crops, black rot topped the list as the most problematic disease in 2019, according to Cornell AgriTech vegetable pathologist Chris Smart. At the annual Fruit and Vegetable Growers Conference hosted by Cornell Cooperative Extension Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture, Smart highligh...

If you want to comply with the Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) program, your farm employees represent the vital link. Laura Biasillo, agricultural economic development specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension Broome County, spoke on “Worker Health, Hygiene & Training” as part of the recent t...

With everything except essential businesses closed, what about farms that market products through CSAs, farmers markets and on-farm stores? Hannah Smith-Brubaker, executive director of Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA), has some tips for handing marketing challenges resulti...

On May 5, 2010, Jason Brown turned 27 years old. In his own words, he was at “the top of the mountain…the top of the world.” As an all-star tackle, guard and center who never missed a single game in his career at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Brown had made a big impression with prof...

Most orchards are established with carefully chosen, quality stock from reputable nurseries. But what if the trees you thought would appeal to U-pick customers aren’t turning out as you expected, or fresh market customers are asking for different varieties? Perhaps a family member joining the orchar...

The USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP), established by Congress in 2001, was supposed to have created standard definitions and regulations for food grown as certified organic. Under the NOP, the definitions of organic production would be standardized, and everyone would know what that meant. It’s...

Farmers in some areas are reporting the presence of robins, the quintessential harbinger of spring. Others have heard red-winged blackbirds, another sign of warmer days. But where’s the line between beneficial birds and those that cause crop damage and are in decline? A recent study evaluated 40 yea...