Seth Jacobs’ 130-acre farm in Argyle, NY takes advantage of the watershed that offers a natural resilience to flooding. Seth has been certified organic throughout his farming career. Among his most economically viable crops are tomatoes. With the northeast area offering only a short-season for outdo...

“There ain’t no island left for Islanders like me,” Billy Joel sings in “Downeaster Alexa,” but that isn’t quite true. While Suffolk County is no longer one potato field after another, there are plenty of governmental and non-governmental organizations working hard to permanently preserve farmland. ...

In business terms, inventory is both a noun and a verb. An inventory most often refers to a list of property and assets and to actually inventory a business is to actively engage in making a list of items vital to the business itself. Taking inventory also encompasses contemplating every phase of a ...

You have young employee that you wish to incentivize and reward. You’ve handed out raises. Is that enough? According to Jeremy Boudinet’s article “How to Recognize and Reward Millennial Employees” , more money, while still very important to this generation, is not their top priority. “The ultimate p...

What climatic requirements does asparagus need? People always ask me if asparagus will grow in their state. It depends on a few things. Asparagus requires a period of rest for the successful production of spears. The crop is grown commercially only in those regions where the plants are forced into a...

Large operations can hire scouts, often Certified Crop Advisors, to alert them to disease and insect problems. Smaller growers can save both crop damage and spray dollars by designating someone to learn to perform the same job. A scout can save you dollars by telling you whether an economic threshol...

Rick Doyle was busy hosting the summer meeting of the Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association at Family Tree Farm in Red Lion, the family farm he and his wife Karen operate, but he took some time as the meeting closed to talk about what he has learned over the course of 20 years growing Chri...

Dr. Joe Sommer, professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State University, says that Midwest farmers who have been using unmanned aircraft over grain crops have gained valuable information from this technology. “They already know how to fly 15-foot fixed wing aircraft over thousand-acre fields,” ...

John Friel, author of 13 books, has been part of the horticultural industry for over 35 years and is the marketing manager for Emerald Coast Growers. “We grow in two very different climates and we have two very different product mixes. In our Pennsylvania location, we grow stuff that can’t handle Fl...

Erin Lizotte, IPM educator at Michigan State University, says scouting involves monitoring a crop and looking for problems. “It’s being out there and being aware of what’s going on,” she said. “We begin scouting as soon as plants begin to grow or when pests become active, and continue to monitor the...

The pawpaw is the largest edible tree fruit native to the United States. It is the only temperate member of a new- and old-world tropical plant family (Annonaceae, Custard Apple family) that includes cherimoya and sweetsop. There are nine species of Asimina . The common pawpaw, Asimina triloba, has ...

Cultivate’17 was held in Columbus, Ohio from July 15-18 offering an opportunity for horticulturists to expand, improve and explore further into their trade. Yearly attendees were greeted with a newly renovated and expanded Greater Columbus Convention Center. This increase of space allowed for more e...

As if the current tick borne diseases that citizens in the northeast have to contend with were not enough, a new one is emerging to make life in the out of doors a bit more challenging. Lyme disease has been with us for several years and there are few who are not familiar with some of the issues tha...

At some time or another, most businesses find themselves developing various types of promotions to stimulate sales. Promotions are rarely “one-off” occurrences rather they are a part of an overall company promotional strategy. A promotional strategy is a plan for the optimal use of five promotional ...

“I’m still kind of learning, too,” said Ray Zimmerman, during an interview at his High Tunnel Farm near Fort Plain, NY. Zimmerman, who moved to New York from Pennsylvania nearly 4 years ago, says this is the third year he has been in production with high tunnels. He says he works closely with CCE EN...