In 1911 Maricopa County AZ, the Spur family began to farm about 15 miles west of Phoenix. In 1956 Spur’s successors began to develop feedlots, and in May of 1959 developer Del Webb started planning a retirement community to be known as Sun City, about 10.5 miles north of the Spur feedlot. By 1965, t...

Maybe it was a teacher, coach or co-worker, but if you were fortunate enough to have a mentor sometime in your life, you understand the benefit of another person’s willingness to share wisdom gained from experience. In business, having a good mentor helps you identify your strengths, as well as prep...

by Kristen Park, Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University Introduction The role of buyers and category managers has become fundamental to the success of supermarket companies. In a world where fresh produce is procured globally year round and where food safety and sustain...

Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University Introduction This is the first in a series of four Smart Marketing articles reviewing the results of a study that describes changes in produce procurement. It provides the produce industry with information on buying practices so th...

Sometimes a farm seems close to perfect, but needs just a bit of help. That’s what Will and Judy Stevens found when they purchased a former dairy farm in Shoreham, VT. “Prior to buying this farm in 1984, we grew apples, so we were learning about apples,” said Judy. “When we got married, we asked for...

It is only spring, but already many Rhode Island fruit growers are expressing grave concerns about this year’s harvest. The mild winter may have been welcome to many, but Rhode Island peach growers are not among them. The warm temperatures meant that peach trees began gearing up for spring in Januar...

Millennials rarely use paper anymore. Our news comes to us via websites, our books are downloaded on Kindles or iPads, and we barely know how to use a phonebook or thesaurus! “Just google it” is our catchphrase. In order to get our attention, you must use the internet. But how? Do you simply drop a ...

If you are having difficulty finding enough help for summer and fall farm work for this year, the H2A program is definitely an avenue to consider. Despite the paperwork, which an agent can assist you with, most farmers tend to be happy with the quality of the workers they receive through H2A. These ...

The Rhode Island Fruit Growers’ Association met at Salisbury Farm in Johnston, RI in April for a Small Fruit Twilight Meeting. Owner Wayne Salisbury who is also the Vice-President of the RI Farm Bureau, began the evening with a spirited tour of his farm. Participants were treated to dinner provided ...

Stephanie Brace is a horticulture Ph.D candidate at Cornell University, and her topic for a Gro Research webinar was Vermicompost Usage as an Organic Fertilizer. Compost feedstock is made up of food scraps, animal waste and bedding (pig, horse, and cow manures), sawdust (occasionally), and elements ...

Chris Blanchard says that food safety matters. “With fresh vegetables, we are the last step before product actually goes in somebody’s mouth,” said Blanchard. “Much of what we produce, the customers are taking home and either minimally processing it (washing and slicing) or putting it straight in th...

Retired Cornell Cooperative Extension Berry and Small Fruit Specialist, Steven McKay, owner of Micosta Enterprises, is making a difference for berry and small fruit producers in the Hudson Valley and surrounding area. “We’re value-added in a big way!” attests McKay. McKay purchases berries and small...

The Lewis B. Rome Commons at the University of Conn, in Storrs, CT was the site of the Sustainable Landscape Conference. This conference was designed for the landscape and horticultural professionals and given the diversity of the target groups it is certain that everyone came away with very useful ...

How does a plant pest whose existence was not chronicled before 1858 in England, cross the Atlantic Ocean 158 years later to land on a farm in Lancaster County, PA? That is the travel history of the allium Leaf Miner. This pest, native to Poland and Germany, first spread across Europe into Turkey, R...

The Rhode Island Fruit Growers’ Association held its annual dinner and business meeting March 23, 2016 at the RI Farm Bureau offices in West Greenwich, RI. Dr. Angela Myracle from the University of Maine’s School of Food and Agriculture presented research she has done on the health benefits of vario...