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...

Growing food that’s safe to eat should be the priority of every produce farmer. Laura Biasillo, agricultural economic development specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension Broome County, presented “Produce Safety: How We Got Here and Why It Matters” as part of a recent two-day GAPs workshop. “Ei...