Penn State attorney Brook Duer recently provided tips for employers concerned about an encounter with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS). Duer stated that the information he provided should be considered guidance and not legal advice. “The two...

“The Americans with Disabilities Act, or the ADA, is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability,” explained Bonita Croyle, the communications manager at Farm Commons . Croyle and Chloe Johnson, a Farm Commons staff attorney, explained the legal obligations that employers ha...

Pesticide applicators know the label is the law, and the EPA’s recently released final insecticide strategy means there’s more to know. The plan identifies protection plans for federally endangered and threatened species from the use of insecticides while providing flexibility for growers. The EPA s...

Per reports from Chestnut Hill Nursery in Florida, chestnuts can make growers a tidy little profit. They report wholesale prices for large, high-quality chestnuts range from $3 to $5/lb. (and higher for organically grown chestnuts). Retail prices can range from $3 to $10/lb. However, just like any o...

It is never too early to start planning for retirement, especially for Millennial farmers who have some success under their belts in the industry but still have plenty of years until retirement approaches. Michael Robertson, NY FarmNet farm business specialist, gave tips for retirement planning to M...

Pondering planting pear trees for a profit? You should know all cultivars are not created equal – at least when it comes to fire blight resistance. Emma T. Alstott, Suzanne M. Slack and Xiaochen Yuan, researchers from Iowa State, have been studying the fire blight susceptibility of European ( Pyrus ...

“The three main tenets of the Worker Protection Standard [WPS] are informing folks about pesticide safety, protecting individuals from potential pesticide exposure and mitigation,” said David Huber at a Vermont Vegetable & Berry Growers Association meeting. Huber is the deputy director of the Public...

Often on farms, we get so busy in the day-to-day management we don’t get the time to step back and evaluate our operations from a 30,000-foot view. As the calendar turns the page on summer, I encouraged many of my farmer clients to prioritize the time to zoom out and look at their big picture. Fundi...

In stating the obvious, a group of Extension educators noted, “We’re in a changing environment – the Midwest and the Northeast are getting more precipitation in winter and spring but hotter and drier summers.” That’s why irrigation management and efficiency especially are so important as the hot sum...