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...

Hello, farm family! I’ve been thinking about the concept of “resistance” lately. Often, resistance has a negative connotation, such as when adolescents resist parental authority. Although resistance is inherently difficult, it can be one of your most powerful tools. Think about the plants you grow. ...

Each summer, Connecticut comes alive with rows of strawberries ripe for picking, and families wander fields throughout the state with baskets in hand. Strawberries have long been a beloved crop in the state, both culturally and as a valuable crop for farmers in an increasingly competitive market. Bu...

Kevin O’Dwyer’s farming career began when he was 14, working on the field crew at Ward’s Berry Farm in Sharon, MA. One of his first jobs was picking strawberries. He continued working at Ward’s through high school and college and was eventually hired as the head grower. In 2010, O’Dwyer decided it w...

RENICK, WV – Hellebores are late-winter blooming, giving rise to the nicknames Lenten rose and winter rose. Their attractive flowers are formed by five delicate sepals, except in the double versions, which feature multiple layers of sepals. These perennial, evergreen plants grow about 12 inches tall...