The National Organic Coalition (NOC) hosted their annual fly-in for Hill Day in mid-June. The three-day fly-in schedule included an Organic Farmer Alliance planning meeting and policy coaching before legislative meetings. Nearly 40 NOC delegates from around the country met with their legislators. St...

In today’s world of assumptions and stereotypes, it’s often hard to separate fact from fiction. For example, what seems to be a new trend might just be one observer’s limited scope. Or a purchase may fall through for a reason completely different than the one you anticipated. For a business, a mista...

How can growers raise higher quality crops, bring tomatoes and cucumbers to market early and reduce costs while raising profits? Andy Radin of the University of Rhode Island (URI) Extension offered production tools at URI Extension’s mid-summer 2015 Twilight Meeting. Over 30 growers attended the wor...

When Edward Scott was a boy growing up in Ashfield, MA his family’s farm had an apple orchard, chickens and cows. He became well known for his gift of working with apple trees. “The kids would pick apples when the other apple pickers were away at war,” said his daughter, Donna Scott. Her mother Jani...

The recent upsurge in consumer interest in produce grown nearby has prompted a similar interest in farm-grown processed foods such as jams, jellies, honey and maple syrup. These products bring a diversity to farm stands and farmers markets that is likely to result in increased sales. Realizing the n...

There have been a number of interesting changes on the Donaldson Farms, near Hackettstown, NJ recently. According to Greg Donaldson, who with his extended family, farm 1,200-acres, about 400 of those in vegetables, 800 in grain and a retail greenhouse and nursery. In his PYO strawberry fields, Greg ...

by Karl H. Kazaks Plant diversity. Soil biology. Increased soil organic matter. These topics are at the forefront of minds of growers and agronomists around the world today. There’s a reason 2015 is the International Year of Soils. But often when people think of these issues, it’s in the context of ...

More than 8,000 farmers markets are now listed in the USDA’s National Farmers Market Directory. That number is up from just 5,000 in 2008. In small towns and large communities, markets directly connect producers with consumers, providing the local linkages foodies and families crave. As many communi...

You’re hiring. You have a shortage of young people on your team but few Millennials ever apply. So you assume they aren’t interested in the kind of work you do. But that’s not quite fair. Millennials are a generation as diverse as any other. Some want to be artists, some are in technology, others li...