The successful endpoint of a marketing plan is to achieve an elevated level of the market share for your product or service. The marketing plan serves as a pathway to this end. Three main components represent the keys to realizing this goal: Demographics, geography and data. Demographics help to out...

When orchards sold fruit in the late 1800s, many of them took freshly picked fresh crops to city markets by horse and buggy. That’s what Steve Lewis’s great-grandfather did when he grew fruit on 12 acres and sold it in Hagerstown, MD. While Lewis Orchard in Smithsburg, MD, is currently operated by f...

When it comes to facts about Christmas trees, you definitely don’t want to listen to Charlie Brown’s friend, Lucy. In the children’s classic “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” Lucy “teaches” her little brother Linus all about trees. She points to an evergreen and tells him it’s a “fur tree.” She ex...

To be a farmer you have to be tough to weather the storms of changing prices – and the weather doled out by Mother Nature. You also, deep down, have to love the land. It helps if you have someone to teach you how to look at the land and see its promise of growing living things that will sustain gene...

Boxwood blight has been confirmed in at least half the states in the U.S., and it’s spreading. The Horticultural Research Institute (HRI) and the Boxwood Blight Insight Group (BBIG) hosted an informational webinar on the disease, featuring Dr. James LaMondia, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Stat...

Michelle Pace Davis took time on her day off recently to give a tour of their operation to members of the Carolinas/Virginia Chapter of the National Agri-Marketing Association. She provided a history of the farm and showed attendees where there used to be tobacco barns for curing the tobacco once gr...

Farmers and farm businesses are installing solar panels on buildings to cut energy costs. Although investing in solar or other green energy can be quite costly, a REAP grant can help. REAP (Rural Energy for America Program) grants award money to ag producers and rural small businesses for renewable ...

Dr. Nikki Springer recently headlined a webinar titled “Garden-to-Grave: Sustainable Strategies for Landscape Material Disposal.” The presentation was in partnership with America in Bloom, a nonprofit focusing on educational efforts and community involvement in horticulture. Springer holds a Ph.D. i...

Fire blight can decimate an orchard, starting in early spring as soon as blossoms develop; it spreads blossom-to-blossom via rain, wind and pollinators. When average temperatures reach 60º F or more, and the relative humidity is 60% or more (or rain occurs), these bacteria can enter a new host and c...