If you’re thinking about starting a farm enterprise focused on growing berries, Elaine and Karl Guppy will tell you to go to back to school at Cornell University first.

“We have taken almost every production and business management workshop offered by the Cornell University New York Berry Project,” Elaine says. “The learning opportunities are packed with so much information, it is like taking an entire Cornell course in one day and they are often free.”

The New York Berry Project makes the expertise of Cornell’s Horticulture Department Chair Dr. Marvin Pritts and Cooperative Extension fruit specialists Cathy Heidenreich and Laura McDermott available to growers statewide.

The project has funding from the New York Farm Viability Institute to offer workshops, webinars, on-farm demonstrations, and one-on-one interaction.

Elaine and Karl operate Guppy’s Berry Farm, LLC in West Monroe, NY, and say learning all they could before they began preparing their land was a key to their start-up success.

“The Berry Project was invaluable to helping us get started with wonderful technical support. When we started, we only knew we wanted to plant berries,” Elaine says.

The Guppys have attended workshops, taken field trips, and visited the Cornell berry plots. They avidly read the New York Berry News published 12 times a year with the latest research information from Cornell and the USDA, Berry Barometer month-by-month tips for the best cultural practices and pest management solutions, policy and regulation news, and workshop and event notices. Growers can find it online at www.fruit.cornell.edu/nybn or request a monthly e-mail notification of the contents.

“One of the biggest tips Dr. Pritts gave us early on was to test our soil and make sure we had the right nutrients for blueberries,” Karl says. “We learned everything we could about pH, soil testing, fertilizers, etc.”

In 2008, they removed pinewoods from five acres and, a year later, they established their LLC.

In 2010, they hand-planted 2,000 certified disease-free blueberry plants, painstakingly measuring spacing between plants and rows.

“Cathy’s advice helped us select the best varieties for fresh flavor, shelf life, and disease resistance, which was especially important for us as new growers to not have to deal with issues such as mummy berry, “ Elaine says.

In 2011, when an early frost destroyed nearly one-half of their crop and then Japanese beetles arrived, the Guppys turned to the berry team for training on temperature moderation methods, irrigation, and pest control.

“They are always just a call, email, or workshop away,” Elaine says.

The Guppys dug a pond and added irrigation to their fields. Karl built a motion sensor tower that triggers a radio and light show that has successfully kept deer out of the berries. He constructed bat boxes that attract the night fliers to help control some pests.

The Project leaders helped the Guppys identify USDA grant funding to help pay for development of marketing materials, including product packaging, labels, and signage with a distinctive farm logo.

A primary sales point is the Syracuse Regional Market, about a 35-minute drive from the farm.

“There are a lot of farms selling blueberries at the market – three in my row alone, but people have taken the time to get to know us and our berries and now they search for our booth,” Elaine says.

Their continuing education plan in 2013 has them completing their Good Agricultural Practices certification.

“We are still learning and planning to enlarge our business as we approach retirement. It is great to work with the Cornell people who study berries and know what we should do and not do before we do it,” Karl says.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today without the experience and knowledge the New York Berry Project shared to get us started,” Elaine adds.

The Guppys see a future with more blueberry plants, a low tunnel for ever-bearing strawberry production, expanded blackberry production, and perhaps some juneberries (they attended a September 2012 workshop on juneberries, which like soil conditions similar to blueberries).

A daughter-in-law has expressed interest in starting a commercial kitchen to make jams and other value-added products.

For its part, the New York Farm Viability Institute (NYFVI) has also funded high tunnel season extension research and value-added crop enhancement opportunities for berry growers.

In 2013, with NYFVI funding, Dr. Pritts began recruiting commercial growers who have been in business at least three years and with sales, preferably of two types of berries, in 2012 to evaluate the use of a berry farm-specific business summary. Horticultural marketing expert Dr. Bradley Rickard with the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell is part of the evaluation team.

The farm business summary project will collect crop production data for developing crop budgets for strawberry, blueberry and raspberry crops, and will collect economic data to create benchmarks for business evaluation. This effort builds on the Cornell-developed Fruit Farm Business Summary successfully used by tree fruit growers to improve their return-on-investment for more than 10 years.

No doubt the Guppys will make good use of that berry business training in the future.

For a comprehensive collection of resources and publications on berry crops, visit the

NY Berry Project website at www.fruit.cornell.edu/berry or contact Cathy Heidenreich at 315-787-2367 or, in Eastern NY, Laura McDermott, 518-746-2562. They work with fruit industry extension and industry contacts statewide.

For an upcoming learning opportunity, mark your calendar for the August 1, 2013 Cornell Fruit Field Day at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY. Watch for details at www.fruit.cornell.edu/news_events/index.htm.

Kara Lynn Dunn is a freelance writer, coordinator of the NYFVI series in American Agriculturist magazine, and publicist for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program. She can be reached at 315-465-7578, karalynn@gisco.net. Brian P. Whattam is a freelance photographer published in several agricultural media outlets. He can be reached at whattamb@frontiernet.net.

SUNY Cobleskill student Jessica Pfiel wanted to learn about calving on a beef operation, she got that and more on her recent internship.

SUNY Cobleskill student Jessica Pfiel wanted to learn about calving on a beef operation. She has a few cattle at home, but wanted more hands-on experience with that part of the enterprise. She got that and more at her internship at Just Serendipity Farms, the home of Jim and Mary Fravil in Lodi, NY. While Jessica was at the farm, 167 of the 170 cows calved. At the April meeting of the Seneca County Beef Producers, Jessica shared her internship experiences. The meeting room was packed with nearly 50 producers and seventeen of Jessica’s classmates and 2 professors who were touring area farms that day. The evening began the way all their meetings do, with a dish-to-pass supper.

Jessica started on the farm with Jim and Mary in mid-January and worked for 15 weeks. As part of her Bachelor’s degree she was required to work a 600-hour internship in order to graduate. Jessica made the connection with the farm through an online posting for internships. During this time, she was still considered a student and had to pay tuition. Jim and Mary required her to visit before they hired her. On the positive side, the Fravils see the value of an intern and paid Jessica, plus provided her with room and board. She became a member of the family.

Jim and Mary form a special bond with their interns. Anna Brothman, their first intern and former SUNY Cobleskill student, has worked for them either full or part-time for 10 years. Amanda Larrabee, another former SUNY Cobleskill intern, stays in touch with the farm. Both Anna and Amanda returned for Jessica’s presentation.

The farm calves their 170 cows starting in mid-January to eventually take advantage of the market for their finished cattle. Calving at that time of year is more labor intensive so for the past ten years they have relied on part-time help, an intern, or ‘extern’ (what Cornell University calls them) to work with them during the calving season. They sometimes utilize interns during the cropping season, too. They host field trips for Cornell students as well.

Jim Fravil praises the internship programs. “Cobleskill’s and Cornell’s programs are constant reminders to us there are lots of good young people out there. We need them replace us.  The more young people that want to enter farming the better it is for those who want to retire, they will support the value of our assets.”

Jessica helped with all aspects of calving, from easy to difficult births, health, and sickness issues. She put her ‘book’ knowledge to work and gained much experience. “Jessica was an excellent employee and we hope for her success and will keep in touch.  She left with four calves (2 freemartin twins, steer and a heifer – all orphans) to add to her herd.  We have been participating in the Cobleskill intern program for many years.  We try to get our interns out into the community and make them part of it and encourage them to do the same when they return home.  We make all interns promise to some day in the future take in an intern, payback.”

I asked Jessica what the best part of the internship was. Her response, “The best was when all of the work was done at the end of the day and I could look up the hill and watch all of the calves running around. I went there for calving so it was an accomplishment to see live healthy calves running around.”

Nancy Glazier is Small Farms Specialist for the Northwest New York Dairy, Livestock and Field Crops Team of Cornell Cooperative Extension. Her office is in Penn Yan. You can reach her at 585-315-7746 or nig3@cornell.edu.

We left the house early on a beautiful spring morning. Allie, our black lab, excited to be going for a ride, jumped in the car with us. Ling the cat stretched out in the sunlight, knowing he’d have the house to himself. Outside, the 12 chicks — now 8 weeks old — where happily scratching in the garden, clucking as they found a bug or seed to eat. Our two older Bantams hens, still unhappy with

the intrusion of these younger chicks, were scolding them whenever they came too close to their spot in the yard. Dan and I headed off for a day of work with his brother and sister, looking forward to finishing up a long project.

When we arrived back home around 7 pm, I knew right away something was amiss. The flock was nowhere to be seen. Walking around the back of the house, we saw 10 of the chicks all huddled up in their home, unnaturally quiet. The two Bantams were noisily clucking as they paced

back and forth on the porch rail. We searched all over for the other two, but didn’t find so much as a feather. We started thinking of things that may have happened. Had they just wandered off? Maybe a fox, hawk, or the neighbor’s dog had seen them in the yard and decided they’d make a nice lunch? It had happened in broad daylight. Who-or what-would have been so bold?

Hoping they had just wandered off, we fed the others, leaving the light on to scare away would be predators.

We had brought these chicks home from the store, kept them in our house until it was warm enough outside for them, watching to see what they would look like as they grew. It was fun watching as the feathers grew out and we could tell what kind of birds we actually had. When we bought the chicks, the labels on the tubs didn’t seem to match the chicks in there, but we figured it didn’t really matter what types we got – as long as there were some meat birds.

The next morning we were eager to see if the other two chicks had returned, but only saw the remaining 10 – two Silkies, four Buff Orphingtons, and four Rhode Island Reds. They acted as if nothing had happened and started their day once again scratching in the garden.

I love having chickens, and we have had many over the years. They have such inquisitive personalities and always come to greet us when we step out the back door. They do a great job keeping the weeds down in the garden, although they may pluck an occasional tomato off the plants – a small price to pay for such a pretty sight in the yard. We had one rooster that loved to sneak up behind me when I was on my hands and knees in the garden, lost in thought weeding, and crow right in back of me. He did give me quite a few starts.

As the summer continued on, life went on without any incidences. The chickens were growing bigger, the Bantams still getting annoyed with them. I was delighted with the look of the Silkies. Both were white, and we were starting to think one maybe a rooster. They looked like little feathered soccer balls. The Buffs were quickly gaining weight, and my husband teased me about those being the ones we would eat. While we had bought them with the intention of using them as a meat bird, after seeing how gentle and sweet they were, I knew they would end up becoming old layers at our house.

In July we decided to spend a day at the lake, and took off early one morning. When we returned home later that afternoon, there were no chickens to greet us. Fearing the worse, we ran out back to see if there were any chickens. Once again, we found them in their house, all very quiet. But they weren’t all there – we were missing six. As we went around looking for them, we saw two sets of feathers, obviously from the Buffs, side by side on the lawn. It seemed as if whatever had attacked them had sat down to enjoy them right next to the house-how brazen! We again wondered about the neighbors two dogs who were frequent visitors on our property. Reasoning that a fox or hawk wouldn’t sit on the lawn and eat their prey, I silently cursed the dogs for killing the Buffs, two RIRs, and my beautiful Silkies. But without actual proof, I didn’t feel right about confronting the neighbors.

When we bought the chicks we wanted to be able to let them enjoy their freedom, clucking happily when they found something tasty in the garden, running to meet us as we came out outside, or pecking at the door when we didn’t come out soon enough with their food. But now it was apparent this wasn’t working out. While we talked about where to put them, we vowed to shoo the neighbor’s dogs away when we saw them in our yard — something Allie was more than happy to do if given the chance!

We talked with several people about what might have taken the chickens. It seemed there were as many different thoughts as people we asked. Some told us horror stories of their whole flock being eaten by a fox – one person had actually seen a fox sneaking off with their chickens. Another told us it was most likely a hawk that had grabbed

Them. Still others reasoned it was a coyote, taking them back to feed their young. One farmer told me it could also be a raccoon. But the thought of those two mounds of feathers side by side in the yard had me convinced it was the dogs.

Summer turned into fall and life seemed to be back to normal. The four remaining chickens were happy, the Bantams had finally started to accept them-as long as the younger ones remembered who got to eat first. We were lulled into a false sense of security as the two dogs down the street had been successfully kept off our property.

Then once again, we were missing chickens-this time it was two, a Buff and a RIR. No sign of them anywhere, no feathers, nothing. And again in broad daylight. Disheartened by this last attack, we decided we could no longer wait to fence in what was left of the flock.

This spring, I’m looking forward to heading back to the store to pick out our new chicks and watch as they change from little puffs to full grown chickens, safe within their fenced in area. We’ll let them out when we’re home, so they will have time to scour the gardens for bugs and weed seeds, but when we’re away, we’ll be happy to know they are safe and secure where no predator will sneak away with them.

I took a journalism training course for farmer writers at Cornell University recently. For me, there is always some mystique about visiting the “Big Red” campus and walking down a similar path as my grandfather did back in the 1930s. It would have been fun to see the parking arrangement back then versus the $10-per-day parking lot and special ticketed areas of today.

Upon squeezing my crew-cab pickup into an eco-friendly car spot, I exited with my laptop, notebook and a sense of springtime zest in my step. The day promised to fill my head with techniques on honing my writing craft and filling up more scrapbooks for my grandchildren to read in some distant time.

I was happy to be away from cows, mud, grazing charts and lecterns for a change.

I stepped onto the sidewalk at 9 a.m. and headed down toward the agricultural quad. I felt myself smiling and looking forward to engaging folks with a hearty, “Good morning.” As I looked ahead, it appeared the grass-farmer would be plenty busy spreading the joy of a new day to students and professors scurrying to classes.

Ah, here’s my first salutation opportunity. I smiled and looked at the young man who abruptly looked down at the ground, passing without a peep. OK. I’ll chalk that one up to his possible hangover. The next young man had some gargantuan headphones and passed looking straight ahead without a murmur.

Jeez, a guy could start to get a complex already! The next several potential “greetees” all had their noses and eyes buried in their iPhones, much too busy for even a grunt.

Finally, I saw an older gentleman (professor type) with a briefcase coming my way. Surely this would be an easy one, since we’re both part of the graying generation. I smiled and looked right at him and said, “Mornin’. “ But alas, he just looked down and away, and kept on walking, as if to say, “You’re not worth the time of day.”

Believe it or not, I passed more than 20 people on the sidewalk on my way to the Mann Library courtyard, with nary a sound except for the echoes of discontent in the human condition. Are people just that preoccupied or unhappy?

I successfully checked my disappointment at the door but confided in one of my editor friends what happened while discussing how I should proceed with this newfound experiment. Maybe it was me and my mannerisms that made folks scoff. Did I come on too strong? Was I just too darn happy? Does the sign of optimism scare off people? Are college students under too much pressure to get somewhere all the time? Is this campus full of night owls and not morning people? Was I in a caffeine-free zone?

As I sat in class and learned about podcasting, photography tips and conducting farmer interviews, my agricultural mind morphed back to the days of riding shotgun in my Grandpa Steele’s 1965 Chevy Impala when he waved to every driver we met. I asked him once why he waves all the time. “It’s just a friendly, country thing to do when you meet someone,” he said. “I’m a proactive greeter.”

Remembering how much people loved my grandpa, I made up my mind that the return trip to the truck was going to be different. Farmers love a challenge. Feeling this newfound vigor to change the attitudes of these young leaders, I burst out of the library looking for salutation-oppressed students.

As I walked down the sidewalk immersed in the beauty of the tree blossoms, a hidden pothole claimed my ankle and I went down hard with my computer careening off into the grass. Oh great, I break my ankle sniffing the flowers and practicing to become a Walmart greeter!

Ahead of me, maybe 30 yards, were a few students who looked back to see me in a heap. Upon seeing me clutch my leg while regaining a stitch of composure, they turned around and kept on walking. This was a true eye-opener for me.

I managed to get to my feet, collected my laptop and strewn-about papers, and limped on toward my truck undeterred in my quest for initiating an acknowledgement. I passed several young men and interjected a hello, but all I got was a lame stare or their music was so loud they didn’t hear me.

With only two souls left on the salutation sidewalk before this emotional project would end, my spirit was lifted as two young ladies greeted me back with smiles and I ended my journey on the positive.

I sat in my truck with a sprained ankle and bruised ego, surmising we need to change attitudes on human interaction at colleges, at work, at home and in our communities for the better. And then I remembered this quote by Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

I’ll also try to become a better salutation solider.

Good morning, good day and good evening.

Panelists include:

• David Wolfe, faculty member in the Department of Horticulture at Cornell University.
• Bianca Moebius-Clune, Extension Associate in Cornell University Department of Crop and Soil Sciences.
• Dorn Cox, Cornell alum and current Univ. of New Hampshire Ph.D. student, working with his family on a 250-acre four generation diversified organic farm in Lee, NH.

“One of our biggest challenges is educating consumers, so now, more than ever, it’s key to communicate well and get the right message out there,” Walthert said.

She’s not alone. The role of modern-day farmer has evolved to incorporate much more than tilling the land and raising livestock, prompting the Cornell Small Farms Program to host its first media workshop for farmers, agricultural writers and educators. [Read More]

Engaged Learning + Research Seminar
Wealth Creation Approach to Community & Economic Development
Stern Seminar Room 160, Mann Library,  Cornell University
10:30am – Noon

Community Presentation and Workshop 
Food Value Chains: Creating Health & Wealth for All
Borg Warner Room, Tompkins County Public Library
4:00– 5:30pm

Funding support generously provided by Cornell Engaged Learning + Research Center, Groundswell Center for Local Food & Farming, Cornell Participatory Action Research Network (cPARN), Food Agriculture and Nutrition Group (FANG), New World Agriculture and Ecology Group (NWAEG), Department of City & Regional Planning and GPSAFC. Cohosted by Mann Library as part of its ongoing Connected Minds, Resilient Communities programming, in collaboration with Tompkins County Public Library. Cosponsored by the Community and Regional Development Institute (CaRDI), Building Bridges, Cornell Small Farms Program, SCNY Food & Health Network, Greenstar Community Projects, and Sustainable Enterprise & Entrepreneur Network.

With upstate yogurt facilities owned by Chobani and Fage expanding and a new plant coming online this summer in western New York, it would seem demand — and therefore prices — for milk produced by area farms would be on the rise.

But when it comes to milk, the law of supply and demand gets complicated, according to Washington County Farm Bureau President Tom Borden, who milks about 175 cows on his Easton farm.

“Having increased demand is good, and people consuming dairy is good, but yogurt turns out to be a lower-value product to the dairy farmer,” Borden said.  {Read More}

Rachel Nevitt and David Zuckerman of Full Moon Farm. Photo by Andrea Brendalen.

Full Moon Farm is a NOFA-Certified Organic farm run by husband and wife, David Zuckerman and Rachel Nevitt.  The farm started in 1999 at the Intervale Center in Burlington, Vermont.  The two purchased their 155-acre piece of land located in Hinesburg, Vermont in 2008 and began farming there in 2009.  Currently Rachel and David grow 20 acres of diversified vegetables and raise pigs and poultry. They market most of their produce through a CSA and have summer and winter shares.

Both Rachel and David have been standouts in their communities when it comes to conservation, stewardship, and politics.  This year David was elected to the Vermont Legislature as Senator representing Chittenden County.  He has worked on farms for most of his adult life in South Hero, Fairfax, Shoreham, and Burlington, Vermont.  Rachel has been active in both environmental and cultural education and in gardening and farming since graduating from college.

Since their start four years ago, Rachel and David have worked closely with Danny Peet, Soil Conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to help transition their new land from conventionally farmed corn to a successful organic farm.  When asked why the couple contacted the NRCS, Rachel replied, “As organic farmers, we care very much about conservation and I think we show that in the way that we farm, but our primary reason for contacting the NRCS was to lessen the financial burden of installing irrigation and other necessities on an organic farm.”  Through a series of Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) contracts, Rachel and David have made many environmental improvements including using shrubs for erosion control, cover-cropping and mulching, and installing a seasonal high tunnel and irrigation pond and pipe.

In the opinions of David and Rachel, the most significant change on the farm was with irrigation.  Without reliable irrigation for crops, it’s a gamble to begin planting for the fear of losing significant yield due to drought.  With the irrigation pond and pipe, water is now stored for distribution to nearby fields. When asked about the installation of the irrigation system, David Zuckerman stated, “Without the NRCS funding, we simply couldn’t have afforded it.”

Cover crops are foundational to soil health at Full Moon Farm. Photo by Andrea Brendalen.

Aside from irrigation, a number of other practices were applied to the farm.  Cover crops and mulch were utilized to help manage soil health and fertility, reduce soil erosion, conserve water, reduce pests and foster greater biodiversity and wildlife – all of which are of utmost importance on an organic farm.  Additionally, shrubs were planted to mitigate erosion at sites where head cutting had occurred due to practices used on the farm when it was mainly corn fields (head cutting is a geomorphic phenomenon where water falls vertically – like a waterfall – and carries sediment with it, thus causing erosion).

A seasonal high tunnel was added to the farm with the intent of extending the growing season.  Dave and Rachael are still learning how to best utilize the system.  One tactic they have used is extending the fall growing season for tomatoes and winter greens.  The winter greens consist of lettuce and mesclun and are harvested into December, and with some being harvested in March as a braising mix.

Full Moon farm would like to provide a continuous supply of greens to their CSA customers throughout the “non-growing” season.  To this end they are planning to raise heartier greens, such as kale and collards, outside into the late fall.  In their high tunnels, they would raise lettuce, mesclun, and spinach under row covers.  They could harvest the greens into January and would be able to start harvesting spinach in mid-February.  While the first harvest of spinach would be from the full growth in the fall before it goes dormant, the second harvest in March would be due to the crop coming out of dormancy.

Rachel and David speak very highly of the mission and purpose of the NRCS in that it makes it possible for farmers to make improvements on their farm with the assistance of Federal funding in order to improve the soil, air, and water quality, which benefits us all.

If you would like more information on the EQIP and AMA programs, please contact your local NRCS office.  For a complete directory please see: www.nrcs.usda.gov.

If you would like to learn more about Full Moon Farm you can contact David Zukermann and Rachel Nevitt via email at davidz@together.net or visit http://fullmoonfarminc.com.