Erica Frenay Avatar

Erica Frenay

Erica has had several different roles with the Small Farms Program since she began working there in 2005. In 2006 she co-founded the Northeast Beginning Farmer Project, and launched the first online course in 2007. For 10 years she facilitated and organized the Beginning Farmer Learning Network, a professional development network for service providers in the Northeast who support beginning farmers. She has shepherded the development, publishing, and updating of several key SFP publications, like the Guide to Farming in NYS, the On-Farm Poultry Processing Guide, and the Guide to Direct Marketing Livestock and Poultry. As the SFP’s menu of online courses surpassed 20, she shifted her role primarily to managing these courses, providing ongoing training to instructors, and ensuring a high quality experience for students.

  • Small Farms Program Hosts Agroforestry Summit to “See the Farm for the Trees”

    Erica Frenay

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    On a wintry January day, while the trees and landscape lay dormant, one meeting space on Cornell University’s campus in Ithaca, NY, was alive with vibrant activity. More than 100 committed and passionate advocates for “trees on farms on purpose” gathered on campus for a first of its kind agroforestry summit. The Cornell Small Farms…

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  • Listing of Log Suppliers

    Erica Frenay

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    Name: Russell Freeman e-mail: freemantrees75@gmail.com Phone Number: 518-945-8101 Preferred Method of Contact (Select all that apply): Text, Email City, State: Hannacroix, NY Business Name (if applicable): Freemantrees Type of Operation: Arborist I can offer: Logs for pick-up, Logs delivered If you can offer delivery, to what distance from your location? (miles): 50 miles What species…

  • Our Team Is Growing: Now Hiring Agroforestry Specialist

    Erica Frenay

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    The Cornell Small Farms Program team is continuing to grow, and we are hiring! We are excited to share that the application is now open for our newest team member, Agroforestry Extension Support Specialist. Our dynamic team is working to help diverse small farms thrive and to make farming more equitable. For this position, we’re…

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  • Starting to Save Seeds Intentionally

    Erica Frenay

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    How the Seed Producers Course, offered by a collaboration of Cornell Cooperative Extension educators, experienced seed producers, and regional seed companies, helped to level up one farmer’s seed-saving skills. At the end of last year, like every veggie grower I know, my mailbox filled with seed catalogs. And I, like every veggie grower I know, delighted in perusing the bright colors and optimistic…

  • Stress Management Through… a Decision-Making Framework?

    Erica Frenay

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    Farmers are particularly susceptible to both chronic and acute stress, and one underappreciated strategy for reducing this stress load is our mindset and approach to decision-making.   What causes you to feel stressed out? Major sources of stress in my life include, in no particular order: money, kids, livestock, off-farm job, my farm business, and the…

  • Join Our Team: Now Hiring Online Course Coordinator

    Erica Frenay

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    The Cornell Small Farms Program is hiring! We are excited to share the application for our newest team member, a part-time Online Course Coordinator (Extension Aide IV). Over the years our suite of distance learning opportunities for farmers has swelled to include over two dozen courses with two dozen dedicated instructors. The Online Course Coordinator will take on most of the…

  • Black Farmers Embrace Practices of Climate Resiliency

    Erica Frenay

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    by Leah Penniman Chief Zogli looked weary as he scratched a notch in his doorpost to record the weather. “Still no rain,” he says with resignation. The chickens pecked lazily in the dust and the goats foraged for the last of the dropped grains. In this rural community outside of Odumase-Krobo, Ghana, the farmers depend…

  • No-till in Practice: Four Years’ Experience at Lovin’ Mama Farm

    Erica Frenay

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    By Richard Robinson When Corinne Hansch and her family were ready to start a new farm in upstate New York, they were also ready to try a new approach to farming. They arrived with five years of tillage farming under their belts, on four acres in Mendocino County, in California, but they had learned the…

  • Red Meat Processing in NYS: Bottleneck in the Local Food Economy

    Erica Frenay

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    By Dr. Mike Baker, Dana Havas, Nancy Glazier, Lynn Bliven, Dr. tatiana Stanton, Erica Frenay  A team of Cornell faculty and Cooperative Extension educators interviewed meat processors in NYS during the COVID pandemic to better understand where there are opportunities to increase capacity and improve the resilience of our local meat industry. Executive Summary  The…

  • New Report Summarizes NYS Meat Processor Needs and Perspectives

    Erica Frenay

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    Building a resilient local food system requires sufficient meat processing capacity. The COVID pandemic revealed that NYS did not have the ability to absorb shocks, including increased consumer meat demand, leaving farmers and consumers frustrated and meat processors overwhelmed. In Fall 2020, a team of Cornell Cooperative Extension educators, Cornell Animal Science Dept faculty, and…

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