Posts by Kelsie Raucher
By Fred Provenza This excerpt is from Fred Provenza’s book Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us About Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom (Chelsea Green Publishing, November 2018) and is reprinted with permission from the publisher. Liking for foods is typically thought to be influenced by palatability. Webster’s dictionary defines palatable as pleasant or acceptable to the…
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By Jason Detzel It is true that there are fewer processors today than there used to be. And on top of that, there are a lot more regulations that cost money to implement. The processors themselves are reporting to us that there is barely enough business to keep them afloat because there are very few…
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Main Street Farms shares insights gained from their experience focusing on long-term business viability through a Profit Team project. By Kat McCarthy and Dan Welch At Main Street Farms, in Cortland NY, growth is the way of doing business. The farm has doubled in size annually. What started as a 1-acre market garden and 10,000…
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By Guy Ames, ATTRA Organic certification verifies that fruit is produced according to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic standards. See www.ams.usda.gov/nop for details of the standards. In general, the regulations make several requirements of certified organic fruit: Produced without genetic engineering, ionizing radiation, or sewage sludge Managed in a manner that conserves natural resources and biodiversity …
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A teen-focused entrepreneurial program in Southern NJ offers job training and education By Suzanne Cope Last fall, a half-dozen teenagers from the Southern New Jersey city of Camden brought hot peppers they’d grown in an urban garden to a rented industrial kitchen. Donning latex gloves, they de-seeded and chopped the chilies before adding them to…
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By Rebecca Harris In 1914, Sylvestor Howe packed up his horses, left behind his family and small brick house in Tunbridge, Vermont, to travel 90 miles to the big city of Brattleboro. He would return weeks later with the town’s first registered Holstein cows to start Holstein Stock Farm. Nine of the Howe children would…
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By Rich Taber, CCE Chenango As the haying season winds down across the northeast, I am left to ponder the eternal question; should I keep on trying to make hay for my livestock every year, or buy it? Well, “the devil is in the details”, as the old saying goes. First off, I am going…
Read MoreNew York beef farmers, have you considered becoming Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) certified? This certification is free through the NYS Beef Checkoff Program and is valid for three years. So far, the program has over 1,000 certified producers, educators, and students throughout the state. The training for this free certification provides access to the most…
Read MoreGrow Your Business by Growing New Products If you’re not already registered, be sure to check out the next round of online courses. These courses are filling up fast and will close October 28, 2018, at 11:59 p.m EST. Veggie Farming Part 1 – From Planning to Planting This course helps new and aspiring vegetable…
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A lot can be done with $15,000. Take it from Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm. She and her team were able to use a previous $15,000 SARE Farmer Grant to explore barriers facing the ability for farmers to sell to low-income consumers without sacrificing profit and create the new resource: Sowing the Seeds of…
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