Posts by Ryan Maher
Tarps are clearly a multifunctional tool for small farmers and are being sized, sourced, and applied to fit the farm. How much can we ask of tarps, how are they changing our tillage and weeds, and how do we handle and troubleshoot the shortcomings? We hosted a series of lunchtime webinars in partnership with the…
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The Cornell Small Farms Program is happy to share the news that Brian Caldwell has been appointed to the USDA National Organic Standards Board, beginning a five-year term in 2021. Brian was a major contributor to the Reduced Tillage project for five years before retiring from Cornell in the spring of 2019. Brian brought decades…
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One farmer shared with us in early summer: “If we didn’t have a tarp down before our mixed greens this spring, we would have been in big trouble with our CSA. In our untarped plantings, we lost the crop to weeds. We’re not going to do that again.” Tarps are becoming a versatile tool to…
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Are you a vegetable farmer already using tarps? Or are you wondering if and how tarps could work best on your farm? The Cornell Small Farms Program is excited to announce a series of workshops on tarping in small-scale vegetable systems, to be held in Maine and New York this fall. Tarping has emerged as…
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Tarping has become a popular practice for small-scale organic farms to manage weeds. Typically, beds are tilled and prepared for planting and then covered using a durable, black plastic tarp. Tillage combined with warming soils under tarps can promote the germination of weed seeds which then die when starved for light. Tarps are then removed…
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Repeated, intensive tillage degrades soil structure and creates compacted layers than can restrict plant roots. Strip tillage targets soil disturbance to the planting zone and can help retain surface residue, preserve soil moisture, build soil structure, and reduce erosion. This approach can give vegetables a good start by warming soils, forming a good seedbed, stimulating…
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Permanent bed systems can help farms improve soil health at the farm-level. Rather than plow and harrow by the field, fields are divided into a set of beds and field traffic, whether tractor or foot, is restricted to the between-bed area, year after year. These pathways can be managed with cultivation, mulches, cover crops, or…
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Learning a small-scale organic method to reduce tillage with less weeds Baseball fans know tarps are critical for keeping fields clean. Heavy rain falling on the diamond can quickly spoil a game. When you’re running for cover, turn your eyes to the field and you will see a crew working in unison to unroll a…
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Salamander Springs Farm uses powerful cover crop sequences to produce crops, forage and seed. Susana Lein is ahead of the curve. She has put together so many practices at Salamander Springs Farm near Berea, Kentucky that we can only scratch the surface in this article. Permaculture principles are at work in all aspects of the…
Read MoreTools and Tactics for Organic Vegetables at Any Scale August 14th, 2017, 4:00-7:00 pm Location: Freeville Organic Research Farm at the Cornell HC Thompson Vegetable Research Farm, 133 Fall Creek Road, Freeville NY The Cornell Reduced Tillage Team held a field tour and discussion of practices to build soils and manage weeds in organic vegetables.…
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