Reduced Tillage

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SFQ weedbank tarps

Tarps, Mulch, and Timing: No-Till Tools to Rob the Weed Seedbank

By Stephen Stresow / April 3, 2023

Research shows how the legacy of tarping and mulching can lead to fewer weeds in no–till vegetables. By Stephen Stresow and Ryan Maher The Woes of Weeding  One of the persistent challenges for organic vegetable farmers is managing weeds.  These floral foes emerge each season from the weed seedbank–a collection of all the weed seeds…

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reduced tillage field tractor

Reduced Tillage Project Sharing Research at Soil Health Field Days

By Ryan Maher / July 15, 2022

Hear the latest Cornell Small Farms Program research on reduced and no-till practices for vegetables at Soil Health and Climate Resiliency Field Days this July. We’ll be sharing our research along with the NY Soil Health team and partners in a statewide event series running this summer. On July 25, we’ll be at Cornell’s Thompson…

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SFQ tarped field

To Tarp, to Mulch or to Do Both: That Was the Question

By Bob Tuori / April 4, 2022

CSA Farm experiments to minimize inputs, mechanization and soil disturbance in their market-scale potato growing operation. By Bob Tuori, Ryan Maher, and Michael Salzl A major concern on our highly intensive organic farm is how to grow potatoes on a scale that supplies our diverse and abundant CSA shares yet in way that minimizes labor…

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tractorlettucehorz

The Empire (State) Strikes Back: Expo Recordings Now Available

By Stephen Stresow / March 10, 2022

Pass the time waiting for winter to turn to spring with new educational videos. Recordings from the 2022 Empire State Producers Expo are now available on the Cornell School of Integrative Plant Science’s YouTube page. The annual conference is organized by the New York State Vegetable Growers Association and Cornell Cooperative Extension and, due to…

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tarpsontarpingguide

Learn About Tarping on Northeast Farms with New Guide

By Stephen Stresow / February 23, 2022

Are you curious about how tarps work? Want to learn from successful practices as well as the challenges and shortcomings? Our Reduced Tillage project is happy to share a new publication, “Tarping in the Northeast: A Guide for Small Farms,” that provides comprehensive information on the emerging practice of tarping — applying reusable tarps to…

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permanent vegetable beds with high tunnels

Empire State Producers EXPO Goes Virtual

By Ryan Maher / February 16, 2022

The Empire State Producers EXPO has announced plans for a virtual conference with educational sessions offered from February 21 to March 11, 2022. The in-person event, initially scheduled for January 11-13 at the Syracuse OnCenter, was postponed due to the spike in COVID cases. Sessions are now being offered virtually, spread out over a three-week…

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SFQ rt june22

Our Summer of Reduced Tillage Research in Photos

By Ryan Maher / October 4, 2021

The Cornell Small Farms Program continues to document our on-farm trials on tarping practices for organic vegetables. What’s happening under tarps? How are weeds and soils changing? How do they fit in a vegetable rotation with less tillage? And how do we handle and troubleshoot the shortcomings? The current work of the Cornell Small Farms…

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Tarps on permanent beds.

Join Our Farmer to Farmer “Tarp Talk” Webinars in March

By Ryan Maher / February 25, 2021

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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mowing cover crops

Learn About Soil Health at SFP-Organized Sessions During 2021 Empire State Producers Expo

By Kacey Deamer / December 17, 2020

Join us on January 12, 2021, to hear farmer experiences and research on cover cropping and no-till practices from around the region during the Soil Health Sessions at the virtual 2021 Empire State Producers Expo. Our own Ryan Maher, the coordinator of our Reduced Tillage project, organized these sessions on soil health, cover crops and…

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brian field day

In the News: Reduced Tillage Project Partner Named to USDA National Organic Standards Board

By Ryan Maher / October 19, 2020

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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Cornell Small Farms Program

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