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Eco-Friendly Ag Practices May Be Easier Than Farmers Think
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New research shows that labor is thought to be a bigger barrier for farmers to adopt climate resilient practices than it actually is. Rotating crops, using compost, adding cover crops and flower strips, and reducing tillage are practices that can make farms resilient to climate change and bring environmental benefits, but Cornell researchers have found…
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Successful Field Day for Latino/a/x Farmers in Hudson Valley
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The Latino/a/x farming community gathered for the Second Annual Hudson Valley Area Latinx Farmers’ Field Day on July 15, 2024. The Spanish-language event was hosted at Three Sisters Farm in Kerhonkson, NY, where co-owner José Rodríguez and his family welcomed more than 30 participants. Rodriguez shared his family’s experience of building a farm business, immersing…
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Tarps, Mulch, and Timing: No-Till Tools to Rob the Weed Seedbank
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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 Project Sharing Research at Soil Health Field Days
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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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To Tarp, to Mulch or to Do Both: That Was the Question
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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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The Empire (State) Strikes Back: Expo Recordings Now Available
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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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Learn About Tarping on Northeast Farms with New Guide
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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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Empire State Producers EXPO Goes Virtual
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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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Our Summer of Reduced Tillage Research in Photos
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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…








