Small Farms Quarterly
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Identify the parts of your business that are working or not working so that you can increase profitability. Enterprise analysis….this is exciting stuff. This past year University of Vermont Extension Farm Viability in partnership with Vermont Farm Viability and The Northeast Center for Risk Management Education is closing up a series of mini-grants focused on…
Read MoreA National Research and Promotion program is on the horizon for the organic industry. What is a National Checkoff Program? Do the sayings, “Got Milk?”, “Beef: It’s What’s for Dinner”, or “Pork. The Other White Meat” sound familiar? These promotions are all part of National Research and Promotion Programs, also known as commodity checkoff programs. …
Read MoreNo farmer wants to have a fire, but we all practice fire prevention in different ways. It is an accepted premise that farming is a daily lesson in managing risk. Some farmers are more risk averse than others but we all find our comfort level and work from there. For example: I am not comfortable…
Read MoreFirst steps to caring for your new brood. Whether your farm is large or small scale there is usually one guiding motivator that we all share: fostering life. There are few things more exhilarating on a farm than new buds breaking through the surface of the soil, the first steps of a new born calf,…
Read MoreI learned my shepherding skills in Germany, tending sheep on public land, often part of landscape care. The grass always had to be grazed short. It had to be “cleaned up”. It was a requirement by those who wrote out the leases who were primarily concerned with a certain look or protected or endangered plants…
Read MoreConnecting farmers with under-served communities provides access to healthy food for needy neighborhoods and new avenues of profit for farmers. Danny Morgiewicz of Morgiewicz Farms in Goshen, NY has been raising an impressive assortment of produce that he markets directly to a loyal customer base for the past 15 years. And while some of that…
Read MoreWhy save seed? You’ll have seed better suited to your farm or garden than any you could buy. You’ll learn tons about plants, food and yourself in the process. Growing, saving and sharing seed is as profound as it is fun! A century ago, to be a gardener was to be a seed saver. Selecting…
Read MoreTwo-year SARE grant funded the investigation of cost-effectively raising slug-eating ducks in a shiitake mushroom yard. What is SARE? SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) offers grants to farmers, educators, universities and communities that are working to make agriculture more sustainable – economically, environmentally, and socially. Learn about whether a SARE grant would be a…
Read MoreGetting creative with feeding and marketing dairy goat kids. The first kid of the season is a refresher. Despite two years of kidding and 250+ births witnessed, I’m surprised by that particular feeling of seeing a steaming baby wobbly in the hay. I stumble through the ceremony of taking the kid, cleaning it off, dipping…
Read MoreMessage from the Editor 2014 has been declared the International Year of the Family Farm by the Food and Agriculture Organization. The IYFF “aims to focus world attention on family and smallscale farming for its significant role in eradicating hunger and poverty, providing food security and nutrition, improving livelihoods, managing natural resources, protecting the environment, and achieving sustainable development.”…
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