Small Farms Quarterly
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By Elizabeth Newbold Anaerobic Digesters: an opportunity for farms to use manure for energy production, bedding and fertilizer Anaerobic digestion systems for dairy farms are growing in popularity across the United States. In July 2010, the EPA estimated that 157 digester projects were operating on a commercial scale nationwide. Of those 157 digesters, 22 were…
Read MoreThe Small Farms Program hosted Telling Better Stories: Journalism Training for Small Farm Educators and Farmer Writers April 11th at the Mann Library. The workshop grew from discussions on how to help people tell stories about small farms and local agriculture. All fifty spots filled quickly, demonstrating the need for this kind of community education.…
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Do you have marginal land that is too wet for conventional crops or pasture? Would you like to raise a perennial crop that requires minimal care and provides an annual harvest? Then maybe basket willows are in your future! A hardy, adaptable and handsome plant, willow (genus Salix) has many valuable uses. It grows from…
Read MoreNew York’s dairy industry ranks third in the nation with over 600,000 milking cows. Among the large and small 5,150 dairies scattered throughout the state, almost 500 are organic. The New York Farm Viability Institute values the diversity of dairy producers in NY and aims to fund grant projects that will benefit the overall improvement…
Read Moreby Kara Lynn Dunn If you’re thinking about starting a farm enterprise focused on growing berries, Elaine and Karl Guppy will tell you to go to back to school at Cornell University first. “We have taken almost every production and business management workshop offered by the Cornell University New York Berry Project,” Elaine says. “The…
Read Moreby Nancy Glazier SUNY Cobleskill student Jessica Pfiel wanted to learn about calving on a beef operation, she got that and more on her recent internship. SUNY Cobleskill student Jessica Pfiel wanted to learn about calving on a beef operation. She has a few cattle at home, but wanted more hands-on experience with that part…
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Welcome to our new feature column on the topic of seeds! As local and organic become mainstream, the seed sowing our food has largely been left out of the conversation. Why does seed matter? In no way small or simple, each seed (open-pollinated, hybrid, GMO) sows a story much larger and more complex than its…
Read MoreThe John Gordon Demonstration Nut Grove near Trumansburg, NY is just one of the possible stops on the evolving New York State Nut Tree Trail. John Gordon was a well-known horticulturist with a nursery near Buffalo. He specialized in breeding and growing woody plants; particularly nut trees, paw-paws and persimmons. He was one of the…
Read MoreFinding someone to shear your sheep is becoming more difficult and expensive every year, and more and more farmers are looking to shear their own. Producers interested in learning to shear their own sheep, or those who may just need a refresher to brush up on their skills, can now look to the Web…
Read MoreLearn how the pending rules could impact your farm and speak up! Comments will be accepted through May 16th, 2013. by Jason Foscolo, Esq Recent regulations from the Food and Drug Administration have the potential to dramatically affect the way farmers conduct their business. On January 16, 2013, the FDA debated a series of sweeping…
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