by George Looby, DVM
The thermometer registered zero — a perfect morning for 270 vegetable and small fruit growers, employees and suppliers to meet at Maneeley’s Conference Center in South Windsor, CT, for the annual winter meeting. Speakers for the day provided a wealth of new information to those registered and the trade show allowed everyone to see what was available in the way of new seed varieties, various support groups and machinery for the upcoming season. [Read more…]
by Steve Wagner
How fast was this past 20 years? How many things can you remember from 1997? What’s different about this year’s Keystone Farm Show? What did they do in 2017 that hasn’t been done before? What sets it apart from previous years? [Read more…]
by Elizabeth A. Tomlin
With milk prices bottoming out this past year, the last thing Kevin and Jack Putman of Fulton County, NY, needed was to lose their milk market. But that is exactly what happened.
With a mixed herd of primarily Milking Shorthorns and Brown Swiss, averaging about 90 head, Putmans, along with many other New York dairies, were dropped by Elmhurst & Worchester Creamery. [Read more…]
by Troy Bishopp
DELHI, NY — Author and motivational speaker, Richard Carlson believed, “Reflection is one of the most underused yet powerful tools for success.” The Catskill Regional Agriculture Conference held at SUNY Delhi rang in the New Year by sharing seasoned presenters who reflected on the tools for managing the bottom line, nurturing the environment and improving the lives of farmers and their animals. [Read more…]
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
WATERLOO, NY — The Northeast has experienced its share of extreme weather in recent years, with excessive rainfall in 2015 and drought last year. As with any crop, growing good corn requires farmers to plan for less-than-ideal weather. Quirine Ketterings, nutrient management Spear Program at Cornell University and Don Specker, DuPont Pioneer, North Atlantic Commercial Unit, recently presented “Corn Nitrogen Management in Extreme Weather Years” at the annual Corn Congress. [Read more…]
by Hope Holland
Lynn Cherish is one of those people who not only join the farming community but who also become part of the warp and weft of that community. In weaving, the warp is the tightly stretched lengthwise core of a fabric, while the weft is woven between the warp threads to create various patterns. The various undeniable responsibilities of the farming world are the warp threads and the weft is what humans do to create the pattern of interaction, community and assistance that makes farming more like a family than merely a difficult and time consuming job. [Read more…]
by Tamara Scully
Thousands of attendees, hundreds of workshops, 120 exhibitors, a dozen local food vendors, a handful of cooking demonstrations, a couple of live animal exhibits, and a few awards presentations added up to a whole lot of Maine farming, all wrapped up in an event both fun and educational for anyone interested in agriculture. For the 76th year, the Maine Agricultural Trades Show, held in the capital city of Augusta, didn’t disappoint. [Read more…]
by George Looby, DVM
The Connecticut Farm Bureau hosted The Connecticut Dairy Summit on Jan. 4, 2017, designed to present an overview of the status of the dairy industry in the state as it enters a new year. The meeting was held in the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, CT, which afforded interested members of the Legislature to hear the concerns of those involved in the dairy industry. [Read more…]