by Steve Wagner
Building soil health is what Jim Hershey says the PA No-Till Alliance is focusing on. Hershey recently chaired a Farming for Success seminar at Penn State’s SEAREC unit near Lancaster, PA.
“Planting green,” he says, “is a relatively new practice. [Read more…]
by Jon M. Casey
More than 100 farmers and Ag Industry professionals attended the West Virginia Southern Conservation District’s (SCD) Farm Field Day on June 16 at the John Farrell Farm located near Hinton, WV. The field day featured exhibitors from governmental agencies including the West Virginia Extension Service, West Virginia Conservation District, West Virginia Division of Forestry, the USDA Farm Service Agency and the USDA NRCS. Additional exhibits included farm businesses that serve or benefit from SCD resources. [Read more…]
by Sally Colby
Dr. Madonna Benjamin, extension veterinarian and assistant professor at Michigan State University, says human movement from one farm to another creates the perfect disease vector — especially for diseases that are transferred through manure. [Read more…]
by George Looby, DVM
When outbreaks of salmonellosis occur in humans and the source of the infection is found to be poultry, the inclination is to point the finger at large commercial operations. Such suspicions may often be unfounded with the source being small backyard flocks. The birds in these flocks generally appear to be in good health and may be treated as pets especially by younger children in a household. [Read more…]
by Steve Wagner
Dave Swarz of the Penn State Extension received the Staff Laureate Leadership Award last year from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences for “exhibiting sound judgment and exemplary problem solving.” Although he made his remarks at a beef meeting, he talked about Ag commodities because “they are all in some way or another associated with, and affect, beef prices.” [Read more…]
by Hope Holland
A lot of farmers these days have realized that what they are doing interacts well with the general public. The famous origins of Knott’s Berry Farm on the West Coast comes to mind as well as numerous orchards across the nation which have taken the model of “pick your own” (PYO) to heart and thereby saved themselves a great deal on labor costs. [Read more…]
Meetings focus on industry issues including farm bill, food labeling, trade and immigration
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dairy farmers from across the country visited Capitol Hill as part of the National Milk Producers Federation’s annual young farmer fly-in to Washington, where in more than 200 meetings they asked lawmakers for action on a handful of issues important to the dairy sector. [Read more…]
by Sally Colby
A recent summer tour sponsored by Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania made a stop at the Smyser farm in York, PA. The Smyser farm might not be one of the largest in the area but the family operates it like tightly run ship. [Read more…]