In early January, many farmers in the Mid-Atlantic begin planning their annual trip to the Keystone Farm Show at the York Fairgrounds in York, PA. The timing of the show is ideal for most farmers – prior to crop planting so farmers can look at, compare and purchase equipment during a less busy time ...

Christy Powell is an agriculture and business growth educator based in Lehigh County, PA. She works with varied farms and farmers ranging from brand new to transitioning farmers and speaks with authority by referencing the six generations of her family’s farm, “where we raise, grow and harvest lives...

Cindy Krepky has worn a lot of hats – teacher, tour guide, chef, butcher and milkmaid. She began farming in Carnation, WA, at Dog Mountain Farm in 1999, where her family and team successfully implemented a poultry and rabbit processing facility, a Grade A raw goat milk dairy and a commercial kitchen...

Most of the Northeast during 2022 was not blessed with bountiful quantities of high-quality perennial forages. For most locations, first cutting tonnages were fairly normal and quality by lab analysis was quite good, depending on the cutting date. The weak link in the chain was second cutting. Thoug...

In autumn 2022, Girls Eat Beef Too creator Markie Hageman Jones, a beef industry leader and advocate, as well as first generation cattlewoman, wanted to create a platform that highlighted women in the beef and cattle industries who exemplify being a businesswoman, a steward of the land and industry ...

GUILFORD, NY – 2023 begins with hope renewed. This rural sentiment of hope just so happens to be led by firefighters, farmers, sawyers, masons, businesses, friends and families within local Amish church communities around central New York. On the frigid morning of Dec. 13, 2022, an attempt to thaw f...

As 2023 gets underway, it presents a good time for farmers to set some New Year’s resolutions for their operation, even if they are a bit belated. Ciji Taylor, a public affairs specialist for the USDA, recommended keeping conservation in mind when making future plans about your farm. “People can be ...

More visitors on your farm, spending more time with you and possibly spending more money, seems to be the obvious goal of agritourism, but for a lot of those in the ag community there’s more than that. It’s about educating the public. It’s about sharing your passion. Carla Barbieri, professor and Ex...

There’s a difference between copywriting and copyrighting. Corey Zimmerman, founder and owner of Wanderweb , a web design and search engine optimization agency in Maine, explained what sets them apart. “Copywriting is sales writing,” she said. (In the marketing world, it’s also called copy.) “The ab...

Frequently I try to illustrate the carbon sequestration benefits of a fairly modest increase in topsoil organic matter (OM). Increasing 1% OM in 1,000 tons of topsoil enhances that parcel’s ability to retain moisture by 16,000 gallons of water/acre as well as increasing its residual carbon by 11,600...

University of Vermont Extension farm business specialist Mark Cannella works with maple producers on business and financial planning. Whether it’s a start-up, a 2,000-tap operation thinking about an expansion or a 15,000-tap operation interested in direct market opportunities, the fundamental busine...

Governments worldwide have in recent years announced plans to reduce methane emissions as part of a larger effort to regulate atmospheric emissions. Both the EU and the U.S. under Biden are striving to reduce methane emissions from 2020 levels by 30% by 2030. As one example, the Netherlands, the lar...

It’s that time again – when we all look forward to a new year, a fresh start, a renewal of ideas. Many will make New Year’s resolutions or set goals that are personal in nature, but why not set goals with regard to your horse? It’s a perfect time to begin as you can easily keep track of your progres...

HAMILTON, NY – “Many hands make light work.” It also rings true that these hands operate the many tools and machines that do the heavy lifting for implementing water quality practices on the ground and near streams. “Conservation practices don’t just happen in a vacuum. It takes many hands,” said Di...

In his December 2022 newsletter titled Crop Soil News (at advancedagsys.com ), Certified Crop Advisor Tom Kilcer firmly warned about how compaction forms in our fields, how it hurts yields and, importantly, how to avoid it. Kilcer managed field crop demonstrations at the Cornell Research Farm in Val...