SILER CITY, NC – Come mid-October, many residents of North Carolina will feel a certain sense of longing. The North Carolina State Fair, typically held then in Raleigh, is cancelled this year as a precaution to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Jordan and Robbins families of Brush Creek Swiss...

Business psychologist Dr. Rob Skacel agrees with what farm families already know: working with family comes with unique blessings and challenges. Although working with relatives isn’t always easy, Skacel provided some tips to help family businesses run more smoothly. In some cases, family members wh...

“There are times when the risks of a farmer are too great. To protect our assets, both our people and our resources, we’ve made decision to take a year to lie fallow.” That’s how Pennsylvania Ag Secretary Russell Redding announced that the Pennsylvania Farm Show will continue as a virtual event from...

There are at least a couple options for planting forages that really put to good use the cooler conditions that surround Indian Summer in the Northeast. The best time to plant these “packages,” seldom just a single species, is the middle 10 days of August. The question then is where to plant these. ...

Mid-spring 1977, in my role as agronomy cooperative extension agent for Otsego County, I attended a field crop demonstration at one of Cornell’s off-campus research facilities. Several agronomy professors were stationed at their own demonstration sites. These educators would explain the details of t...

The Veterans Administration Medical Service is very concerned about the physical (as well as mental) well being of former Armed Forces personnel. As a member of this distinguished group, I qualify for many medical benefits. One such benefit is the counseling service of a licensed dietician. The VA b...

Early this month, the weather reporter on the Utica TV station announced that the official precipitation total for May was a little less than 0.5 inch. Normal rainfall for that location and period is about three inches. Throughout most of the Northeast this statistic is not unusual. Folks receiving ...

It’s too easy to spot a group of farmers in a crowd: they’re often bent over or stand lopsided to compensate for back pain. Dan Neenan, paramedic director at the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety, shares some tips to help farmers maintain healthy backs. “Nearly 80% of Americans exper...

This past February, Edward contacted me for help resolving some cropping issues — hopefully before the next growing season started. He runs an organic cash grain operation in western New York. His main crops are corn and soybeans. His biggest complaint was that the straight buckwheat stand he plante...