Well-planned farm tours can be mutually beneficial for schoolchildren and the farms they visit. Students gain insight into where their food comes from, and the experience builds a foundational understanding of why farms matter to their communities. Farms are also a great place to reinforce STEM (sci...

The Saharan air layer (SAL), often called Saharan dust, consists of sand, dirt and other dust lifted into the atmosphere from North Africa’s vast desert. This dust is carried in the African (atmospheric) waves, which push westward into the Atlantic Ocean. SAL is a well-mixed dry pocket of air usuall...

The U.S. bird population has been declining by the millions for several decades. Thankfully, there is a growing interest in managing sugarbushes as an ecological support for our diverse bird populations. Steve Hagenbuch, the lead on the national Audubon Bird-Friendly Maple program , shared ideas of ...

Your farm’s story can help promote agriculture. Considering that most Americans are at least two generations removed from agriculture, it’s more important than ever to help connect the public to your livelihood and way of life. Dr. Michelle Schack, dairy veterinarian and online educator known as @Da...

Penn State Extension program specialist in ag economics, sociology and education Paula Ledney urges farmers to familiarize themselves with Medicare and how it’s regulated to make wise purchase decisions and understand how premiums might increase. One aspect that sometimes catches farmers off guard i...

Baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra once said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” This phrase linked the French term déjà vu, meaning “already seen,” to the English phrase “all over again,” creating a humorous repetition. Much of the Northeast has recently experienced a major wildfire smoke invasion, comp...

Recruiting and hiring are the first steps to adding the right employees to a dairy farm, but training and retraining are essential to keeping them. However, Penn State Extension veterinarian Dr. Adrian Barragan said a significant percentage of dairy farms still don’t offer a solid training program. ...

The Brassica genus boasts in its membership many of our most well-known vegetables: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, rutabaga, turnips, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, collards, kale, mustard and more. My first contact with this genus as a source of soil fumigants occurred about 20 years ago. At the time...

More farmers than ever are interested in and practicing regenerative agriculture these days. They are focused on putting more back into their land and their animals so that more (and better) may be produced. But what about the concept of regenerative agritourism? On the surface, tourism seems like a...