SOUTHWEST HALIFAX COUNTY, VA — Roland Coleman is 67 years old and has been growing tobacco since he was a young boy. Today he and his brother grow 15 acres of leaf near Alton. This year, Coleman said, “It’s been kind of rough on us. We had a time.” The rain came down all spring and summer. “When we ...

One mother’s realization of how quickly families become removed from the farm “She is my inspiration,” stated Debbie Lyons-Blythe. Her “inspiration” is a young mother in the Midwest. Instead of being two or four generations removed from production agriculture, Shannon, who is actually an extended fa...

Sometimes writing up the Dairy Princess Coronation, which is a kind of milky nightcap to the All American Dairy Show that closes a week before, is like penning a theatrical review. There is much theater with princess contestants donning costumes and regaling speeches about the virtues of their chose...

Remembering back to Farm Aid concerts that have been held around the country, I was surprised to hear that Saratoga, NY, was selected for Farm Aid 2013. Initial public relations materials didn’t seem to mention that dairy is New York’s top agricultural product. So, a group of farm women reached out ...

It’s been an interesting season for growing corn. While some farmers are bringing in record yields, others are lamenting a season that was simply too wet and cool. Once the ground is bare, what’s next? Some fields in which silage corn was grown will be planted immediately with a winter cover crop, b...

CLOVER, VA — James Brown has long been a diversified farmer, growing corn, wheat, beans, and tobacco as well as raising cattle. This year, though, he planted an entirely new crop: chickpeas. Brown is one of four farmers in Virginia participating in a test project organized by Virginia State Universi...

It’s the fastest growing equestrian sport in the nation. Contestants in western garb race the clock as they use two .45 caliber single action revolvers with five rounds of specially loaded blanks to shoot at balloons from the back of a horse. It’s called cowboy mounted shooting, and nearly every hor...

If you think the Affordable Care Act will not impact your business, think again. “It is going to impact you,” said Sandy Buxton, Farm/Ag Business Management Educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension in Washington County, NY. “Frequently I hear, ‘I don’t have more than 50 employees, so it won’t affe...

Senior, Junior, Bred-and-Owned Supreme Champions chosen Whitaker Stormatic Rae-ET was crowned the Supreme Champion of the 2013 All-American Dairy Show on Thursday, Sept. 12, at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in Harrisburg. Owned by Craig Walton and Gene Iager of Pleasant Plain, O...