Country Folks, Events
Posted on June 24, 2026
News outlets jump at a chance to film mysterious, celestial, crop circles and wax paranormal about their meaning. I wish they showed the same enthusiasm for “pasture circles” and their real benefit to feeding our biological systems. Maybe we can get cows to strategically poop as a cool art form inst...
Country Folks
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant 
Posted on June 24, 2026
“Workplace culture” seems like a term for boardrooms, not bunk silos and milking parlors. But the right atmosphere in agriculture can make a difference between farm success and failure. Adam Seybolt of Stewart’s Shops , Martha Hilton with Wegmans and Richard Stup with Cornell Agricultural Workforce ...
Country Folks, Crop Comments
Crop Comments
Crop Comments A13 
Posted on June 24, 2026
About a month after the Strait of Hormuz blockade began, a farmer named Ken called me, asking me to formulate fertilizers for his small cropping operation in southern Onondaga County. Ken grows corn for grain, soybeans and mixed mostly grass hay. He sent me soil test results for each of the three fi...
Country Folks, Dairy
by Sonja Heyck-Merlin 
Posted on June 17, 2026
“We want to identify what are the top management practices that explain the best milk quality in organic dairy farms,” said Carlos Nino de Guzman, a doctoral student at the University of Florida. This is Nino de Guzman’s goal as a researcher with a multi-university grant funded by the National Insti...
Country Folks, Dairy
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant ommercial dairy herds are increasing both 
Posted on June 17, 2026
Commercial dairy herds are increasing both in profitable milk components and in overall yields. Does this mean cows should be challenged with more nutrient-rich diets to determine their productivity per unit of energy? Mike Van Amburgh with the Department of Animal Science at Cornell University expl...
Country Folks, Dairy
by Sally Colby 
Posted on June 17, 2026
Mary, Javier and Lorrie handle moving cows and milking at Cool Beans Dairy. Mary attaches milking units immediately after wiping udders dry while Javier waits a few extra minutes. Lorrie whistles to move cows but Javier uses a rattle paddle. Although the herd has outstanding genetics and performance...
Country Folks
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant 
Posted on June 17, 2026
Southern rust seems like a problem that wouldn’t affect farmers in the Northeast; however, Camilo Parada-Rojas, field crop pathologist with Cornell University, presented the on the topic at the annual CCE-sponsored Corn Congress because the pathogen is carried by wind currents and can spread this wa...
Country Folks
by Enrico Villamaino 
Posted on June 17, 2026
Among Pennsylvania farmland, Shady Lane Curtains has built a business around a surprisingly simple idea: healthier livestock starts with better light, stronger ventilation and sturdier shelter. From its headquarters in Bird-in-Hand, the company has spent more than 15 years crafting custom agricultur...
Country Folks, Crop Comments
Crop
Posted on June 17, 2026
According to John Idowu, Ph.D., plant science Extension agronomist at New Mexico State University, soil compaction can greatly challenge cropland performance and reduce yields, depending on the type of crop grown. However, there are many strategies that producers can use to minimize soil compaction ...
Country Folks
by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant 
August 12, 2026
A 4-H’er since he was a boy, Travis Clark, 14, from Rushville, won Grand Champion 4-H Market Animal with his Simmental steer at the recent Ontario Cou...
Country Folks
by Joseph Armstrong 
August 12, 2026
We joke about the weather in New York always changing, but when you have a farm to run it’s not always a laughing matter. Sometimes our weather patter...
Country Folks
by Sally Colby 
August 12, 2026
Rob Goodling, business consultant for Farm Credit East, recently provided information on what the dairy industry can expect as producers passed the ha...
Country Folks
by Edith Tucker 
August 12, 2026
Jaime Garzon, Ph.D., an assistant Extension professor and dairy forage educator, University of Maine at Orono, recently led a pasture walk on an organ...