Greetings!
The Small Farms update summarizes announcements, information resources, opportunities and upcoming events relevant to small farms. Please feel free to share this information in newsletters, email lists, etc. If you have announcements or resources you would like to include, please send us an email. Subscribe here.
Thank you again for your interest and support of small farms in New York.
Anu Rangarajan Director, Cornell Small Farm Program
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 Wholesale Market Watch
Wholesale Market Watch is a new listserve that provides information and resources to facilitate connecting small and mid-sized farmers to larger markets such as food hubs, grocery stores, restaurants, online marketplaces and cooperatives. Are you a farmer, agricultural educator, or regional food-buyer in the Northeast? You can sign up to receive email alerts from Wholesale Market Watch at this link. This listserve is part of a larger project called "Sparking a Wholesale Revolution: Preparing Small and Mid-sized Farmers to Enter Larger Markets". Learn more about the project goals and activities here. If you have an opportunity to share, please send information to Project Coordinator Violet Stone at [email protected]
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Heroic Food High Tunnel Greenhouse Workshop for Veterans
The Small Farms Program is pleased to cosponsor a High Tunnel Workshop for veterans. The event will take place July 18 & 19 at Fish and Game Road in Hudson, NY. Veterans and their partners will learn about the uses, design and construction of seasonal high tunnels and year-round crop production, and participate in building a 30 x 72 peak-roofed greenhouse on the Heroic Food Farm. The workshop will be led by NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialists Andy Pressman and Chris Lent, whose backgrounds are in organic vegetable production and market farming, and season extension and farm energy. You can apply online or by snail mail (email [email protected] for a printable version). Application deadline for this workshop is July 8, and payment is due by July 12!
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 ATTRA Has New, Free Sustainable Farming Tutorials ATTRA has just added two new additions to its sustainable agriculture resources. These self-guided tutorials contain multiple lessons with ATTRA specialists and other well-known experts in sustainable agriculture. Each course is designed so you can work at your own pace and includes calculators, worksheets, resource lists, and other downloadable and printable tools. See this website for more information, or visit ATTRA's tutorials here. |
Crop Quality Control on Small Scale Organic Farms & High Tunnels
July 8, 3pm-6pm. Falkimmer Farms Organic Growers, 8595 E. Eden Rd.Eden, NY 14057
Learn about quality control, small-scale Organic farming in Western New York, and the opportunities as well as the challenges related to working with season extension and high tunnels. There will be plenty of time to network and to ask your own questions. Bring a dish to pass for the potluck at the end of the event! For more information or to preregister, visit http://www.cvent.com or call Stephanie at 585-271-1979 ext. 509. Pre-registration is encouraged and closes at 4pm on 7/6/15.
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Twilight Pasture Walk
July 8, 6:30pm-8:30pm. 8475 Morgan Creek Road, Lindley, NY
The Tri-County Graziers invite you to an evening pasture walk at the farm of John and Anne Burns. This large grazing farm features numerous innovative practices like integrated sheep and cattle grazing, "mob" grazing, and pastured poultry. This twilight pasture walk is free and open to the public. Attendees should dress for the weather (rain or shine) and expect to walk about 1 mile in pasture conditions. The Tri-County Graziers is a grassroots network of farmers seeking to promote progressive pasture-based livestock production, supported by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Steuben and Schuyler Counties, and the Upper Susquehanna Coalition. For more information, please contact Kerri Bartlett of Steuben CCE by email: [email protected]
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Managing Diseases of Tomato Plants
July 9, 6:30pm - 8:30pm. CCE-Tompkins Education, 615 Willow Avenue, Ithaca, NY
Did your plants succumb to diseases in 2014? Learn to identify common diseases of tomato plants, such as early blight, and learn organic and integrated pest management techniques to keep your tomatoes plants healthy and productive. Cost $5-$10 sliding scale. Visit http://ccetompkins.org for more information and to register.
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NOFA-NY Field Day: Certified Organic Agriculture-Planning your Organic Dairy Farm Transition
July 14, 1pm-4pm.
Alfred State Farm,
1315 New York 244,
Alfred, NY 14803
If Organic Certification is part of your Farm Plan this Field Day is for you. Join Alfred State Organic Dairy Farm Manager, Virginia Chamberlain, and the NOFA-NY certification team to learn from the ground up what organic dairy certification is all about. You can "Hit the Ground Running" after this in-depth look at the organic transition process, applying for certification, record keeping and field requirements for your farm. For more information or to preregister, visit http://www.cvent.com. Pre-registration is encouraged and closes at 4pm on 7/6/15.
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 NOFA-NY Field Day: Making Better Use of Forages and Pasture Systems July 18, 1pm - 4pm. Wild Acres Family Farm, 5963 Rt. 98, Great Valley, NY 14741 Join NOFA-NY and Don Wild to learn how to make better use of your forages through small scale intensive pasture management. Don Wild will demonstrate how he manages his pastures for optimum health in his sheep flock, reducing pest pressures while producing a highly nutritious forage diet. He will show examples of expanding your grazing capacity through incorporating small grains, summer annuals and alternative forages into your pasture plan. Don will also discuss fencing options including polywire, polytape, electro netting and high tensile fencing. Tatiana Stanton from Cornell University will join us to discuss the on-farm study that Wild Acres is part of, looking at the effect of grazing birdsfoot trefoil on parasitic worm populations in sheep. For more information or to preregister, visit http://www.cvent.com. Pre-registration is encouraged and closes at 4pm on 7/6/15. |
MANY MORE EVENTS at our Statewide Events Calendar.
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Career, Etc. Opportunities
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October is BQA Month - hosting sites sought
October is BQA month! In 2014 the New York Beef Quality Assurance Committee offered 13 BQA trainings across the state resulting in 71 producers completing Level I certification and 69 completing Level II Certification. This year we hope to improve on this success. To do that we need locations across NY to reach as wide an audience as possible. A BQA training the site would need an area for lecture (barn, shop, garage), a handling facility and 4-6 cattle for participants to demonstrate their ability to give a subcutaneous injection. Everything else to conduct the training will be provided. The training requires about 3 hours and can be conducted during the day or an evening (with indoor facilities). If you would be interested or would like more information, contact Mike Baker, [email protected], 607-255-5923, Nancy Glazier, [email protected], 585-315-7746, or Carol Gillis, [email protected], 315-339-3060.
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 Through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), NRCS seeks to co-invest with partners in innovative, workable and cost-effective approaches to benefit farming, ranching, and forest operations, local economies, and the communities and resources in a watershed or other geographic area. RCPP partners develop project applications to address specific natural resource objectives in a proposed area or region. Partnering organizations design, promote, implement, and evaluate the project outcomes. Visit the NRCS's website for more information. |
Socially-Disadvantaged Groups Grant - Due July 20
The primary objective of the SDGG program is to provide technical assistance to socially-disadvantaged groups. Cooperatives and Cooperative Development Centers are eligible to apply for this program. Up to $3 million in grant money is available, with maximum awards of $175,000. Visit USDA's website for more information and to apply.
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Rural Cooperative Development Grant - Due July 30th
USDA is accepting applications from non-profit corporations and institutions of higher education for grants to support Cooperative Development Centers that help rural cooperatives develop new markets for their products and services. The Rural Cooperative Development Grant will make up to $5.8 million in matching grants available in Fiscal Year 2015.
The application deadline is July 30, 2015. Click here for more info. |
 Beyond the War on Invasive Species, by Tao Orion Beyond the War on Invasive Species offers a much-needed alternative perspective on invasive species and the best practices for their management based on a holistic, permaculture-inspired framework. Utilizing the latest research and thinking on the changing nature of ecological systems, the book closely examines the factors that are largely missing from the common conceptions of invasive species, including how the colliding effects of climate change, habitat destruction, and changes in land use and management contribute to their proliferation. For more information, visit Chelsea Green Publishing's website. |
Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program Changes Explained
Farmers' Legal Action Group has a seven-page overview titled Changes to the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) for the 2015 Crop Year available online. The publication highlights the significant changes that have been made to USDA's NAP that may affect farmers seeking coverage. Learn more.
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Providing Native-Bee Nest Sites Boosts Populations in Orchards
Researchers with Georgia Gwinnett College have found that creating artificial nesting sites for native bees helps increase their population in apple orchards. Native mining bees, mason bees, bumblebees, and carpenter bees can serve as primary pollinators for apple blossoms. The SARE project "Enhancement of Native Bee Pollination Services in Apple Orchards in Georgia" tested soil trenches and boxes as enriched habitat. Read the report. |
Need personal help?
Sometimes local questions are best answered by your neighborhood Cornell Cooperative Extension agent. Check out our county-by-county listing of small farm agents here. You can also get to know our Cornell Small Farms Program staff, or contact us. Just starting to farm? We have an extensive directory of beginning farmer service providers across the Northeast in the "Who Can Help?" section of our Northeast Beginning Farmers Project website.
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The Small Farms Update is intended as a resource for farmers and agricultural service providers in New York and the Northeast, and is provided to you by Cornell Small Farms Program. Our mission is to foster the sustainability of diverse, thriving small farms that contribute to food security, healthy rural communities, and the environment. The Cornell Small Farm Program is a joint effort of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Cornell Cooperative Extension.
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