Calling all current and aspiring fruit growers! The Cornell Small Farms Program has compiled an extensive list of resources relating to fruit production. These resources range from a Pollinator Toolkit from the Xeres Society to a Fact Sheet on Thinning Asian Pears from SARE. Check out the Production page on the Cornell Small Farms Program website for these and more fruit production resources.

Are you a beginning farmer in New York state who has been farming for at least three years? Is the farm business you manage at a crossroads, needing to improve efficiency, scale up, or make other major changes to achieve long-term viability? Do you need some decision support to improve profitability of the farm business after 3-9 years of running it? You don't need to face these decisions alone. You may be eligible to receive support for a New Farmer Profit Team. This initiative seeks to improve the long-term success of advanced beginning farmers by providing selected farmers with customized, one-on-one guidance from farm professionals (financial, production, legal, marketing, etc) over an 18 month to two year period. For more information and to apply, visit this online form. The application deadline is September 15.

September 12, 9am-12pm. Angus Glen Farms, 3050 Station Road, Watkins Glen, NY 

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County is hiring three part-time temporary positions. The positions include an Urban Forestry Program Educator, a Natural Resources Program Educator, and a large event coordinator. For this last position CCE Onondaga is looking for someone who is highly organized with experience coordinating large events, and can work 10 hours/week to help coordinate a Food Justice conference on October 2 & 3 in Syracuse. More hours are expected the week leading up to the conference. This will likely be a contracted position. Resumes and letters of interest can be sent to Jessi Lyons ([email protected]).

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) Administrator Val Dolcini has announced that enrollment has begun for farmers and forest landowners seeking financial assistance for growing new sources of biomass for energy or biobased products within designated projects areas. The funds are available from the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). Biomass energy facilities or groups of producers may submit proposals for new BCAP project areas through Nov. 6, 2015. For more information or to submit a proposal, visit FSA's website. 

The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach have released "A Resource Guide for Beginning Farmers", a new publication that compiles existing training resources on everything from soil and composting to small farm equipment and whole-farm planning, including information on food safety and seed saving. The 48-page guide is divided into three parts: production practices, post-harvest handling, and business planning and basic farm finances.

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.