 |
Contact a Member of the TEAM!!
|
Jeff CarterExtension Agronomist (802) 388-4969 ext.332 jeff.carter@uvm.eduRico BalzanoAgronomy Outreach Professional (802) 388-4969 ext.338 rico.balzano@uvm.eduKirsten WorkmanAgronomy Outreach Professional (802) 388-4969 ext.347 kirsten.workman@uvm.edu
Cheryl Cesario
Grazing Outreach Professional (802) 388-4969 ext. 346
Agronomy Outreach Professional
(802) 558-6470  | | CV Crop, Soil & Pasture Team |
UVM Extension helps individuals and communities put research-based knowledge to work. * Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture. University of Vermont Extension, Burlington, Vermont. * University of Vermont Extension, and U.S. Department of Agriculture, cooperating, offer education and employment to everyone without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or familial status.
|
 Ask ELSIE
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
| Q: ELSIE...Why do I need to fence my livestock out of surface water?
A: The sight of cows grazing on a beautiful green pasture is an iconic portrait that typifies our beautiful state of Vermont. However, you may have heard lots of talk lately about 'excluding' livestock from surface water. Most pastures (or fields, for that matter) in our neck of the woods include some surface water...a creek, stream or pond. When animals have access to these waters, they often degrade stream banks, increase erosion, and yes...deposit manure directly into that water. By excluding livestock from the surface water with fencing, you reduce the potential for water pollution dramatically.
Although fencing animals out of these 'surface waters' sounds straight forward, these waters are often the only source of drinking water for those animals. In these cases, developing an alternative water source would be required in order to make the system work. In addition, stream crossings play an important role in a successful livestock exclusion project.
Besides improved environmental water quality, many producers observe the following benefits to their animals and their farm:
- Increased productivity
- Better herd health and livestock safety
- Better Pasture Management
- Public Image
There are many progra ms available to help defray the cost of implementing a livestock exclusion system. Here are a few in Vermont:
 * * * If you would like to Ask ELSIE? a question, please email her by clicking HERE.
If you would no longer like to receive this newsletter, feel free to Unsubscribe by clicking the SafeUnsubscribe™ button at the bottom of this newsletter. Although, we hope you won't! |
|
|
|
UVM Extension
Champlain Valley Crop, Soil & Pasture Newsletter
Greetings!
Here it is winter and I keep thinking about the crop season. The field work to grow crops is where water quality really becomes a sticky issue. Plowing soil, spreading manure, wet springs, fall storms, bare soil and we have muddy water in the ditches. Non-point source pollution is the proper term, and farm profitability is the correct solution for the problem. Farm investment in protecting water quality is expensive, but essential to keep a clean environment and sustain your agriculture business.
The Agronomy Outreach Program has been doing more than you may know to help local farmers. We now have six Agronomy Outreach staff throughout the Lake Champlain watershed. Kirsten, Rico and Cheryl are in the Middlebury office with me, Jennifer in Rutland county, and both Jeff and Kimberly in the northern part of the state. Also, Justin was here for the summer to help with the no-till drill project and will be back this spring after he is done at VTC. These folks have been helping farmers throughout the Lake Champlain Basin in Vermont to "reduce nutrient and soil loss into water to improve water quality in Lake Champlain".
Through this UVM Extension program they have assisted 284 farms to implement conservation practices on 40,000 acres using no-till grain and corn planters, seeding winter cover crops in corn fields, fencing cows out of seven miles of streams, manure incorporation with aerway and gen-till units, improving pasture management and forage quality, replanting flood damaged fields, soil and manure testing, updating nutrient management plans and more. This year we helped these farms with their paperwork (groan) to secure $687,500 of incentive payments from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture FAP and NRCS EQIP programs by lending a hand with applications and follow-up reporting. Now we have started the Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition in this part of the state as a farmer run organization similar to the Farmers Watershed Alliance to promote good agriculture practices that support a strong agriculture economy and environmental stewardship.
All this has been possible because of the strong support we get from farmers and public organizations alike. Continuing sponsorship by US Senator Leahy, the Vermont legislature, Lake Champlain Basin Program, Natural Resources Conservation Service, VT Agency of Agriculture, and VT Agency of Natural Resources are key to having the programs that we can offer to help farmers adopt new conservation practices on their farm. The value of these public investments in farming programs is a future with sustaining jobs in agriculture while cleaning up the Lake.
Jeff Carter
|
| News and Events
For Vermont Farmers in the Lake Champlain Watershed
|
|
|
FARM NEWS
|
CHAMPLAIN VALLEY FARMER COALITION (CVFC)
TO ADDRESS WATER QUALITY ISSUES
Thanks to a a group of local farmers and a Conservation Innovation Grant from the Vermont NRCS, we have started the Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition. The idea is to help all farmers proactively address water quality issues in this part of the Lake Champlain Basin to advance local farm economic resiliancy and environmental stewardship. Targeted education and outreach, potential project funding, and facilitating communication between farmers, agencies and general public to move us forward in action for improving water quality.
Although the group has been meeting since the spring, they are just now forming their non-profit corporation, the Champlain Valley Farmers Coalition Inc. The group, which meets once a month, will be accepting new members soon.
Call us if you want your voice to be heard and want to be proactive about how water quality and agriculture will co-exist in Vermont now and into the future.
Jeff Carter, Kirsten Workman
WORKING LANDS ENTERPRISE INITIATIVE
During the 2012 Legislative session, Vermont's legislators passed Act 142 (Working Lands Enterprise Initiative), creating the Working Lands Enterprise Fund and the Working Lands Enterprise Board (WLEB). As a part of this legislation, a $1 million investment was made to directly support agricultural and forestry based businesses in Vermont. The goals of the initiative include:
- Stimulate a concerted economic development effort on behalf of Vermont's agriculture and forest product sectors by systematically advancing entrepreneurism, business development and job creation;
- Increase the value of Vermont's raw and value-added products through the development of interstate and export markets;
- Attract a new generation of entrepreneurs to Vermont's farms, food system, forest, and value-added chain by facilitating more affordable access to the working landscape; and
- Increase the amount of state investment in working lands enterprises, particularly when it leverages private and philanthropic funds.
To that end, the Working Lands Enterprise Board has issued Requests for Proposals for grant funding in the following areas:
Agriculture, Forestry & Forest Products: Enterprise Investments
$3000 to $15,000 grants requiring 25% cash match
Available to new or growing businesses, farms and forest landowners
Agriculture, Forestry & Forest Products: Working Lands Service Provider Grants
$10,000 to $100,000 grants requiring 50% cash and in-kind match
Available to non-profit organizations, associations, colleges or universities, private sector or partnership groups.
Agriculture, Forestry & Forest Products: Capital and Infrastructure Investments
$15,000 to $100,000 grants requiring 1:1 match (50% of which is cash)
Available to agriculture and forestry/forest products businesses and non-profit organizations
For more information about these grants, the Working Lands Enterprise Board or the Working Lands Enterprise Initiative go to : www.vermontworkinglands.com or call (802) 585-9072
VERMONT FARM SHOW 2013
January 29-31, 2013 * Champlain Valley Expo * Essex Junction, VT
www.vtfarmshow.com
Don't miss out...over 100 exhibitors, lots of tasty food, the second annual Vermont Buy Local Market, and MORE. In its 81st year, the Vermont Farm Show is the place to be the last week in January.
The UVM Extension Champlain Valley Crop, Soil & Pasture Team would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to enter your crops into the Product Contest. Not only can you win some cash (up to $50 for a Best of Show entry), but you can help us make the Crops Exhibit spectacular. We will be working hard to tell your story to Farm Show attendees, but we can't do it without filling the booth full of entries of Hay, Silage & Grains. You grow great crops here in Vermont, so now is the time to show it off! Entries are due to the Champlain Valley Expo by 4pm on Monday, January 28th.
You can drop off samples at the UVM Extension office, so don't let the drive to Essex Junction deter you.
For more information about entering your crops into the product contest,
contact Jeff Carter or Donna Brown at (802) 388-4969 |
|
PASTURE & LIVESTOCK
| |
PASTURE MANAGEMENT PLANNING FOR THE NEW YEAR
by Cheryl Cesario, Grazing Outreach Professional
While it may not be a common New Year's resolution, stepping up your pasture management might be an important one. After all, improved pasture management can lead to lots of other improvements on the farm, including improved profits. Winter is a great time to think about the grazing season to come and start making plans for what you want to achieve this year. What worked last year, and what didn't? If you are thinking to make changes, how can those be accomplished? A good starting point is to write down some simple goals. Some examples might include:
- Bring in more species to increase pasture plant diversity
- Increase the length of your grazing season by a month (or more)
- Delay the feeding of stored forages until later in the fall
- Keep better records of the movement of animals on pasture
The next step is to plan how to meet these goals, and then of course try to implement them once the season begins.
If you would like to start planning now for the grazing season ahead, please call Cheryl at 388-4969 x 346 or email her at Cheryl.Cesario@uvm.edu. |
|
CROPS & SOILS
| |
NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT PLANNING COURSES OFFERED
Updates Workshops * Write a Plan for Your Farm
by Kirsten Workman, Agronomy Outreach Professional  Do you need or want to write a nutrient management plan for your farm?? If any of the following describe you or your farm, then the answer should be yes!
- You want to save money on your fertilizer bill by accounting for the nutrients in your manure.
- Growing healthy crops and improving soil health and productivity are important to you .
- You want to do a better job keeping records on your crop production, manure spreading, and grazing.
- You want to know as much as possible about all of your fields.
- You want to protect water quality while growing the best crops possible.
- You want to apply for EQIP cost share for any practices that are associated with manure
- You are considered an MFO by the State of Vermont
If an NMP is on your To Do List for 2013, let us help you! A 5-week Course is planned to begin on February 20th to walk you through the process of writing your own Nutrient Management Plan. Using UVM's GoCrop program, you will complete a NMP and learn the science behind it. You'll even learn to make your own nutrient recommendations from your soil test results. There are also Nutrient Management Planning grants available from the State of Vermont. We can assist you to apply for one of these grants. Details are still being confirmed, but classes will be held on Wednesdays from 10:00 to 2:00 from February 20th through March 20th. Locations will be in Newport and in Addison/Chittenden County. * * * JUST NEED TO UPDATE YOUR EXISITING PLAN? Two NMP Update Workshops will be held in Middlebury: For more information or to sign up for any of the NMP Workshops, you can contact Kirsten Workman at (802) 388-4969 x347 or kirsten.workman@uvm.edu CROP INSURANCE FOR DAIRY PRODUCERS From insuring against weather-related perils to protecting the margin between milk price and feed costs, a range of crop insurance programs can help dairy farmers manage risk.
Corn Grain & Silage crop insurance may provide silage with yield protection or revenue protection with or without harvest price exclusion. The 2012 projected price for corn silage is $50 per ton, and grain corn is $5.68 per bushel. The insurance-related revenue prices for 2013 are announced the first week of March. Policy costs are subsidized and can be further reduced through the use of enterprise units. Coverage is now available up to 85% value.
Late and prevented planting, with multiple levels of coverage, is available. Sign-up/policy change deadline is March 15th.
For further information or questions contact Pam Smith at 802-349-2966 or pssmith@uvm.edu 2013 AGRONOMY PLUS MEETINGS by Daniel Hudson, Extension Agronomist & Nutrient Management Specialist University of Vermont (UVM) Extension is sponsoring a day-long meeting at six locations for farm operators and managers to help them improve profitability in the new dairy economy. Participants will hear from cooperative Extension and industry experts from several Northeast states on new options to control costs, improve crop yield and quality and improve animal health. 
Speakers and topics for the 2013 Vermont Agronomy Plus sessions will vary depending on the location and will cover a diverse range of topics including soybean and snaplage production, successful implementation of high-forage diets, maximizing forage yield and quality, modern vaccination programs and ways to control high feed costs and reduce feed losses on the farm. Other topics include the new Farm Bill, risk management, cost-saving alternatives to commercial fertilizer and effective, low-cost soil nutrient management practices. Meetings will be in January in Morrisville, Randolph, Springfield., Derby and St. Johnsbury. For more information click HERE or contact Brent at (800) 545-8920, ext. 351. To register online, click HERE. |
|
If you know someone else who might be interested in receiving this  newsletter, please share it and encourage them to join our mailing list.
Sincerely, 
Jeff Carter,
Extension Agronomist
UVM Extension- Champlain Valley Crop, Soil & Pasture Team
|
|
|
