“Grants can address specific projects or challenges for your farm or food business. These funds are not ‘free.’ They often come with requirements. It’s important to know how to navigate that terrain,” said Laura Biasillo (CCE Broome), exploring what funding can accomplish for farm operations. What t...

Imagine a guest at your winery breaks an ankle on uneven ground. Or a severe thunderstorm rolls in during an evening corn maze. Or a foodborne illness concern is reported on social media. Stacey Stearns, a communications specialist for UConn Extension, wants agritourism operations to have an emergen...

Strong teams grow from strong communication, but communication is about far more than simply speaking the same language. Claudio Pasián, associate professor emeritus at Ohio State University, challenges growers and greenhouse managers to think beyond vocabulary lists and translation apps. His messag...

At a presentation sponsored by the National Agricultural Law Center , lawyer Audry Thompson from the Penn State Center for Agricultural & Shale Law discussed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations for minors employed on farms. Passed in 1938, the FLSA established federal minimum standards f...

Tradition, tradition, tradition. Mt. Anthony Tree Farm spans two towns in Vermont. The farm was started in Bennington by Fritz and Bena Horst in 1897. The Horsts arrived in Vermont from Germany in 1891, worked hard and saved up to buy the farm. “It was a mixed-use farm,” said Fritz’s namesake, Fritz...

Hipcamp is a popular app for discovering and booking unique outdoor stays including tent camping, RV parks, cabins, treehouses and glamping. They partner with landowners in all 50 states, Canada, Australia and the UK. Hipcamp likes to call their service camping-based tourism. According to Cassandra ...

What’s the number one challenge every farmer faces? Ask this question of a group of farmers, and a few nominees will likely rise to the top: weather, regulations and everyone’s favorite, money – particularly the lack of it. So which of these do I think is number one? None of them. I won’t deny that ...

Farming is listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as one of the most dangerous occupations in the U.S. Add to this the financial uncertainty of the work and the long hours, and it’s easy to see why farming is so stressful. As any farmer would attest, it’s not only a job but a lifestyle. If the far...

Rod Wert has been growing Christmas trees since 1986. He named his operation Blue Ridge Christmas Tree Farm as it was in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Pennsylvania. Then he, his wife Jodi and their family moved 20 miles east to Annville. “We had a good market but it got too crowded. We had a farm surr...