| |
Don't
forget to check out our latest Organic
Price Index.
Want to go directly to the New Farm home page? Click
here
Hello. Here are the results of last week’s poll: “Has
your local extension agent been helpful for you as an organic farmer?”
- Very helpful: 27 percent
- Moderately helpful: 14 percent
- Slightly helpful: 22 percent
- Not at all helpful: 29 percent
- A downright impediment: 6 percent
Not bad! We expected extension agents to fare even worse. To caste your
vote for this week’s poll, “Is
certification worth it?”, click
here to go to the New Farm home page.
And, oh yeah, enjoy this week’s
new offerings ...
| Fresh
today from The New Farm |
SMALL
DAIRIES
The Bechtolds keep their dairy operation
simple ... and survive
Ken and Julie Bechtold make aged, raw milk cheddar and colby on
their north Jersey farm. No milk pipeline, vintage cheese vats,
aging instead of pasteurization: It all adds up to no debt, a decent
income, and great cheese.
Are small farmstead creameries
the wave of the future?
Eight cows. One farmer. Many happy customers and a rural New York
community with a new dairy operation in a time of terrible milk
prices. This is Sam and Denise Hendren’s story. Sam left his
huge family dairy of 1,100 cows in Ohio for the joy of eight organic
Jersey cows and making cheese. |
|
Bechtolds'
Dairy
Hendren's
Dairy
|
| |
|
|
SUSTAINABLE
COFFEE
The price, processing and production challenges of growing
coffee profitably & sustainably in Guatemala
Don Lotter visited three midsized shade-grown plantations and
a variety of small growers. He found that many of the innovations
in growing and processing coffee are coming from the medium scale
certified growers. Features a slide
show of the trip! |
|
Guatemala
Coffee
|
| |
|
|
CSA
NOTEBOOK
How do you define YOUR CSA? asks Julia Wiley of Mariquita
Farm in CA
CSA is such a loose concept that you can make yours whatever you
want it to be, as long as there's a community to support the concept.
Try to characterize what you're about in 5 short phrases. It will
be the beginning of a press release about your farm. PLUS: what’s
happening this month on the Mariquita farm, marketing- and production-wise.
Wanted: Consumers seek like-minded farmer looking for long
term CSA relationship
The Philadelphia area's newest organic farm, Pennypack Farm CSA,
started as a consumer dream. And it only took three years of hard
work to make the dream come true. |
|
Mariquita
CSA
Pennypack
Farm CSA
|
| |
|
|
JASON’S
GLOBAL ORGANIC ODYSSEY:
Living and learning one farm at a time
Beyond the Green Revolution to Regeneration
Mulchan Haria may not have followed the family into traditional
medicine, but his gentle touch and chemical-free remedies have nursed
a parched, depleted earth back to full health and earned him the
title "Doctor" among his fellow farmers in western India.
|
|
Mulchan
Haria
|
| |
|
|
CERTIFICATION
Answers to your certification questions
Does compost made using earthworm castings have to meet the NOP
compost temperature requirements? Do strawberry plants need to be
organic? Is there a certain level of GMO contamination that will
still allow a crop to be designated as organic? Can animals in organic
systems be vaccinated, for example, with C&D, tetanus, etc.?
Is there a difference between natural and synthetic compounds in
how they are evaluated for possible use in organic production? |
|
Certification |
| |
|
|
GLEANINGS
Why turn U.S. agribusiness loose in Iraq after
what it's done to U.S. agriculture?
Over the past 40 years of American agriculture based on increasing
production and export-based policies, farmer numbers have decreased
from around 20 percent to less than 2 percent of the population. Do
we really want the newly appointed senior ministry adviser for agriculture
in Iraq, Dan Amstutz, to subject Iraqis to the same “solution”?
asks Jim French of the Prairie Writers Circle.
|
|
Iraqi
farming |
| |
|
|
ONE
FARM TO ANOTHER
A late spring has Jeff chomping
at the bit
Rodale Institute farm
manager Jeff Moyer is ready to try out the retooled planter for
planting no-till through vetch with minimum disturbance. And he's
looking forward to the new pole barn, which will let him store more
high-dollar hay and straw. |
|
Jeff
Moyer |
| |
|
|
TALK
DISCUSSION FORUMS
In the forums there are new questions, and new answers:
- On the general crops forum, “Treegunman” asks about
the best and most cost effective way to stake tomatoes.
- On the compost tea forum, Elaine Ingham talks about turning
compost leachate into compost tea.
- Linda Kerr from New Zealand identifies a good source for Jericho
heat resistant lettuce seed, and mentions other good heat resistant
varieties.
- Lots of help for combating quack grass on the weeds forum.
- Honeyhill Farm asks for help with finding the right seeding
plate for sunflower seeds on the cut flowers forum.
- In the Anything Goes forum, Jessica asks if it’s possible
to grow sweet potatoes in the Seattle area.
|
|
To go to the forums,
click here. |
| |
|
|
PRESS
ROOM
Something new for journalists and the curious
You’ll find a “press room” now under “search”
at the right of the home page, containing info web traffic trends,
reader demographics, the New Farm mission, contact sheet, press
clippings, links to email newsletter back issues, and much, much
more. |
|
The
Press Room |
| |
|
|
MISCELLANEOUS
Haven’t registered for the hog summit yet?
It’s not too late to sign up for this exceptional conference
on sustainable hog production and factory farms. Click here for
the latest information.
Recent news ...
92% of consumers favor labeling GM food; factory-farm lagoons linked
to sickness, medical, government sources believe; music festival
and local food advocate join together to bring farmer's market to
concert
New research ...
Organic foods show higher rates of natural anti-oxidants; new research
shows crop mixtures -- different varieties of rice planted together
-- reduce plant disease.
The Final Word from Alan Guebert ...
It's
been a COOL week—ACGA poll confirms concerns over GM corn,
support for COOL; finally,
a COOL study on labeling benefits.
Letter from Ontario ...
GMO in food: The story we are not telling
|
|
Hog
Summit
Recent
news
New
research
Final
word
Letter
from Ontario
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
