By the way, thanks to all of you who signed on. Many of you captured the spirit and essence of your farm and your business. In fact, some of you should expect a call from us in the not too distant future to talk about doing a story on your farm.

Market opportunity for organic farmers around the country! We’re working with Local Harvest to promote an opportunity for organic growers: The Lollapalooza concert series is planning to have an organic farmer’s market at each of their 31 concerts across the country. We’re talking about a captive audience of 15,000 to 30,000 over a six hour period. To learn more about this opportunity, click here.

It’s settled: you love the land. In our most recent poll, 42% of you said the thing you like most about farming is a “connection to and love of the land.” Runner up? 16% cited “the sense of independence” you get as a farmer. Check out our latest poll on the home page. Since subsidies survived the latest congressional mauling of the farm bill (while very little else of value to sustainable farmers did), we thought a few polls on your attitudes toward subsidies were in order. Click here to go to the New Farm home page and check out these poll questions.

Don't forget to check out our latest Organic Price Index.

Skip Glover's Georgia "real working farm"
(see below for more)

CSA Notebook: The hard earned secrets of a good delivery system
(for more, see below)

Specialty Cut Flower Corner
Farmers' Market--ing
13 tips for selling flowers at your local farmers' market
Farmers' markets can give flower growers their fair share of headaches, but, if you do your homework and listen to the "experts" (read: those who've already made the mistakes), you'll reap all the benefits.

Cut flowers

Out of the ashes of the coffee crash,
Costa Rican organic is born
Costa Rica is home to a growing number of organic farmers who are selling both locally and internationally ... and it’s home to first-rate institutions investigating solutions to pest, disease and nutrient problems in organic tropical systems. Don Lotter takes you on a tour of organic farming coops and research institutions.

PLUS! Slideshow: The Story of Cuban Organic

Costa Rica

Noel Payne (above) started Cost Rica's first CSA.

Jason’s Global Organic Odyssey:
Living and learning one farm at a time
Fighting Weeds and Traditions
in Spain's Wine Country

Jason and Derek make the last stop of their organic world tour in Spain's wine country. Here they meet a couple of transported UK-ers who were decided to save their almond farm from being over-run by weeds and chemicals.

Jason in Spain

Young almond plant

REAL TALES OF HIGH VALUE FARMING
Dump dept and diversify!
Growing less corn is not a bad idea, either.
There was a time when you weren't considered a real farmer unless you grew corn. Now the real farmers diversify. Why grow acres of corn when you can make more on less with a wide range of crops and value-added products to boot?

Dump dept and diversify

Rocket-fuel lettuce makes the news
Has the recent press on perchlorate contamination got you worried? We sorting through the story and the science of this rocket fuel component and tell you how it made its way into America's lettuce.

GEORGIA ON OUR MINDS
Approaching harvest time, a Georgia farmer shares his wealth
Skip Glover and his wife Cookie grow far more than 7 acres of mixed vegetables and cut flowers. They cultivate connections with diverse people throughout the Atlanta area, and their product has become the knowledge they've gained.

New organic farmers' markets emerge in Georgia...but change is slow
Veteran farmers hold their breath as they relaunch metro market in Atlanta

Georgia farmer shares wealth

Organic farmers' market in Georgia

CSA Notebook:
Distribution – An important connection to your members
Linda Halley describes the system of distributing share boxes each week that has worked well for them over the last 11 years . . . with some tweaking.

TALK DISCUSSION FORUMS

New on the New Farm Forums

Join in any of the discussion forums by clicking here. Below are some of the more recent entries:

• Compost Tea Forum: Some questions and insights on the hows and whys of aeration--include how to use a simple aquarium air pump.
• General Crops Forum: Some more details on strategies farmers have used to kill their rye cover crops -- include one farmer's experience with a rolling stock chopper.
• Product Talk/Machinery & Equipment Forum: Precision planting: advice on inexpensive grain drills that should be fine for general farm operations on a smaller scale.
• General Livestock Forum: More thoughts and observations on diatomaceous earth as a dewormer. One farmer observes that even pure DE products vary greatly. It's definitely buyer beware.
• Weeds Forum: The discussion about controlling poison ivy organically continues: Will acetic acid vinegar work on the pest?
• Crop & Soil Talk/Cut Flowers Forum: What will they think of next? A license to sell cut flowers? And what about your share of the farmers market liability insurance?

Go to TALK

MISCELLANEOUS

• News: Special section on the biotechnology debate read the latest news, opinions and we'll even show you how you can help stop the introduction of GM-wheat. Plus regular news updates
• Two new Final Word column from Alan Guebert

In the news: Biotechnology

The latest news

Final Word, June 20

Final Word, June 27