Check out this resource from Visit Iowa Farms! John Kennedy's On Demand platform is now free of charge until further notice to allow you to continue to engage in "mental momentum"! Check it out below!
The FSA has made changes to many of its programs to help farmers through this time of uncertainty. For a full list of changes visit the article below!
www.fsa.usda.gov
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 26, 2020 – USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) county offices are open by phone appointment only until further notice, and FSA staff are available to continue helping agricultural producers with program signups, loan servicing and other important actions. Additionally, FSA i...Check out this new podcast from the Iowa State University Small Farms team! 🎙
smallfarmsustainability's podcast: Spring Vegetable Production
smallfarmsustainability.libsyn.com
In this episode Joe Hannan, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Commercial Horticulture Specialist, interviews Dr. Ajay Nair, Iowa State University Extension Vegetable Specialist to talk about spring vegetable production!Nearly half – 46 percent – of the nation’s foodborne illness outbreaks are linked to eating fruits, vegetables or nuts. An Iowa State University team of researchers and Extension and Outreach professionals are working with Midwest fruit and vegetable growers to reduce that percentage. For the past three years, Angela Shaw, associate professor of food . . . read more
Watch webinar in Waterloo on March 26th or April 15th In cooperation with the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will provide viewing for the Farmers Market Nutrition Program 2020 webinar training for new and returning farmers market vendors March 26 or April 15 for free. This viewing option . . . read more
By Daniel Weller, Patrick Baur, and Aaron Adalja Recent studies have suggested that on-farm food safety practices can have unexpected economic and ecological impacts. Despite the potential for negative consequences, limited data are available on the costs and benefits of implementing specific practices. Comanaging farms for food safety and sustainability is further complicated because farms . . . read more
The North American Raspberry & Blackberry Conference will be held March 3-6, in St. Louis, Missouri. This national conference features a Fundamentals of Production workshop March 3, a full-day tour March 4, and a trade show and three tracks of educational sessions on March 5-6. This is the first time this national conference has been . . . read more
Fruit trees can be a beautiful and fun addition to any landscape, and they should be pruned to obtain good yields of high-quality fruit. There are three important aspects to pruning fruit trees: timing, frequency and procedure. Horticulture specialists with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach share information on how to prune fruit trees. To . . . read more
Practical Farmers of Iowa’s 2020 winter webinar series, referred to as “farminars,” will start on Tuesday, Jan. 7, with a presentation on an incubator farm model in Minnesota. The event is one of 11 farminars offered through March 17 on issues relevant to beginning and experienced row crop, livestock and horticulture farmers, as well as . . . read more
Another growing season is building momentum with the arrival of the 2020 seed catalogs, and gardeners are drafting plans for new harvests. There’s such a thing as being too enthusiastic, though, especially among novices. Beginners can achieve their best planting results by thinking small. “Starting too large is the most common mistake made by first-time . . . read more
Farmers could soon be growing tomatoes bunched like grapes in a storage unit, on the roof of a skyscraper, or even in space. That’s if a clutch of new gene-edited crops prove as fruitful as the first batch. The primary goal of this new research is to engineer a wider variety of crops that can . . . read more
The Iowa Specialty Producers Conference will be held Thursday and Friday, Jan. 23-24, at the FFA Enrichment Center in Ankeny. For the first time, the event is a joint gathering of the Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and the Iowa Wine Growers Association. The conference will feature keynote speaker John Stanley, an internationally known retail consultant, . . . read more
Department of Horticulture will be offering an online Vegetable Production and Management Course in Spring 2020. This course is being offered both for college credits and for non-credits (for professionals and individuals interested in vegetable production) and starts 13 January, 2020. This online course provides introduction to principles and practices of vegetable crop production and . . . read more