Digital Commons Network^™

Growing Agriculture Literacy’S Presence In America’S Classrooms, Emily Stone

Journal of Food Law & Policy

“Americans, as a whole, were at least two generations removed from the farm and did not understand even the most rudimentary of processes, challenges, and risks that farmers and the agricultural industry worked with and met head-on every day.” This quote perfectly describes the mindset of agriculture stakeholders in 1981 as they began to realize the drastic steps our education system had taken away from using principles of agriculture in K-12 education. As they saw it, Americans were moving out of rural America, away from farms, and becoming less connected to the food they daily consumed. Simultaneously, the education system …

Covid-19 Impacts On Vermont Farms And Food Businesses: Pivots, Needs And Opportunities For The Future, Meredith T. Niles, Farryl Bertmann, Emily H. Belarmino, Mark Cannella, David S. Conner

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

This report highlights results from a survey of Vermont farm and food businesses conducted during August and September 2020, with a total of 223 respondents. The survey was distributed via a number of non-profit, business, and state agencies in Vermont. Respondents included farms, food and farm product retail, agritourism operators, on-farm food processors, food and beverage manufacturers, nurseries/greenhouses/garden centers, and food hubs/aggregators. Overall, we find the majority of respondents experienced a COVID-19 business impact, especially in market and financial ways. We also find that the majority of respondents had business changes they wanted to make, but couldn't because of a …

Too Good To Eat? Cosmetic Standards And Waste In Agricultural Supply Chain, Jiahui Xu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

There is a significant amount of food wasted at the farm level due to high cosmetic standards adopted by retailers. We examine the economic incentives for retailers to adopt such high cosmetic standards and their impact on food loss. We build a sequential game between a retailer and a farmer, where the retailer signs a contract with the farmer specifying both the wholesale price and cosmetic quality standard. By adopting high cosmetic standards, retailers can motivate farmers to exert a higher effort to improve the cosmetic quality, e.g., using better seeds and applying more pesticides. As for the drivers of …

Cultivate Winter 2019/2020, Utah State University

Cultivate Magazine

Bi-annual magazine for the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences.

Cultivate Spring/Summer 2019, Utah State University

Cultivate Magazine

Bi-annual magazine for the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences.

Organic Dairy Profitability In Vermont: Measuring The Impacts Of Management And Market Forces On Farm Financial Performance, Jonathan Patrick Walsh

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The total number of operating dairy farms in the US has decreased by 74.1% over the past 25 years, dropping from 155,339 in 1992 to just 40,219 in 2017. As milk prices have fallen and become more volatile, profit margins have tightened, causing farmers to leave the business due to low profitability. Some Vermont farmers are currently looking for new economic strategies. One approach has been to transition from conventional to organic production in order to take advantage of better prices and new market opportunities. In order to make production decisions, farmers need accurate financial information on the costs and …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

The semester has started! PSC 4900 is the Student Organic Farm practicum class, and this year’s students and some of the farm team met for our first class on Monday. Dr. Jennifer Reeve teaches the class and will be back at the end of September after mater­nity leave. This month Dr. Melanie Stock will lead the class in sampling the soil for next year’s farm field, calculating required nutrient ammendments, spreading compost and testing the irrigation system for the fall cover crop.

Meanwhile, the team is maintaining the fall crops, harvesting and preparing for the grand finale Harvest Festival coming …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

Fall crops are coming up, and they’re amazing. We started digging up the potatoes today and it is so crazy to see how many potatoes can grow from planting a chunk of potato with a couple of eyes on it! Some of these plants have two pounds of potatoes growing off of them. The pumpkins are already enormous, and the butternut squash are still ripening but are really good-sized already. The melons are taking longer than expected, but look great. Our one warm-season failure seems to be the eggplant- but watch them produce like crazy now that I’ve said that. …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

We’re getting ready for volunteer season! We’re so thankful to our regulars who have been so much fun to have on the farm, and whose work has been a huge contribution to the farm’s success this summer. Now we’re getting back to lovely mornings and evenings, and are going to plant vegetables that have to over winter, clean up our perennial berry patches, repair and winterize the hoop houses and other farm structures, prep the field for cover crops, etc. - all while making sure our baskets are abundant and selling veggies at the farm stand and at the USU …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

Six weeks until the first frost date means we are done planting. We put in some beets and radishes today just on the off chance they’re ready in time for the final week of CSA shares (38 and 40 days to maturity, respectively). Otherwise, we’ve got fall broc­coli and kohlrabi in the ground, a new asian green called Shungiku (see the recipe be­low), rutabaga, fresh kale, and lettuce starts planted and on the menu for September.

Assessment Of Granulovirus, Spinosad, And Mating Disruption For Controlling Cydia Pomonella L. [Lepidoptera: Tortricidae] In Organic Coastal California Apple Orchards, Raven Lukehart

Master's Theses

Codling moth, Cydia pomonella[Lepidoptera: Tortricidae], is a major entomological pest of apples, pears, and walnuts cross the world (Pajac et al. 2016). Female codling moths lay eggs on the apple exocarp and larvae burrow within the fruit causing economic losses to fruit growers.Organic apple orchards in San Luis Obispo, CA currently have three codling moth, Cydia pomonella,control options commercially available including granulovirus (CpVG), spinosad, and mating disruption. In field tests on apple (Malus), we compare percent fruit injury between treatments of granulovirus (2.43 oz/ha Cyd-X® organically approved, Certis USA, Columbia MD), spinosad (4.05 oz/ha Entrust® Naturalyte® …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

It’s all coming together! With a few serious harvests under our belts now, we’re getting our groove. We’re harvesting some things every day now! A day or two of growth turns a green pepper yellow, a green tomato red, a yellow tomato overripe, a squash into a gourd and a cucumber into a zucchini. That last isn’t really true, but you’ve probably noticed the big seeds and sorry about that! We hope you’re enjoying your big baskets; they’ll be abundant for a good while yet.

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

So much food! It’s so fun to see it! The cabbage, broccoli, early curcubits, tomato, pepper and tomatillo plants are loaded, and the melons, fall squash, beans and potatoes are looking super promising. We have a shed wall covered in garlic, and about 20 lb. of broccoli in the cooler, with more to harvest. We’ve got a good rhythm now with reseeding beets and radishes, and are expecting them and car­rots in August and hopefully Sept. It’s also fall planting month, and over the next two weeks we’ll be transplanting more Asian greens, lettuce, mizuna, arugula, broccoli and kohlrabi as …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

We’ve moved back into mitigation mode! It’s nice that the weather and pest situation in May and June was manageable- we already had our hands full with field logistics, bed preparation, planting, weeding and establishing harvesting and processing routines. Now that we’ve got the basics fairly under control, we can better respond to increasing daytime and nighttime temps, and the pests and weeds that come with it. In the last two weeks, we’ve used Neem Oil for aphids, Bacillus Thuringiensus (B.T.), for cabbage moth caterpillars, and tonight are spraying Pyrethrin to stay ahead of Utah’s 2018 grasshopper plague. All of …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

Anyone reading this is in touch with your culinary creative side, having committed for a whole summer to weekly making the most of whatever produce the student farm can offer you. We salute you! Some fun stuff is coming up soon and we’re getting the hang of succession planting.

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

Many hands make light work, as the saying goes. We’ve had so much volunteer help, including friends, CSA members and their kids. Now that we’re getting some skills under our belts, we’ve been able to provide some help to other grow­ers, too, which is fun. We’ve helped set up irrigation and low tunnels for research plots, and planted and pounded posts with the permaculture garden team at the UCC property near Logan Canyon. In a few weeks we’ll put out a call to help planting for the fall, and in the meantime, we can always use a hand with weed­ing …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

Learning from the pros is solid gold for beginning farmers, and at USU we have access to some of the most knowledgeable ag specialists in the state, as well as successful farmers and gardners throughout the community. We’re really getting a lesson in the juggling act that is farming, and we are lucky to have experts to talk to as we work things out. There is so much to learn about soil fertility, pest and weed management, choosing crop varieties and working out how to cultivate them well, planting successions, irrigating, etc. Meanwhile, we are working with curve balls from …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

We’ve got water! It was pretty funny when we finally got the irrigation system up and running Saturday evening of the holiday weekend, and the sky opened up. But we’re all really glad to have it ready for all those babies after a baking hot day! We’ve got the warm weather crops in, including squashes, tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant and peppers, and melons will be planted tomorrow. We’re lovingly encouraging the tail end of the cool crops to make some food already - you may have noticed your bokchoi is delicious, and so did some cabbage fam­ily loving beetles, who are …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

The field is almost fully planted! Thanks to a little help from our friends at the Greenville Research Farm, we’ll have squash, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and tomatillos in the ground this week, and be done with our most intensive plant­ing! Dr. Dan Drost’s team from Greenville Research Farm, James Frisby, Jewely Anna Swensen, Christina Nolasco and Maegen Lewis, spent hours with us set­ting up our squash and pumpkin beds with plastic mulch and a drip irrigation system last week and this week, and we had some help with tilling and mowing from Eric Galloway and his technician, Jayden Gunnell.

Tetracycline And Sulfonamide Antibiotic Resistance Genes In Soils From Nebraska Organic Farming Operations, Marylynn Cadena, Lisa M. Durso, Daniel N. Miller, Heidi M. Waldrip, B. L. Castleberry, Rhae A. Drijber, Charles S. Wortmann

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

There is widespread agreement that agricultural antibiotic resistance should be reduced, however, it is unclear from the available literature what an appropriate target for reduction would be. Organic farms provide a unique opportunity to disentangle questions of agricultural antibiotic drug use from questions of antibiotic resistance in the soil. In this study, soil was collected from 12 certified organic farms in Nebraska, evaluated for the presence of tetracycline and sulfonamide resistance genes (n = 15 targets), and correlated to soil physical, chemical, and biological parameters. Tetracycline and sulfonamide antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were found in soils from all 12 …

Cultivate Spring/Summer 2018, Utah State University

Cultivate Magazine

No abstract provided.

Cultivate Fall/Winter 2018, Utah State University

Cultivate Magazine

Bi-annual magazine for the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences.

Cultivate Fall/Winter 2017, Utah State University

Cultivate Magazine

No abstract provided.

Cultivate Spring/Summer 2017, Utah State University

Cultivate Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Farm Newsletter, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

Here at the farm we are about as anxious for the tomatoes to ripen as people can be. However, they just don't seem to be picking up the color that they should be at this point. One method for getting tomatoes to ripen is to cut them off the plant in bunches with some of the stem still attached and to let them sit/hang in a warm place out of direct sunlight. This should ripen them in about a week's time. We are going to try this with a few of our many many green tomatoes in the hope that …

The Farm Newsletter, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

Upon arrival at the farm early this morning, many of us were surprised to find that many of the plants were covered with frost. Aside from making harvest a very cold experience, frost us usually fatal to hot season produce such as squash and tomatoes. However, one technique that is often used by commercial farms to prevent frost damage is watering in the evening when frost is expected. This helps because water is capable of absorbing large amounts of heat (and releasing it). Ayla, the new farm manager, watered the field last night, and we have her to thank for …

The Farm Newsletter, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

School has officially started with fall semester classes. At this time of year several changes take place. Along with time changes in CSA pickups, now is the time when we begin the transition from the current to the new farm production manager. Joe (the current manager) is still with us, and he will continue to provide support and instruction. However many of our fall activities will be overseen by the production manager for next year. Ayla has been one of our support interns this summer and has been hoping and working to obtain this position. She is excited by what …

The Farm Newsletter, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

A Note on Carrots

Included in your shares with the carrots are the carrot greens. Though usually discarded, carrot tops are actually edible and highly nutritious. They can been eaten raw in salads, cooked into soups, or used in a variety of other ways. Important to note however is that due to the natural biological processes in the plant, if your carrot tops are left attached to the roots for an extended time they will make your carrots soft. This is because the plant is still alive and the leaves are still pulling moisture from the roots.

The Farm Newsletter, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

Due to the start of fall semester, the majority of our farm workers will not be available during regular pickup hours. Starting the week of August 29 - September 3, pick-up time for all CSA members will permanently change to Saturday from 10:00am to 12:00pm. All pick-ups will take place at the farm, which is located at 1750 N 800 E in Logan.

A County Level Analysis Of 2014 Farm Bill Commodity Payments, Seth Cole Boone

Open Access Theses

United States commodity policy was subject to a large transition in how the federal government supports agricultural producers when the 2014 Farm Bill was passed in February of 2014. The new programs are the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs. Methods used by the federal government to distribute farm income support have evolved from constant decoupled payments into programs that respond to agricultural market fluctuations, delivering payments that are inversely related to market performance.

The United States has a long history of government programs directly and indirectly supporting farmers and their income, dating back to …