News
Posted on February 1, 2026
Human resources may seem like a department or set of duties for a business far different from your farm; however, it’s important to perform these tasks legally and consistently, both to protect your farm and to train new people correctly. Jess Skellie works for a small group of dairy farms. She rece...
News
by Sonja Heyck-Merlin 
Posted on February 1, 2026
Planning on hosting a music festival on your commercial farm? Or a wedding? Or a different agritourism event? According to Lindsey Pashow, to reduce the chance of agritourism-related conflicts with municipalities and neighbors, there are several factors to consider. Pashow is an agriculture business...
Farmers First
Let’s Hear It For the Girls
Male or female, we’re all farmers, right?
Farmers 12 without a male co-signer. (That?s right: the same year the movie ?Die Hard? was released.) 
Posted on February 1, 2026
Happy International Year of the Woman Farmer, farm family! If someone had told me a decade ago that there would be an International Year of the Woman Farmer, I likely would have said something to the effect of, “Well, that’s the most unnecessary, gender-discriminatory thing I’ve ever heard of.” Some...
News
Posted on January 31, 2026
The Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) returned to the Baltimore Convention Center Jan. 7 - 9, welcoming over 10,800 horticulture professionals, including exhibitors, for three days of sourcing, relationship-building and order-writing across the green industry. The sold-out trade show floor fea...
News
by Sally Colby 
Posted on January 1, 2026
Growing greens year-round at Twin Springs Fruit Farm in Ortanna, PA, started accidentally. “This house was built to grow ‘Tulameen’ raspberries starting in February,” said Tom Childs, greenhouse manager since 2000. “They came in dormant in pots. But 1999 was a drought year, and the only growth that ...
News
Posted on January 1, 2026
Bob Rimol discussed high tunnel construction and other recommendations at the 2025 Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association ’s annual conference. Rimol is the owner and founder of Rimol Greenhouse Systems based in Hooksett, NH. Rimol manufactures and distributes greenhouses across the U.S. Framing Ma...
News
by Edith Tucker 
Posted on January 1, 2026
University of Vermont Extension Professor Vern Grubinger summarized the results of research to address the economics of high tunnel production that he and his research colleague, UVM Assistant Professor Becky Maden, initiated in 2024, at the 2025 High Tunnel Production Conference in West Lebanon, NH...
News
by Sonja Heyck-Merlin 
Posted on January 1, 2026
“More than 70% of cyber attacks are aimed at businesses with less than 100 employees. They’re not going for the big guys because the big guys can afford the big cybersecurity firms,” said IRS employee Sheba Gonzalez. At an event hosted by USDA, Gonzalez and her colleagues, all IRS specialists in tax...
News
by Sally Colby 
Posted on January 1, 2026
Look at a penny and zero in closely at Lincoln’s nose. That’s the size of the redbay ambrosia beetle (RAB), a tiny insect and key player in laurel wilt, an aggressive fungal disease of trees in the Lauraceae family transmitted by the RAB. Although important landscape and forest trees are in this fam...
Country Folks
Sally Colby 
February 4, 2026
When it comes to youth operating farm equipment, many adults will say, “I did it when I was a kid and nothing happened to me.” But that isn’t the stor...
Country Folks
February 4, 2026
The New York Beef Council (NYBC) is proud to announce that Troy Bishopp of Deansboro, NY, has been named the 2025 Beef Promoter of the Year. This awar...
Country Folks
by Laura Rodley 
February 4, 2026
The Northeastern Poultry Congress (NEPC) celebrated its 52nd year this January. People flocked to the free family-friendly show at the Eastern States ...
Country Folks
by Joseph Armstrong 
February 4, 2026
If you’ve ever made maple syrup you’re aware of the enormous amount of input necessary to make it. But you also know the sweet and sticky result is we...