CFAES has a workshop coming up on growing fruits and vegetables in high tunnels. High tunnels are a relatively low-cost, low-input way to extend the growing season into early spring, late fall and even winter. Extending the growing season benefits farmers, because early and late crops usually sell for more money — sufficient cash flow and profitability being keys to a farm’s sustainability. It helps consumers, too, by upping the availability of fresh, local produce, which is not just a way to eat better and be healthier but can cut the carbon footprint of one’s eating. Get more workshop details. (Photo: USDA-NRCS.)
small farms
Fighting hunger, boosting farming in northeast Ohio
A recent USDA grant is good news for hungry people in northeast Ohio, for farmers in the region and for efforts to grow the connection between them. The Cuyahoga County office of CFAES’s outreach arm, OSU Extension, is involved. So is the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition, which the Cuyahoga County office helps convene. Find details in an April 2 story in Ohio’s Country Journal. Read more about the coalition and its work fighting food deserts in Cleveland in the spring issue of CFAES’s Continuum magazine, coming in June.
‘It is small and personal and that is good’
In a March 31 story, Brian Lisik of Farm and Dairy reports on CFAES’s recent Living the Small Farm Dream conference. Earlier related post.
To dream, perchance to farm
Thinking about living your small-farm dream? There’s a conference for that. It’s the Northeast Ohio Small Farm Conference and Trade Show on March 28 at CFAES’s research arm, OARDC, in Wooster. The organizers are the same folks behind the Opening Doors to Success small-farm conference set for two weeks earlier in Wilmington, the Small Farm Program of CFAES’s outreach arm, OSU Extension. Download the brochure (PDF). Register here. (Photo: iStock.)
New to a sunny field
Interest in small farms is huge, especially among people new to farming, says Tony Nye, coordinator of CFAES’s Small Farm Program and an organizer of Opening Doors to Success, the 2015 Southwest Ohio Small Farm Conference and Trade Show. The event, set for March 13-14 at Wilmington College, is co-sponsored by CFAES. Download the brochure here (PDF). Register and pay online here. (Photo: iStock.)
Something brewing
The 2015 Hops Conference and Trade Show runs Thursday and Friday (Feb. 5-6) at CFAES’s research arm, OARDC, in Wooster. Into your woods: OEFFA conference preview
Remember your woodlot when managing your farm. That’s the advice of Pete Woyar, a professional forester, and Dave Apsley, a CFAES natural resources specialist. Woodlots, they say, while often neglected, offer ecological services and income potential. The two experts will talk about ways to manage your woodlot, how to do a forest inventory, and how to use that inventory to develop a plan and timetable for reaching your goals. “Sustainable Woodlot Management,” Session I B, 10:35-11:30 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association’s 36th annual conference. (Photo: Wavebreak Media.)
New co-op could help hop crop pop: OEFFA conference preview
On Ohio small farms, as a high-value niche crop, hops, yes, are hopping. And now a new program could help them hop higher. The Ohio Hops Growers Cooperative and Alliance will jointly help members with planting, promotion, group-purchasing and more. Brad Bergefurd, a leader of CFAES’s own (here it comes) nonstopping, bebopping, hop-popping efforts (thankyouverymuch), will talk about the co-op and how it can help you. “Cooperatively Growing the Ohio Hops Industry,” Session III B, 10:35-11:30 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 15, at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association’s 36th annual conference. (Also coming, in the first week of February, are two CFAES workshops on hops.) (They’re the tops.) (Photo: iStock.)
Small-farm conference to ‘Open Doors to Success’
The “Opening Doors to Success” Small Farm Conference is March 8-9 at Wilmington College in southwest Ohio, and you still have time to register: the deadline is March 1. The program features seminars and a trade show, all aimed at helping small farms be successful and economically sustainable. One of the event’s co-sponsors is the Small Farm Program of OSU Extension, CFAES’s outreach arm. You can get details here, a registration form here (pdf), and seminar descriptions here (pdf).