Farm Calls: Apple & Peach Trees for an ‘Urban Ag’ Market Garden

This week, Mark Robson – Dean of Ag & Urban Programs – received a query from a community garden manager about expanding their small-scale ‘urban ag’ market garden to include fruit trees. She asked, “We want to add approximately 12 fruit trees. What varieties of apples and peaches do you recommend for small-scale operations?”

Choosing varieties is just one of many steps to growing fruit trees successfully. Let’s work through some of the challenges participants in a community garden will face before getting down to specific variety recommendations.

Crisis Fatigue and Ag in the Middle

For over a year we've been talking about creating a program that would help Ag in the Middle farms better cope with the special problems of farming on the urban fringe.

This month, Sustaining Farming on the Urban Fringe - Crisis Fatigue and Ag in the Middle, discusses our program designed to move Ag in the Middle farms toward sustainability through detailed analysis and education. And, we touch on barriers to program implementation under current conditions of "doing more with less." Companion handouts for actions that Ag in the Middle farms can take to improve survival are included in this announcement.

Farm Calls: Health Care Reform and NJ Farms

We've said in past articles, "Growers have to know a lot, about a lot" to be successful farming on the urban fringe. Farm operations are affected in innumerable ways by activities on Capitol Hill. Keeping up with the changes is a full time job. Nowhere is this more true than the impending implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Clearly, agriculture was abandoned and forgotten by lawmakers, and their policy aides, when creating the Act in 2010.

This week, a Jersey nursery grower asks, "How will health care reform mandates impact my operation?"
To answer this, we need to consider:

• What are the contents of the Affordable Care Act as it stands now that affect agriculture?
• What do the mandates mean to a NJ farm in terms of implementation - costs, paperwork, and workforce availability?
• What preparations will have to be made in this grower's operation now to remain economically viable in 2014?

Yield Expectations for Mixed Stand, Small-Scale Agriculture

This month in the Sustaining Farming on the Urban Fringe Briefing we determine realistic yield expectations for mixed stand, small-scale farming or market garden ventures. We discuss the importance of yield expectations as an integral business and project planning tool.

Wide rows on a u-pick farm provide space for people to
make multiple harvests. Plant spacing affects yield.

More and more, people without experience in agriculture are entering "the field" either as new farmers, community economic development sociologists, urban policy planning professionals, or individuals in search of grant opportunities. Goal setting by people new to farming must be grounded in reality.

Organic Farm Calls: Evidence-Based Agriculture and Aerated Compost Tea

Compost Tea Brewer

This month we received a request for tech support on “farm-scale” Aerated Compost Tea (ACT) brewing. This request brings up the larger issue of evidence-based agriculture practices.

Farm Calls: Growers Ask for Recommendations on Applying Hardwood Chips to Cropland

Atlantic County Extension Ag Agent Rick VanVranken has been fielding a number of calls from vegetable and hay growers about the use of hardwood chips on cropland.

A June 30, 2012 Derecho windstorm cut a path over Jersey's Outer Coastal Plain farming areas, downing thousands of trees. The area received a federal disaster declaration and crews are clearing trees and chipping.

Understanding the best methods for applying hardwood chips for soil quality improvement while avoiding crop nutrient deficiencies is the key. Hardwood chips from large trees may have a carbon to nitrogen ratio approaching 200:1. A typical healthy soil has a carbon to nitrogen ratio of about 10 or 12:1. Spread and tilled into soil, without following the recommendations below, will result in crops with nutrient deficiencies due to microbial immobilization of soil nitrogen.

Sustainability Starts with a Marketing Plan

From Growing Produce 3-8-2012

Rick VanVranken gives tips on developing a marketing program that works for your growing operation.

"Your marketing plan is the map that will identify your potential customers and what products you might sell them."

Using un-composted leaf mulch on trellised lima bean

After recent scorching weather, Rutgers' Joe Heckman checks soil moisture retained under leaf mulch layer compared with adjacent cultivated bare ground. A 5-6" leaf mulch layer (~35,000 lb./A) was placed at transplanting in May.

Organic Farm Calls: @#*%$! Flaming Weeds

This week a Jersey grower asks why his high BTU vapor phase propane weed flamer doesn't kill all his weeds. He reports that it seems to work fair - most of the time - on broadleaf weeds, but doesn't do an adequate job on grasses. Why are his results so variable?

Weed control implement with vapor phase propane burners

Agritourism Resources: Hospitality Training

If your operation includes visitors, you are part of New Jersey's agritourism industry.

As the season begins, it's a good time to think about how your staff interacts with visitors. Happy customers are the key to a successful business. The Agritourism Team at Rutgers NJAES has put together information to help you and your staff learn how to exceed the expectations of your visitors. Check out Hospitality Training on the Agritourism in New Jersey website.

Leasing Farmland in New Jersey

To help address economic barriers to accessing land for farming in NJ, The State Ag Development Committee is holding three June information meetings on NJ farmland leasing to hear your feedback.

Finance Guide for Community Supported Farming

The University of Vermont Center for Sustainable Ag, with support from USDA Northeast SARE released a new guide on financing community supported farming arrangements.

While some finance advice is specific to Vermont law, there is good coverage of alternative finance tactics for small farm enterprises, as well as federal business finance laws.

A Review of Cultural Weed Control Practices

In this month's Penn State Extension - The Vegetable & Small Fruit Gazette,

Mike Orzolek reviews methods & practices for weed control.

Effective weed control in vegetable production involves more than the use of herbicides. An effective weed management program includes the use of both cultural and chemical practices. There are several cultural practices that help to suppress both annual and perennial weeds including: liming, band application of fertilizer, moldboard plowing, cultivation(s), crop rotations, and use of black or colored polyethylene mulch.

Also see: Weed Control Strategy Differences in Alternative/Organic vs Conventional Farming by Brad Majek and Jack Rabin.

Students Stand up for Farming

Farmers Fight is a student-led initiative to reconnect American society to the world of agriculture. Beginning with university students, Farmers Fight encourages consumers to ask where their food comes from, and give students, faculty, public officials, and farmers and ranchers an opportunity to
become "agvocates" for the agriculture community.

'Farmers Fight - Stand Up' <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFoGib8AfZo&feature=share> is powerful video filmed in contemporary style.

Maybe this is what area school board members [and the Dept. of Higher Ed] need to see before they cut AGRICULTURE from our schools.... If we don't teach our kids where their food, clothes, books, pencils and paper come from, WHO will?

Please share this video on any public/social networking page you can.

--Rick VanVranken

Organic Farm Calls: White Rot on Garlic, Leek, & Onion

This week a central Jersey grower of organic produce calls to report problems in a field of overwinter garlic.

The grower reports there is no history of previous allium crop production in the field. Two different varieties are being grown. On inspection, one variety shows yellow, stunted and wilting plants in small patches in the field; the other variety is vigorous and symptom free.

What might be the cause of this problem? What steps do you take to find the definitive answer? What can our organic grower do to avoid further crop loss?

NEWA Pest Forecasting Further Refines Grower Intuition

Implementing new technology, the results of  applied research, is one reason American agriculture has been so successful. Innovation is an important component of sustaining farming on our urban fringe.
This month in the Sustaining Farming on the Urban Fringe Briefing, we check out how an innovation, newly available in NJ, helps growers save money and lessen environmental impact.

Sustainable Ag Marketing: Four Resources on Engaging Food Bloggers

Engaging food bloggers to write about your products, services, farm and market, has become a cost effective and efficient marketing tool to create an online presence without having to become a blogger, or web master, yourself. Think about those anonymous restaurant reviews in your local newspaper. How much more influential are they than even a paid ad talking about yourself. The only difference is that a blog's readership likely reaches well beyond your locale, and with a very targeted and interested (i.e. engaged) audience, it can be very effective in influencing consumers, lots and lots of consumers. The topic has popped up in several venues over the past few months. Here are a few that I've run across: 

• It was the cover article in the Oct 2011 Produce Business magazine; 
• I talked about it at the 2012 Atlantic Coastal Ag Conference in January. My comments are summarized in the Proceedings, which I've copied below the 'Read More' link below;
• We were honored to have a guest food blogger, Katie Parla, join us in AC and she posted her own thoughts on her Parla Food blog;
• and just today, produce marketing consultant Heidi McIntyre, summarized a session that she moderated at the Southeast Produce Council’s 2012 Annual Conference on her blog Adventures in Produce.

Savvy marketing is the key to success in the world of small business, including farming. Making friends with some bloggers covering the food (and farming and tourism too) scene in NJ may open a world of possibilities.

Rick VanVranken

Real Issues in the Decline of Mid-size Farms

Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and
you're a thousand miles from a cornfield.

 -Dwight D. Eisenhower

An Essay on the Political Economy of NJ Farming
The most recent Census of Agriculture shows the loss of America’s mid-sized farms even as the number of large and small size farms are increasing. Loss of the “ag-in-the-middle” does threaten the stability and productivity of our farm-to-fork food system. Many have weighed in proposing solutions to saving family farms – but often the agenda gets hijacked by those who plow with their pencil and are a thousand miles from a cornfield.

On-Farm Energy Savings - the Devil's in the Details

This month in the Sustaining Farming on the Urban Fringe Briefing, we show you where to find answers on figuring out where your energy dollars are being spent and how to maximize efficient energy use - in a way that's understandable for us mere mortals.

The NJAES Ag Engineering team has produced three fact sheets and, in partnership with NRCS NJ USDA, will hold workshops stepping through the various processes this week. Don't miss them.

• Understanding On-Farm Utility Costs and Billing FS1128
• Lowering On-Farm Utility Costs with Electricity Monitors, includes a case about monitoring a typical NJ diversified farm operation.
• Assessing On-Farm Equipment Efficiency & Energy Use, details nameplate information and how to use it to calculate motor efficiency.

Farm Calls: A Grower Questions Why Hydroponics are Excluded from Organic Certification Labeling

This Farm Call comes from Rutgers SEBS Dean, Robert Goodman – yes, even Deans get calls from growers.

A New Jersey grower, who raises crops hydroponically, asks, “Why can’t I get my greens and herbs labeled Certified Organic? It seems there is a hang up with the issue.”

The answer to his question reveals serious dysfunction in the governing bodies that dictate farming practices and how pop culture molds public opinion through fear.

• Why would a farmer seek a Certified Organic label?
• Flawed Definitions & Illogical Policy
• Why Hydroponics Won't be Deemed Certified Organic by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB)
• What can Growers Do?

Farm Calls: What You Can Do to Stop Illegal Nursery Stock Hucksters

Joel Flagler, Bergen County Ag Agent counted 11 back-of–the-truck hawkers on his way to work this past holiday season. Overnight “nurseries” spring up just before major holidays, selling trees, plants, and plant products.

These are venders who don’t have their products inspected for diseases and pests like Jersey Nursery Growers must in accordance with New Jersey’s Nursery Law. They undercut local growers, evade New Jersey taxes, spend their proceeds elsewhere, and risk importing insect or diseased infested plant materials into our state. It's a worsening problem.

Long standing local nurserymen, who have helped safeguard our nursery industry by crafting protocols and following regulations, are asking what can be done to stop uncertified roadside peddlers of plant materials.

Generally these violations fall under the purview of municipal retail code enforcement, but small numbers of over-stretched code compliance officers can't really deal with the problem effectively.  Police officers only get involved when the roadside vendors create dangerous traffic problems.

The best way to get at the problem is through consumer education. Communication between growers and NJ residents is key to raising awareness about the benefits of buying local. As residents, we can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to these uncertified illegal venders that hurt local nursery growers, local economies, and put NJ agriculture at risk.  When buying holiday and spring landscape plants, we need to support local growers we know and trust.

This is a chance to “vote with your wallet” and help sustain farming on the urban fringe.

Farm Calls: Contemplating Hops

Forestry Specialist Mark Vodak was recently “talking shop” with a friend who happens to be a berry farmer. His friend is contemplating a new venture this season - growing hops.

Hop, Humulus lupulus L., is an essential ingredient contributing to beer aroma & flavor and, is of interest in biomedical research.


Their conversation brings up some common questions about growing an alternative crop like hops in New Jersey:

• Who do I talk to about growing hops?
• What's going on with hops in the region?
• What do I need to know starting out when growing hops in New Jersey?

Cherry Grove Farm Offers a Unique Opportunity

On our Sustaining Farming on the Urban Fringe website we talk a lot about the difficulty new and would-be farmers have learning farm practices and generating cash for a grubstake that would allow them to take the plunge into their small farm dream. Finding internships or job opportunities that offer a combination of sustainable farming skills along with a chance to hone the "people skills" needed for a successful agritourism venture are fairly uncommon in New Jersey. Cherry Grove Farm is presently offering this type of opportunity. We support our state's mission to encourage new and beginning farmers, organic and traditional, by showcasing opportunities as they become available. If you own a farm that is able to provide this kind of experience, share it on Sustaining Farming on the Urban Fringe.

Improving Quality & Competitiveness of Jersey Tomatoes

This month in the Sustaining Farming on the Urban Fringe Briefing:

The Jersey Jems trademark, 
prepared by Peter Nitzsche, offers farmers a 
Jersey marketing identity for better grape tomatoes.

Today’s market for shipped market tomatoes doesn’t allow us to simply go back to growing the varieties of the 1930’s. Our breeding program, variety evaluations, and conducting consumer tastings are the path to redesigning a Jersey Tomato to meet the needs of today’s markets and consumer expectations. These projects, together with our work evaluating heirloom tomatoes, connecting with consumers at the Great Tomato Tasting, and identifying superior post-WWII hybrids, contribute to sustaining New Jersey’s signature tomato crop.

Farm Calls: Advising Beginning Farmers Who Set Their Sights on Jersey Soil

Theresa Viggiano and Patrick Leger
of First Field

Farmer Susan Blew gets a kick out of telling young people who want to get into farming: "The only path into farming successfully in New Jersey is the womb, groom, or the tomb." It's funny but too true at the same time - the cost of land is a huge barrier to entry for those starting out in our state.

Despite this hurdle, entrepreneurs still choose to give Jersey farming a shot. Advising them is what makes extension work rewarding. For example, Theresa Viggiano and Patrick Leger, owners of First Field, are beginning farmers who have turned their sweat equity into an enterprise to be proud of - their Jersey Ketchup and Jersey Relish products are sold  in NJ, NY, and Connecticut.

Recently, I was contacted by a father whose son is returning to New Jersey to farm with his fiance. They have experience working for the past 4 years on a large organic farm CSA in the West that grew from a 35 customer base to over 300. It's encouraging to see family willingness to help with a grubstake; invest in the young couples' venture. The father is a professional and "has some capital and can't think of a more rewarding investment" than his son's dream.

Their questions revolve around how a beginning farmer gets started in New Jersey.

Successful Urban Fringe Farmers Know More than Just How to Grow Crops

This month in the Sustaining Farming on the Urban Fringe Briefing, we look at the skills growers in our state are required to have in order to be successful.

Mark Carduner, owner of Silver Decoy Vineyard and Winery in Hightstown, explains vertical trellising, judicious herbicide use, disease and canopy management customized to each varietal. Discussion topics relevant to his urban fringe location included wonderful customer clientele and supportive community, but also bird damage, neighbor communication, herbicide drift precautions, marketing challenges, and occasional air quality impacts from proximity to NJ Turnpike.