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.