Small Farms Update is intended as a resource for farmers and agricultural service providers in New York, and is provided to you by Cornell’s Small Farms Program. Our mission is to foster the sustainability of diverse, thriving small farms that contribute to food security, healthy rural communities, and the environment. Our work is made possible by a network of close partnerships among Cornell faculty and staff, Cornell Cooperative Extension educators and staff, NYS agriculture support agencies, non profit agriculture organizations and farmers.
Prefer to print out the update for easier reading? Download this month's Small Farms Update as a Word document.
Small Farms Program Sponsored Events:
Other Featured Events:
Expanding a CSA Through Farmer Collaboration by Monika Roth, CCE Tompkins
*Please note: No endorsement is implied for products, businesses, or resources listed in the Small Farms Update. Such resources are listed for informational purposes only.
On November 30 we hosted our first “Small Farms Summit” videoconference which took place in Ithaca, Albany, Malone, and Mt. Morris. Nearly 80 people participated, including farmers, researchers, extension educators, agency representatives and NGO leaders. Our goals were to:
· Reflect on progress to date in meeting the needs of New York’s smaller farms
· Identify emerging opportunities that may warrant increased attention from those of us in research, education and other farm services
· Cultivate new collaborations among all of us supporting small farms in NY.
We will be preparing a report outlining issues and recommendations from the Summit, which will be shared with farmers, Cornell researchers and administrators, agencies, programs, NGOs and NYS policymakers later this winter.
The Cornell Small Farms Program is delighted to announce that we will again offer a one-credit class for Cornell students on "Exploring the Small Farm Dream" in Spring 2007. More details are available at: www.smallfarms.cornell.edu/pages/projects/studentresources.cfm
This course is intended for students from any discipline who are interested in learning more about the opportunities and challenges of farming on a relatively small-scale, including part-time farming in combination with another career. No prior agricultural experience is necessary.
Our objective is to help students become familiar with diverse opportunities for starting up a small farm business in the Northeast, gain a realistic appreciation of the challenges and risks involved in beginning to farm, and learn about the many resources available for beginning farmers, including training opportunities.
Weekly class meetings will include presentations by experienced farmers and other resource people, followed by discussion. Topics will cover diversified farming; assessing your interests and skills, small dairy opportunities, growing up on a small farm; resources for beginning farmers, Community Supported Agriculture, training opportunities, basic planning issues, land tenure options, grass-fed livestock farming, juggling part-time farming and a 2nd career, agroforestry opportunities, high value horticulture, sheep and goat opportunities, and more.
Joanna Green is the Instructor, with assistance from Laura Harthan. Please contact Joanna at jg16@cornell.edu or 607-255-9227 with questions.
The Upper Hudson Agricultural Leadership Forum (UHALF) is a program to provide a platform for agricultural producers and professionals to develop and expand their leadership abilities and understanding of the food and agricultural industry in the Capital District and New York State. UHALF participants will be empowered to become involved in a broad range of policy issues facing the industry at the local and state level. Participants will improve their leadership and communication skills, increase their understanding of the food and agricultural industry, and develop opportunities for networking.
UHALF begins on January 19, 2007 and continues through April 20, 2007 with nine sessions consisting of day and evening programs and will be conducted at various locations in the Saratoga and Washington County area. Session topics include Time Management, Local Agricultural Policy, Influencing Agricultural Policy, People Types and Personality Styles, Communication Skill Development, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Wholesale and Retail Marketing, Production Agriculture and Land Use Issues and a Graduation Dinner.
Twenty-five to thirty agricultural producers and professionals from the Greater Capital District and Upper Hudson region will be accepted to the UHALF program. Tuition for the program is $150 and includes 2 dinners, 7 lunches, and program materials. Application deadline is January 2, 2007. The brochure and application are available directly at http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/washington/AEDP/Programs.html. To receive more information, contact Paula Schafer at 885-8995, 746-2560 or pjb11@cornell.edu. UHALF is sponsored by American Farmland Trust, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Saratoga and Washington Counties, and Farm Bureau.
The NYS IPM Field Crops and Livestock Program received a grant from NE SARE to host a workshop to train educators in the Northeast on how to plan and conduct a Tactical Agriculture Program. Tactical Agriculture, or TAg, is a successful educational model that effectively delivers locally adapted IPM field programs to our clientele. Visit our web site for a description of TAg: nysipm.cornell.edu/fieldcrops/tag/tag_intro.asp. Participants will have the opportunity to design their own experiential, hands-on training program for small groups of farmers in local areas.
We would like to invite you to participate in this unique training experience. The workshop will be held February 1 & 2, 2007 in Albany, NY. We will only be able to offer this unique experience to a limited number of people, so places will need to be secured soon for attendance! Please contact Ken Wise by phone or email if you have questions or would like to register: 518-434-1690, klw24@cornell.edu.
NYS IPM Homepage: www.nysipm.cornell.edu/
We are highlighting these events because of the importance of grazing to our dairy and livestock audience. Please see the Graze NY! Website for a complete listing of pasture walks and grazing workshops.
A sampling of regional/statewide events that may be of interest to small farmers. Details on the following events and many more can be found in the NY Farms! Calendar of Agricultural Events. The Calendar of Agricultural Events is produced by NY Farms! in cooperation with the Cornell Small Farms Program; Cornell Community, Food and Agriculture Program; Regional Farm and Food Project, and other organizations. NY Farms! is a broad based statewide coalition of organizations, individuals, businesses, agencies and institutions, committed to the future of New York's farms and families.
The Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program offers three different grant programs to explore innovative approaches to sustainable agriculture, all with application deadlines in the late fall and early winter.
Farmer Grants are for commercial farmers who would like to test a sustainable new practice, often by conducting an experiment, trial, or on-farm demonstration. Awards are capped at $10,000 and the deadline is December 22.
Partnership Grants are for Cooperative Extension, NRCS, and other service providers who work directly with farmers. Awards are capped at $10,000 and the deadline is December 5.
To learn more about SARE, its different grant programs, and its educational offerings, visit the NE SARE website at www.uvm.edu/~nesare or call 802-656-0471. The Northeast SARE region is made up of Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
The Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) encourages organic farmers and ranchers to apply for one of its grants. Many producers find that working with a small group, or with an extension educator or university-based researcher, can make it easier to design and carry out a research project. OFRF encourages applications from such partnerships, and will try to link interested farmers with research partners. See www.ofrf.org/research/application.html for more information, or contact Jane Sooby, technical program coordinator, at 831-426-6606, jane@ofrf.org.
The Northeastern Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Center is pleased to announce the availability of funding through its IPM Partnership Grants Program for 2007 (FY 2006 federal funds). A Request for Applications (RFA) is posted on the Centers website at northeastipm.org/abou_fund.cfm
More information about this funding opportunity, as well as an application guide and submission instructions can be found at: www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/fy07changes.html
There are a number of steps required for both registering with grants.gov and submitting your grant proposal. Please start very early in the process so you won't run into problems should you decide to apply this year. Application procedures for this program are very different this year! Everything must be submitted electronically through the grants.gov website.
Are you a looking for some valuable management experience on an innovative, small-scale dairy farm and cheesemaking operation in the Catskills? Tonjes Farm Dairy is looking for an Assistant Farm Manager.
The farm is located 15 min from Roscoe, NY off Route 17. Housing is possible. It's a 50-cow dairy with a pipeline milking system, currently making 3 farmstead aged raw cow's milk, grass-fed cheeses: Caerphilly, Rambler (semi-firm heavy pressed Gloucester style cheese), and Cow Hill (a light pressed hand-salted semi-firm tome). We are also building a one-of-a-kind 30x60 geothermic cheese cave to age cheeses at 50 degrees. In addition, farm produces fresh pasteurized yogurts, cultured buttermilk, fromage blanc, whole milk ricotta and mozzarella.
Farm consists of closed herd of 90-100 Holsteins, with 40-50 currently milking. Farmers use no anibiotics nor hormones. This has been a family farm since 1950. Mary Tonjes also runs a perennial nursery called Catskill Perennials
Owners Tim and Mary Tonjes encourage you to stop by to see the operation. Call or email them if interested:
Tonjes Farm Dairy
188 Tonjes Road
Callicoon, NY 12723
Phone:(845) 482-5971
Fax:(845) 482-5971
Email: cowhill@warwick.net
www.nyfarmcheese.org/cheesemakers.asp?id=18
A survey sponsored by Penn State University and the Northeast SARE Research and Education Program will be conducted and is designed to assess the production and economic factors of grass- and pasture-beef production in Pennsylvania and the Northeast. The results from these surveys will be a valuable source of information for all grass-fed beef producers. Those who participate in the 30-minute interview will be potentially eligible for support of up to $500 for amendments to their production practices. All information from these surveys will be confidential and no farms or individuals will be identified in the results.
We plan to conduct the survey January 1-11th 2007. Please kindly respond via email to Emily Steinberg at els232@psu.edu or call 516-659-5602 and we will arrange an
interview.
by Steven T. Koike, Peter Gladders, and Albert O. Paulus.
Vegetable Diseases focuses primarily on diseases of field and greenhouse grown vegetable crops that are caused by pathogens. Chapters dealing with the general principles of the causes, diagnosis and control of vegetable crop diseases are followed by crop-based chapters. Each disease entry includes a brief introduction to the disease, detailed description of disease symptoms, information on the pathogen and disease development, and suggestions on how to manage the problem. Top quality color photos illustrate the book throughout.
The handbook is for researchers, scientists, technicians and educators in plant pathology and agriculture, as well as practical, field-oriented information of use to farmers, field personnel and the agricultural industry.
KEY FEATURES:
• Includes over 600 high quality photos
• Crop based organization for easy diagnosis
• Covers a wide variety of vegetable crops and includes specialty crops and herbsPublished Oct. 2006. Hardcover, 448 pages. $136 with a 20% discount. Order online at http://books.elsevier.com, or contact: Elsevier Customer Service
11830 Westline Industrial Drive, St. Louis, MO, 63146, Tel: 1-800-545-2522, e-mail: usbkinfo@elsevier.com
How about some locally-raised beef, pork or lamb for dinner tonight? With funding from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) and the New York Farm Viability Institute, Inc., Bernadette Logozar of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Franklin County is assembling a marketing toolkit to help livestock farmers sell their products and capitalize on the increasing numbers of people looking to connect to local farms and local food sources.
Logozar, a rural and economic development specialist, says potential income streams for livestock producers include direct-to-consumer marketing, freezer trade, live sale, central pooling for auction sales, contracting with meatpackers. The NNYADP project’s current emphasis is on beef, pork, and lamb.
“Livestock producers can expand their market potential by learning about the income options and resources available to them – often at little to no cost, and by choosing the best fit for their farm business,” says Logozar. “The biggest learning curve is with product marketing.”
The new livestock marketing toolkit includes best management practices profiles, promotion materials, and a 17-page checklist that covers production costs, processing, pricing, food safety, advertising, PR, industry associations and where to find resources. Logozar, a native of Alberta, Canada, has adapted materials from the Alberta livestock producers for use in New York. One of the suggested resource books includes a section titled “Make $10 mistakes not $1,000 ones.”
Logozar says producers often begin by selling to neighbors and friends. Among the tools she has gathered to help the farmers communicate with consumers are quick and easy recipes; nutrition facts; tips for how to cook grass-fed meats for best quality and flavor; Mediterranean and other regional-style recipes; and recommendations for pairing meats with wine, cheeses, and desserts. For customers who want to deal directly with the meat processors, the farmers can provide charts that illustrate and estimate the types and quantity of roasts, rounds and rib eyes one can expect from, for example, a 1,500-lb steer.
Although the current focus is on beef, pork, and lamb production, Logozar allows that interest may drive the project to include goats, poultry and other livestock; value-added on-farm processing; and fiber and hide processing.
The marketing kit can be ordered from the Franklin County Cooperative Extension Office for $15 + $5 shipping and handling. Call 518-483-7403 to order.
Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA) sponsors annual programs for global farm stewards to live and train at U.S. farms, research centers, and businesses that are engaged in sustainable farming practices. MESA seeks U.S. farmers and agricultural professionals to host stewards for the 2007 program. Hosts make an investment to provide an on-farm experience for eager, qualified candidates expecting to train full-time for an entire season. MESA provides stewards with training visas, medical insurance, monthly stipends, program orientation, professional development opportunities, exit seminar, domestic travel & coordinator support. To receive more information about host qualifications, contact MESA at mesa@mesaprogram.org or visit www.mesaprogram.org, or call 510-654-8858. MESA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Environmental Commons has made available a series of educational fact sheets on the importance of local control in supporting healthy regional food systems. Local food is quickly gaining recognition as a key to sustainability, strong economies and community health. However, the structures that either support or discourage local food systems receive much less attention. Local food systems simply won't be viable unless communities have a greater ability to influence food-related policies that relate to local health, safety and environment.
The fact sheets are intended to raise awareness and inspire action for strong local food systems. The fact sheet Shaping our Local Food Systems outlines the importance of local jurisdiction over many aspects of food and agriculture and illustrates why food should be controlled locally. Local Food Systems: Challenges and Threats describes the forces that shape food systems in the interests of a few large corporations at the expense of the public interest, and Local Food Systems: Getting Involved charts the course for building food systems that truly support local communities. Finally, The Place of Food in Our Lives reflects on the consequences of understanding our food primarily as a commodity versus as an integral part of family and community life.
The fact sheets are now available nationally through Environmental Commons. They can be downloaded from www.environmentalcommons.org/LocalFood/ and are available in full-color hard copy as well.
In this section we highlight the Small Farms Program's activities, including projects we coordinate and those we have funded through Innovative Small Farm Education grants to Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) educators.
by Monika Roth, CCE Tompkins
This project was funded in 2005-6 by a CCE Grant for Innovative Small Farm
Education from the Cornell Small Farms Program.
Many small farmers use a variety of direct marketing strategies to access customers.
Direct marketing can be time consuming and may not generate enough sales to
be profitable. Farmers often end up competing with one another to gain a share
of the consumer’s dollar. Collective action holds promise where small farmers
are each vying for a share of the local consumer market. A cooperative approach
would help farmers overcome the problem of market access and product volume.
A cooperative model is emerging in Tompkins County where three small farmers are collaborating to plan production and marketing to an expanded consumer base. The joint venture organized in 2005 under the name “Full Plate Collective” to operate a 3-farm joint CSA. The farmers and farms involved are: Chaw Chang & Lucy Garrison-Clausen – Stick & Stone Farm, Nathaniel Thompson – Remembrance Farm, Jeff Mariani & Ann Piombino – Three Swallows Farm. By working together, the farmers were able to employ a manager who promotes the CSA and coordinates pick-up and delivery. Individually they would not have had sufficient product or time and labor to expand into a new marketing venture, but the collective enabled them to pool product, offer variety, and be able to staff the project in order to make the CSA work.
In 2005, the CSA recruited 86 members who picked up product at the farms and
34 additional customers that received home delivery. For 2006, the group had
the following goals: 1) double the number of CSA members; 2) offer additional
farm products to members which they themselves do not produce like milk, cheese,
fruit, meats, etc.; 3) increase delivery; 4) offer opportunities for low income
residents to receive subsidized shares of fresh produce.
Through this project, we hoped to achieve:
1. A realistic business model for the three collective members that enables
them to expand sales while increasing margins and improving their livelihoods
from farming.
2. A plan for ways to collaborate with other farmers that allow the CSA to expand
the product line of what they offer their members.
3. A model of collaboration that might be replicable to other farmers.
4. An assessment of consumer demand for local products.
Project Activities
The farmers meet weekly during the winter to discuss their 2006 plans for operating
the CSA. They met with CCE team leaders as needed or contacted us via phone
or email when they had questions. Individual farmers met with farm management
specialist Jacob Schuelke to review finances. Jacob also reviewed the spreadsheet
tracking form developed by Chaw Chang. Once farmers are done with deliveries,
we need to meet with them to evaluate the financial progress and impact comparing
2005 with 2006.
Monika Roth and Lael Gerhart took the lead on meeting with the CSA manager
to conduct consumer surveys and discuss ways to promote the CSA. Lael Gerhart
met with the farmers to develop the plan for the low-income CSA shares. Lucy
Garrison-Clausen participated at all of the cooking classes for low-income share
members and she and the CSA manager joined us for the meeting to evaluate that
program.
Feedback and Evaluation of Goals
Expand CSA Membership by 30%: The CSA membership was expanded to 260
members from 120 in 2005. This was a 200% expansion that maxed out the ability
of the farmers and managers to do much of anything else.
Low Income Shares: The low-income share program was evaluated by participants,
the CSA manager and one of the farmer members, and by the CCETC staff involved.
The CSA Collective benefited because a total of $8,100 was raised from the community
that helped to support 18 shares for members that would not have otherwise been
able to participate in the CSA. The program was very successful not only in
generating funds from the community to support the low-income shares, but also
in supporting the participants in cooking classes which ensured a successful
experience for participants that may not have known what to do with all the
produce they received otherwise. (See enclosed project report).
Increase Home Delivery by 30%: This was achieved but needs to be evaluated
in terms of time and costs.
Increase the Variety of Products available to CSA members including products
from other farmers in the community:
a) Products from collective farms: eggs added to CSA shares
b) Products from up to 12 area farmers who sold to the Collective: Even though
the survey results substantiated customer interest in additional products that
the farmers did not produce, it was not possible to expand the program because
of the time involved in managing an expanded CSA and because CSA management
changed in early June, just before the CSA program was about to begin. The intention
was there but the manager lacked time and experience to accomplish this goal.
At Stick and Stone Farm Market, CSA customers coming for Wednesday afternoon
pick-up were able to purchase products offered at the farm stand from other
area farms including: fruit, sweet corn, maple syrup, milk, yogurt, honey, chutney,
chocolates, and a few craft items. The sales benefited a total of 12 additional
farm businesses. Sales records on Wednesday afternoons will be reviewed to assess
the impact on these farms from the CSA customer purchases.
Increase Income of Collective to be able to pay for staff:
Doubling the CSA membership had a huge impact on cash flow, however, the costs
of farmers also increased. And so a question remains as to whether 3 farmers
can live from a system of shared staff to manage the CSA as the profits are
compromised for each.
Increase Individual Farm income: While the farmers reached their goal of
doubling membership, it also meant that a lot more energy had to be directed
at providing product for the expanded membership, so farmers found they had
not achieved any savings in time. The financial impact has yet to be fully evaluated:
Lessons to Share
CSA management: a key issue for CSA farms to be successful is to have
good management. One challenge of this CSA is that the manager during the 2005
season had not kept very good records, and then during the winter while working
with the farms, we discovered that the member database was incomplete and in
disarray. We assisted the manager in developing a promotion plan for the CSA
that she failed to implement. We raised the problems with the farmers and as
a result, they developed a much more specific job description that outlined
expectations and they instituted an oversight process involving weekly meetings
to review progress. This proved both to the farmers and to the manager that
she was not meeting the job expectations and as a result she resigned. This
meant farmers lost their CSA manager at the start of the season, but the next
manager started with a clearer understanding of her job as outlined in the job
description. For our project, it made it impossible to accomplish one of our
goals to make additional farm products from other farms in the community available
to CSA members. It would have been unfair to the new manager to take assign
this additional responsibility during her first season of managing a CSA that
had doubled in size from the previous season when she was not involved.
Model for Cooperation: The model for a cooperative CSA is successful but
challenging. Contributions of individual farmers must be carefully tracked to
ensure equity in sharing costs and returns. While the farmers have good working
relationships, there are slight differences in production philosophy (two are
biodynamic, one organic), in tolerance for meetings to work things out, and
in production skills and abilities (one farmer has less experience than other
two). The farmers are successful at cooperation because of the commitment to
make things work especially because the CSA offers income at the outset of the
season and because the CSA has been relatively successful in terms of contributing
to additional farm income.
Financial Impact: Other than direct sales resulting from the CSA shares,
this has been difficult to assess because farm records vary in accuracy. It
is clear that small farmers need to establish accounting systems but are challenged
during the season to keep up with recordkeeping that makes the system work for
tracking progress. This is in part due to personality and in part to a lack
of experience in business practices. It has been hard for us to be effective
in addressing this issue even though the farmers were invited to call on a farm
management specialist. The farmers know their financial records are not in good
shape and so they are reluctant to meet with us until they have some of the
basics tracked. Our hope is to meet with the farmers again now that the season
is ending and evaluate how they have progressed and to be able to suggest some
improvements to make tracking easier for the next season.
Follow-up and Spin-off from this project
Low Income CSA: This ended up being a bigger part of this project than
originally planned in part because of involvement of the CCETC Nutrition program
in arranging the cooking classes. Unfortunately, after the 12 week subsidized
share, none of the low-income families joined the CSA for the balance of the
season suggesting that the subsidy is a necessity. A key lesson for everyone
involved is that the cooking classes proved to be a vital part of the low-income
share program serving to maintain group interest and ensuring a successful CSA
experience. The classes were talked about with other (non-subsidized) CSA members
and as a result, general demand for cooking classes among CSA members has emerged.
This suggests that cooking classes are a service that CSA farms might offer
their customers for an additional fee since what to do with so much kale overwhelms
many members!
Follow-up meeting with Farmers on Financial Record-Keeping and Tracking of CSA
Sales: We are hoping to meet with the farmers to assess the financial impact
of the CSA and compare the 2005 and 2006 season impact. Additionally, we hope
that we are able to help them improve their recordkeeping systems so that they
are easy to use and offer more accurate tracking of sales.
Expanding CSA shares to include Products from other Farms in the Area: Since
our goal to offer additional farm products to CSA members was not realized,
we plan to meet with the farmers and CSA manager to discuss implementing a fruit
share for the 2007 season. Tree fruits were the highest product in demand by
customers. The challenge is that there are very few organic sources of fruit
and Full Plate Collective is organic. Members would have to indicate a willingness
to buy a non-organic fruit share. The share option should be offered at the
outset of the season on the membership form. Therefore, after we meet with the
CSA manager and farmers, we will determine whether to move ahead with approaching
area fruit farmers about participation.
For additional ag-related news and events by email:
Agricultural community and economic development news and events: Community Food
and Agriculture Program, hmm1@cornell.edu
Consumer and public education news and events: NY Farms! News To Share, nyfarms@nyfarms.info
Eastern NY, MA and VT news and events: Regional Farm and Food Project, billie@farmandfood.org
Policy-related news and alerts: National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture,
campaign@sustainableagriculture.net
