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Whether you're a seasoned producer or just exploring agricultural ideas, reading farm profiles is a great way to learn about what other farmers are doing. We hope you enjoy browsing our collection of farm profiles:
Five young couples discuss how they got started in farming. From the 2005 PASA Pre-conference
Duncan Hilchey et al., Cornell Farming Alternatives Program, 1996
Detailed case studies of 7 innovative horticultural businesses in New York State including 2 cut flower operations, 2 specialty vegetable crops producers, 2 orchards, and 1 nursery.
$6.50. Click here to order from Cornell's Community Food and Agriculture Program or call (607) 255-9832.
Paul and Sandy Arnold, "Organic Farms, Folks, & Foods," The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, Mid-Winter 2003
Paul and Sandy Arnold discuss their small farm goals and how they managed to accomplish those goals. Techniques that maximize small farm profitability are explained. Publication is in PDF format.
Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education program, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1999
In-depth interviews with entrepreneurial farmers around the country, detailing successful production and marketing practices, and the effects of those practices on farm profitability, quality of life, rural communities, and the environment.
$10 for the book; $5 for the CD-ROM. Visit the web site for a free online version, or order a hard copy by printing the order form [http://www.sare.org/newfarmer/orderform.htm] and faxing to (802) 656-4656. If paying by credit card, call (802) 656-0484 or e-mail sanpubs@uvm.edu.
Darcy Maulsby, Upper Midwest Organic Conference, Feb. 27-Mar. 1, The New Farm
We're not talking greenhouses here. We're talking row covers, temporary season extension houses, and frost irrigation, and it works. Paul and Sandy Arnold of Argyle, NY have done the math on it.
Karma and Michael Glos operate a diversified livestock and vegetable farm in Berkshire, NY. In 2002 they received a SARE Farmer Grant to gather information on organic remedies for common layer health problems and produce a concise handbook for fellow producers.
Finger Lakes Dexter Creamery begins its story when two town dwellers with a passion for farming, a lot of patience, a thirst for knowledge and an empty nest find their way back to the country. In 1999 Rose Marie Belforti and her husband purchased a 12 acre farm in Ledyard, NY and acquired a little dun heifer from a distant neighbor. Their one cow grew into a small herd and Rose’s small farm dream evolved into a business plan for a small-scale cheese company.....
Farmers age-old practice of carting their fresh-picked vegetables to the market square to sell to neighbors has experienced a popular revival in recent decades. But, as Saturday morning foot-traffic shifts from old main street shopping districts to big groceries and box stores at the edge of town, many village farmers markets still don’t generate the crowds needed to support farmers’ livelihoods. With the help of SARE funding, Nina Bruno of Ambrosia Farms (Bridgewater, NY) re-invented the farmers market concept, creating a brand new marketplace for small farmers to sell their vegetables in the form of a pure and natural frozen food line....
As frozen fields give way to thaw, a small group of pasture-based livestock farmers in Schoharie County, NY, settle down at a table stacked with applications. It’s the beginning of a new farm season and time to sort through candidates for another round of the MADE in Schoharie County Livestock Internship Program. The program, developed in 2006, sprung from the group’s dual goal to train aspiring farmers while at the same time fill the demand for farm labor with enthusiastic and dedicated workers.
Jan and Ted Blomgren have been growing organic vegetables and cut flowers on their 15 acre farm in the Taconic hills of Washington County for over a decade. As experienced farmers, they are skilled in the cultural practices of ecological farming and have developed a substantial customer base at the Saratoga Springs Farmers Market and in NYC, where they ship weekly vegetable and bouquet deliveries to 350 shareholders. But any farmer, no matter how practiced or popular, still struggles with the inevitable drought or flood, hot or cold, hail or wind that imperils the most vulnerable crops every growing season. Today, a myriad of technological innovations designed to shield crops from nature’s volatility are available at low cost to the farmer. One of these, the hoop house, has been a critical tool for Windflower Farm, aiding in not just season extension, but allowing Jan to raise cut flowers under optimal growing conditions for most or all of their life cycle. Realizing the importance of the hoop structure to the economics of her flower operation, Jan planned an experiment to trial a selection of her highest value cut flowers in 5 different hoop structures, hoping to gather data on how the unique conditions each structure created enhanced or hindered the desired traits of the flower.
When Joyce and Art Hunt began farming Hunt Country Vineyards, in Branchport, NY, in 1973, they became the fifth generation to steward the land. Knowing that their farm had provided livelihoods for their ancestors dating back to the mid eighteen hundreds, they adopted a personal mission to manage the land with long-term productivity and sustainability in mind. The Hunts utilize a compost program in which they mix grape pomace from the fall’s pressings with horse manure and wood chips, applying the resulting nutrient-rich soils to young or weak vines. They are producing biodiesel to fuel their farm equipment on-site with a simple processor in a section of their original 1860’s barn. And, in 2005, a SARE Grant helped the Hunts launch a multi-year trial in which they are assessing using permanent ground cover on their vineyard floor to reduce the need for under-the-row herbicide use and between-the-row mowing.
