Many of us were surprised that the growth in the number of farmers markets was appearing to flatten out in the U.S. And in its report to Congress, the USDA reported that between 2007 and 2012 the number of farms with direct-to-consumer sales increased 5.5 percent,...
Face it. Most humans treat soil like. . .well dirt. At USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), there is a new urgency for people to know more about our soil, as good soil is disappearing due to erosion, compaction and loss of organic matter. NRCS...
In its report to congress this month, the USDA noted that farms that are selling food directly for human consumption have a greater survival rate than farms who market through wholesale channels. They have a lower debt-to-asset ratio which gives them better ability...
Sometimes, farm profitability is just one value-added step away. Lots of farmers have the great ideas, but they lack the support to get there. On February 5th, the Maryland Agricultural Marketing Professionals (AMPs) met to discuss how to help farmers can take their...
For the title of this blog, I borrowed a chapter title from John Ikerd’s book Small Farms are Real Farms. In that book, he strongly defends the role that small farms play in their communities and the signs he sees of their renaissance. In the last few years, new...
