Whimsy and wonder on the Twilight Crops Tour

When we see a great farming approach or new cultivar and we use it, it seems like that idea becomes our own. We have taken a risk and used a recommended approach/product and it worked. However, most of us do not have the time to conduct our own research and...

Conventional and organic farmers unite!

Farmers did not used to be categorized as conventional or organic. They were much more independent and they followed many farming styles. In the last century, agriculture has gone through profound changes and farmers seems to have settled into two camps: conventional...

Will hedge fund managers make good farmers?

In a recent article in the New York Times, Cash Crops With Dividends: Financiers Transforming Strawberries Into Securities, Alexandra Stevenson wrote about the hedge funds’ interest in farmland purchase. Hedge funds have already been eyeing farmland with purchases in...

Food Hubs are sprouting up in Maryland!

As reported earlier in this blog, direct sales of food for human consumption grew 32% in Maryland between 2007 and 2012. However, sales of local food to grocery stores and institutions in Maryland has not been as robust because the channels for local food aggregation...

Hurricanes should remind us of the importance of healthy soil

For farmers, heavy rains can be worse than severe droughts. They can prevent seed germination, destroy fragile seedlings, drown crops, and prevent harvest. After the soil dries, the soil can crust over, creating further problems during a following dry spell. In the...