By Whitney Will, Farm Manager at Roaring Gardens at TCI Lane Ranch January is a time for dreaming about the next season of farming, planning the garden, and ordering seeds. For me, looking forward to the next season always starts with looking back on previous ones. What worked well last season? Which vegetables did we need … Read More
By Chris Holman, NFU Member Next week, I will be flying to Berlin, Germany to represent National Farmers Union (NFU) at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFAA). NFU’s participation in this forum is tied to its role as a founding member of the World Farmers Organization (WFO). If you are a relatively new member of Farmers Union … Read More
By Hannah Packman, NFU Communications Coordinator Farmers markets can be an important source of supplementary income and public exposure for both small scale producers and beginning farmers and ranchers. Not only do they provide access to additional markets and new consumers, but they also eliminate the costs of processing, storage, wholesale, and distributing associated with traditional … Read More
By Thomas Driscoll, NFU Director of Conservation Policy and Education Since October, when the Climate Column started featuring ways farmers can address climate change, we have primarily discussed practices to build climate resilience in crop production. There are, of course, many things livestock producers can do about climate change as well. Livestock producers often have … Read More
By Jimmy Dula, NFU Intern Allen Brimer is the farmer/pastor at Farm Church, an agriculturally-minded religious community. Brimer has extensive experience cultivating produce and raising farm animals, as well as over a decade of religious service. In this Q&A, Brimer tells us more about his operation and the challenges and opportunities he has encountered farming for … Read More
By Jimmy Dula, NFU Intern Among the many alternative agricultural economic models that have cropped up in recent years, farming for a paycheck has become increasingly common. Unlike traditional farming models, in which a producer’s self-generated income is contingent on crop yields and sales, in this arrangement, a third party guarantees producers a fixed salary … Read More
By Thomas Driscoll, NFU Director of Conservation Policy and Education Installing vegetative barriers, defined by the US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA NRCS) as “permanent strips of stiff, dense vegetation established along the general contour of slopes or across concentrated areas,” is another way producers can adapt to and mitigate climate change. … Read More
By Jimmy Dula, NFU Intern Nestled next to Basalt Town Hall, with access to main street shops and eateries, the Sunday Market in Basalt, Colorado is an economic driver for our rural mountain town. To the credit of previous market managers and board members, the 40-plus vendor market is the social occasion of the summer, … Read More
By Thomas Driscoll, NFU Director of Conservation Policy and Education Farmers and ranchers need a wide range of abilities and knowledge to succeed. Depending on the operation, a beginning producer may require aptitude in livestock nutrition, tractor repair, meteorology, regulatory permitting, purchase order negotiations, and more… all in the same day! But even the mastery of all … Read More
By Thomas Driscoll, NFU Director of Conservation Policy and Education As noted frequently here at the Climate Column (for example, in last week’s post on grassed waterways), preventing soil erosion is an important way farmers can adapt to and mitigate climate change. Impeding erosion improves soil health. This, in turn, allows soil to both store … Read More