Archive for the ‘food systems’ Category

How the UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture Works Regionally to Help Vermont’s Farmers & Landowners

Farm Assessment Workshop

In Vermont and across New England, prime farmland is both scarce and expensive.  Many farmers are at or approaching retirement age.  Young farmers face daunting challenges as they try to establish their agricultural enterprises.

One critical, and complicated, part of these challenges is finding ways to successfully transfer farmland from those who own it to those who seek to farm on it.  Ben Waterman of the UVM Extension Center for Sustainable Agriculture serves as Land Access Coordinator, and in that capacity, helps to support both farm-seekers and landowners in Vermont.

Center for Sustainable Agriculture Land Access Coordinator Ben Waterman

Center for Sustainable Agriculture Land Access Coordinator Ben Waterman

He’s based at UVM to serve Vermont’s farming community, but he and his colleagues in the New England Farm Link Collaborative are working together as part of a three year “Land Access Project” across the region.  Serving Vermont, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, the group is comprised of each state’s “farm link” programs that work to connect those seeking farmland in order to begin or grow their farming operation with landowners with farmland to lease or to sell.

Ben adds, “We came together to make it easy for farmers to get a look at what’s available throughout New England, and also to direct farmers and landowners to the whole array of services and resources to help them make that successful match.”

This is important because there’s much more to a successful arrangement than just helping farmers and landowners find each other, says Waterman. “Every situation is different and can require different expertise and advice than every other one, but partners in the Collaborative have the right accumulated experience and knowledge.  We can help bankers understand a farm business plan.  We can help lawyers understand the agricultural provisions of a farm lease arrangement.   We can help real estate agents to understand the specific information that a prospective buyer or tenant needs to determine whether a land is suitable for their goals. We can help everyone navigate USDA resources and requirements.  Farm link programs are the hub.”

A significant focus of the Collaborative has been the creation and improvement of the New England Farmland Finder website (found at http://newenglandfarmlandfinder.org/ ).  The site provides detailed and regularly updated farm property postings, as well as information and guidance about farmland transactions, such as land assessment worksheets and fact sheets on lease rates. At the time of this writing, there were over 130 farmland sites listed, including 48 in Vermont, and over 1,000 registered users.

The Land Access Project is supported by a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture through its Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, #2015-70017-23900.  The collaboration is one outcome from Land For Good’s Land Access Project, funded by the USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. The New England Farm Link Collaborative includes Connecticut Farm Link, Maine Farm Link, Land For Good and Vermont Land Link.  Each member provides a range of services all aimed at one common goal:  to help New England’s farm seekers and landowners connect.

Are You a Landowner or Farmseeker Who Wants to Know More?

Developing Critical Knowledge on a Working Farm

To affect the working landscape, we know we have to start small – “small” as in the tiny particles and droplets and microbes that make up healthy soil. We start with the microcosm of the soil for a simple reason: if we want a vibrant Vermont with clean water, great food and a robust farm economy, we need to make sure farmers can build the health of their soils.

That seemingly simple premise is at the foundation of much of the work of the Center for Sustainable Agriculture.  And it’s the guiding force behind the research that’s being hosted by Philo Ridge Farm, where Pasture Program Technical Coordinator Juan Alvez, Ph.D., is engaged in several long-term applied projects to investigate the practices with the highest promise for productivity and profitability, as well as building and maintaining ecological balance with the land.

Doing this means looking in depth at many of the elements of the farm’s systems, investigating how soil, crops, animals and forest can all thrive.  We seek to understand more about how a healthy farm ecosystem can support a profitable business, and under what conditions.

Among the questions we’re asking are:

  • Can we combine agroforestry practices in ways that contribute to animal health and growth as well as providing benefits to soil, water and wildlife?
  • What forage species can grow well in a partly forested (shaded) area, and serve the multiple purposes of promoting animal weight gain while helping break up compacted soils? (Curious about these?  We’ll share some of Juan’s early observations: “Based on last year, the most productive species was sorghum sudangrass.  And we saw that reed canarygrass will outcompete everything else, so we’re pulling that out to see what kind of species diversity we can encourage.”)
  • How can the practice of bedded pack barns contribute to animal comfort as well as building soil fertility?
  • Can we combine precision irrigation with “cocktail cover crops” to keep land, plants and animals as healthy and productive as possible, ameliorating the “summer slump” and grazing longer into the winter as well?

We look forward to sharing information with farmers, colleagues and other researchers at upcoming pasture walks and in upcoming newsletters and articles.

In the meantime, want to know more?

  • Read more about the research project on the Center’s Research pages.
  • Plan to attend the August 15 Field Day at the farm to learn about the research, have a pasture walk with noted grazing consultant Jim Gerrish, and meet members of the Vermont Healthy Soils Coalition.  Register here.
  • Contact Principal Investigator Juan Alvez with questions.
  • And if you’re interested in joining a group of passionate volunteers (representing farmers, gardeners, seed savers, researchers and professionals, including several staff members from the Center for Sustainable Agriculture) in the Vermont Healthy Soils Coalition – an online discussion group that one member describes as “volunteers with an interest in shifting the paradigm of how people interface with the land. We operate under the premise that we can restore land water cycles by covering Vermont’s bare soil; nurturing photosynthesis and the biology underground,” please feel free to join the group and let members know how you’d like to participate by taking this short survey.

Originally published in the Center’s Fresh from the Field newsletter, June 2017

Dealing with Weather at High Ledge Farm

Originally posted on September 30, 2015 on the Farming & Climate Change Adaptation Blog

The Betz family started High Ledge Farm in 1999. Paul and Kate Betz grow certified organic vegetables on a small parcel of 2.5 acres and manage a 4100 sq. ft. of greenhouses for plant and tomato production. They have a CSA program and sell their produce at the Montpelier Farmers Market.

The High Ledge Farm Booth at the Montpelier Market

Impact of Rain

The climate change effects that worry the Betz family are heavy rain events. These have resulted in soil fines (the smallest particles within the soil) rising to the surface and sealing it so that in seedlings have difficulty emerging. The Betz’ have experimented with the timing of their plantings and tried multiple plantings to increase the opportunities for seeds to germinate in these potentially adverse conditions.

This past year the farmers planted their carrots twice because of the risk of soils sealing and preventing sufficient germination. Planting twice meant two opportunities for seeds to germinate.

The problem is that any time bare soils are exposed directly to rain with minimal cover to protect them from the impact of raindrops, erosion can occur and soil structure can deteriorate with the possibility of fines rising with the excess water. By minimizing the time that bare soils are exposed directly to rain and keeping soil covered with a crop as much as possible will in turn reduce the possibility of fines and soil surface sealing.  The UVM Extension Center for Sustainable Agriculture has a fact sheet about controlling drainage and increasing the water holding capacity of soils. Rather than take a gamble with weather forecasts to anticpate the possilbity of soil crusting, improving soil composition with organic matter, and using winter cover crops to lessen impact of rain, will help soils retains more water.

Protecting soils from rain

Improving soil composition with organic matter and using winter cover crops to lessen the impact of rain will help soils retains more water. The Natural Resource Council provide a useful guide on the factors affecting soil crusting and measures which can be taken to improve soil quality

UVM Extension agronomist Dan Hudson explains that healthy soils not only hold water but can also help stabilize the movement of water and soil particles. Cover crops are a critical part of the soil system as they help support microbial activity which further enhances soil structure and organic matter in the soils. The key to healthy soils are:

  • organic matter in soils
  • debris and plant cover on soil surface
  • living roots in soils

Reducing risks with greenhouses

While the effects of climate change include heavy rains with impacts on soils and a longer growing season in Vermont, the temperature variations within the growing season are widening. This risk of a cold snap or heat wave can undermine any perceived benefit of a longer growing season.

Recognizing the variability and extremes of Vermont weather, farmers have turned to greenhouses and hoop houses in growing numbers.   Their strategies for coping with variable weather start from the ground up.  Maintaining and improving soil quality is essential with additions of organic matter, cover cropping, and minimizing tillage. Soils which have more plant matter including living roots in the soil and leaves on the soil have increased microbes which help retain more moisture during dry spells and can cope with absorbing more rainfall during wet periods.

While soils with higher organic matter content can help mitigate wider ranges in precipitation, greenhouses help mitigate wider ranges in temperature. Using a greenhouse to control the environment, the Betz family benefits at both the start and the end of the growing season so that the swings in temperatures during Vermont’s shoulder seasons of spring and fall don’t result in swings in income.

Contributions from Catherine Lowther, Goddard College, Faculty in the BA in Sustainability Program, Chair of the Sustainability Committee and UVM Extension Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Flexibility is Daily Theme at the Pine Island Goat Farm in Colchester, VT

Originally posted on September 9, 2015 on the Farming & Climate Change Adaptation Blog

“Flexibility is absolutely the key!” declares Karen Freudenberger, as she looks below where farmers Chuda Mahoro and Theogene Dhaurali are struggling to free one of the farm’s trucks stuck in the mud in a waterlogged pasture. Karen is the Pine Island Community Farm Project Manager, guiding it into existence as a working farm from a conceptual idea formed a few years ago. The majority of the pasture land on this farm is located in the floodplain of the Winooski River, in an oxbow and surrounded on three sides by the river. While extremely fertile, with abundant forage for the 200 or more goats that graze here, the chances of flooded conditions are often present.

While springtime has always been a time of expected flooding, in recent years it has become painfully apparent that flooding can and will happen just about any time of year.

Stuck truck in wet pasture, June 2015

A truck stuck in wet pasture, June 2015

So what does flexibility look like? For the crew at Pine Island, it means the crops and gardens are not necessarily on the best agricultural soil.  Flexibility means a grazing plan that includes a “reserve” or “contingency” pasture on the higher ground at the farm that can be utilized at any time to accommodate animals for grazing, should the weather dictate the need to do so.

Pine Island Community Farm represents a partnership between the Vermont Land Trust and the Association of Africans Living in Vermont.  It supports New American farmers who wish to raise goats, chickens, or garden crops at the farm and sells pasture grown animals to families who wish to slaughter their own goats and chickens for meat.

It is a collaborative farm where each individual farm enterprise (e.g. Chuda’s goats) is run by the owner as his own small business.  Together, the business operations share the land, the barns, and the equipment.

Flood Plain Pasture, Summer 2015

Flood Plain Pasture, Summer 2015

Planning for the Unpredictable

Now in its second year of operation, and finding a rhythm with the land, livestock, and crops – the wild card remains the unpredictable weather fluctuations and learning how to work with that reality. The community gardens were placed on the upper plateau, even though the better agricultural soils are on the river plain below. But the risk of flooding and crop loss is too great on the lower level, and the financial impact could be devastating, so the decision was made to place them up above, requiring substantial amounts of soil amendments to increase the land’s fertility.

The goat enterprise is even more complicated. Since most of them arrive in late winter/early spring as very young animals, it is particularly important that their pasture not be wet or even very damp as those are the conditions most favorable for the internal parasites that can take a young animal down very quickly. Planning for this means reserving a section of the upper plateau for the initial forays onto pasture at the beginning of the grazing season. The chances of this higher elevation land being drier are much better, and lowers the probability the young animals will pick up parasites.

Once the goats have grown in size, become good grazers, learned the process of following a shepherd, and the pasture below has dried up enough – they are taken down each day to fresh forage on the river plain. However, if there is a heavy rain event, the animals are often returned to the barn, and put on hay.

Moving animals prevents parasite intake and is seen as practice for general goat health. Goats traditionally come from dry environments, and have prominent back bones, so when conditions are extremely wet, they can sometimes get a deep chill, particularly young animals. So they are returned to the barn for cover until the weather eases up enough for them to be outside again. The frequency of this procedure has increased in direct correlation with the heavy precipitation events – again an increase in cost due to the extra time and labor involved.

Barnyard and fencing at Pine Island Farm, Summer 2015

Barnyard and fencing at Pine Island Farm, Summer 2015

This June and July have proven to be exceptionally wet, and circumstances have pushed the farmers to start utilizing any areas they can find with reasonably dry pasture. Chuda explains how it affects his day and makes for inefficient labor.

“We must spend a long time scouting around for any new dry area, mowing a strip to accommodate fence set-up, putting the fence in place, and bringing the animals there. Normally, long strips would be mowed where several days or even a couple of weeks’ worth of fence line can be set up and a new paddock made each day using the section from the previous day’s paddock as the animals are rotated onto new forage each day”. The labor invested is much less when the paddocks can be made in consecutive blocks, or even close by instead of wandering all over the river plain.

This season has pushed everything to the limits. Because of the record breaking rain and wet conditions, pastures have been slow to dry up and many still have standing water in places, prohibiting their use. Livestock have been restricted to sacrificial paddocks or barnyards and fed any reserved hay from the previous season.

But for many, even the reserve stash is gone. For the same reasons, haying has been delayed and many farmers have not been able harvest any, so without any new crop and reserve supplies depleted, the only choice is to import feed from far away – a costly solution – or eke out any small opportunities close by. This means resorting to a “hunt and pick” type of operation, seeking any bit of dry pasture land that can be found to set up a grazing paddock. The inefficiency brings a greater cost to all – time spent looking and setting each area up takes a good portion of the day, and a watchful eye kept on it all should there be a need to quickly get the animals back to high ground.

Report on climate change resilience for service providers: Part 1

Originally posted on July 8, 2015 on the Farming & Climate Change Adaptation Blog

Rachel Schattman with the Agroecology and Rural Livelihoods Group joined us to talk about the findings of her project with the Vermont Agricultural Resilience in a Changing Climate Initiative, Rachel, a former UVM Extension Center for Sustainable Agriculture staffer and current doctoral candidate, conducted extensive interviews with Vermont farmers and agricultural service providers.  Her goal was to delve into the approaches Vermont farmers are taking to increase resiliency and limit the risks they face due to changing climate.  Rachel’s project also investigates the role of the service provider in improving agricultural resilience and the key adaptation strategies for Northeastern farmers.

(The full publication can be found here.  Its full reference is:  Schattman, R.E., H.M. Aitken, V.E. Méndez & M. Caswell (2014) Climate change resilience on Vermont farms: a research report for service providers. ARLG Research Brief # 2. Agroecology and Rural Livelihoods Group (ARLG), University of Vermont: Burlington, VT.)

Center for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA):  We find your publication very helpful in terms of identifying and categorizing the dominant adaptation approaches of farmers in the state and region.  Through your interviews, did you get the sense that farmers and service providers were on the same page regarding climate change?  Was it as much of a priority for farmers as it was for service providers?

Rachel:   For this part of the project, we interviewed 15 farmers and 12 service providers. Both groups were clear that climate change is real and that it is a big deal for everyone in agriculture, though not everyone has the same degree of knowledge about climate change or how it will affect agriculture in the northeastern United States.

DSCN0046

Produce Safety Coordinator Ginger Nickerson at an Irrigation Workshop

It’s less a case of farmers thinking one thing and technical service providers thinking another, than a situation where farmers are not all of one mind and nor are technical service providers.

Specifically, we asked farmers how much climate change played into their farm management decisions, and we asked technical service providers if and how they talked about climate change with farmers. The farmers did not all prioritize climate change to the same degree: those that suffered losses with Tropical Storm Irene, or who were located in areas where erosion and flooding are reoccurring challenges, tend to be more concerned. These farmers know that climate change in the Northeast will likely mean more frequent and intense rainstorms, more floods, etc.  We found that these farmers had knowledge of climate change that was more accurate and nuanced than other farmers.  Likewise, some technical service providers were highly knowledgeable about climate change and others were less so, though most had questions about how to best support the farming community through the changes that are to come.

CSA:  Diversification, in a variety of ways, is a time-tested risk mitigation strategy and was a dominant adaptation strategy of the farmers you interviewed.  Was it your impression that farmers diversified initially to mitigate risk from other sources, and then continued after seeing the benefits for climate change resilience?  Or was it the impacts of climate change that prompted the diversification?

Rachel:  Yes, diversification is a widely used strategy for mitigating many different types of risk including economic, ecological and production risks.

Increased intensification of risk can look like a field that has flooded every 25 years in the past starting to flood more frequently under new climatic conditions. It can also look like spikes in fungal diseases on plants because of more humidity and warmer atmospheric temperatures.

A farmer’s initial reason for diversifying may have been market related (e.g. wanting to have several different types of sales avenues), crop or product related (e.g. drought or moisture resistant crops, animal and crop systems), or a livelihood decision (e.g. off-farm jobs or other sources of income).  The type of diversification a farmer chooses depends on the specific threats their business faces and the particular resources they have to draw upon.

The farmers that we interviewed reported diversification strategies that were originally adopted for reasons other than climate change.  They also acknowledged that these same strategies put them in a good position as climate change intensifies preexisting threats such as increased frequency and intensity of storms and flooding.

As farmers learn more about climate change, they also tweak their diversification strategies. For example, we interviewed one business owner who chose to site several new greenhouses on a piece of land that is less vulnerable to high winds, which she believes will be a more important factor in the future. This same farmer chose stronger construction materials for the greenhouses because she believes structural integrity of these structures would become more of an issue as intense storms become more frequent.

This interview continues in Report on climate change resilience for service providers – Part 2: Best Management Practices go hand in hand with Climate Change Adaptation.

 

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