Author: Terence Bradshaw

Happy New Year: I have news of two exciting educational opportunities coming up in the next few months. First, the Vermont Tree Fruit Growers Association will hold their 129th (!) annual meeting in conjunction with the UVM Fruit Program on Friday, February 21 at the American Legion Hall, 49 Wilson Rd., Middlebury, VT. The agenda…

The Eastern Viticulture and Enology Forum Webinar Series is a collaboration among programs from fourteen universities and will offer four educational webinars this winter on important vineyard management topics. Please join us January 21, 12:00-1:30 PM for a discussion on Vineyard Nutrient Management. Preregistration is free but required. Details are available at: Vineyard Nutrient Management:…

Passing this on from our Cornell colleague Liz Higgins. -TB I am emailing this directly to our entire program email list because we just learned about a new USDA FSA payment program for specialty crop farms to help offset their high costs of labor and inputs. I had this in my newsletter a couple of…

Live Webinar Series on Farm Succession and Transfer starting January 9th Mike Ghia, VT Farm Viability Program What is the future of your farm? If you are like most farmers, you are so busy with the day-to-day business of farming you find it difficult to take the time to plan ahead long-term, particularly planning for…

I have two ‘save the dates’ to get on your calendars for the 2025 winter meeting season: The Vermont Tree Fruit Growers Association / UVM Fruit Program 129th Annual meeting will be held at the American Legion in Middlebury, VT on Friday, February 21. The New England Extension Fruit Consortium will again offer a series…

While this meeting is based around apples, the concepts apply just as much to vineyards, so I am sharing to both lists. -TB Eastern NY Orchard Soil Health and Beneficial Fungi Workshop Northern Orchards Walker Farm 688 River Rd, Peru NY 12972 August 15, 2024 3-5pm (Rain date: August 16 if needed) The soils that…

I hope everyone is doing okay after the already wet season and this past week’s damaging rain event. Unfortunately, these events are too common, such that UVM Extension has a resource page ready to go: https://www.uvm.edu/extension/disaster-resources. I know that orchards and vineyards are generally on higher ground and thus likely saw less damage than the…

Since the Vermont House of Representatives and Senate voted to override the Governor’s veto of H.706, An act relating to banning the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, I have received a number of questions about the bill’s impact on fruit growers. The answer is, not much. The main focus of this bill is the phasing out…

Representatives from Monarch Electric Tractor Company will be in Vermont on June 20 (tomorrow) to demonstrate their driver-optional MKV electric tractor at Shelburne Vineyard, 6308 Shelburne Road, Shelburne, VT. Due to the expected heat conditions, we will be cancelling the afternoon demonstration that was to be held in Underhill. Please register to attend (for free)…

Sorry about the delay in getting this out, graduating a kiddo from high school is more of an event than I’d planned. Anyway, there are a few orchard items I want to touch on. First and probably foremost, the heat we are expecting this coming week could provide substantial stress to trees, not to mention…