Jennifer Cushman, UConn Animal Science Alumni with a master’s in education, recently recognized with an “Outstanding Young Member” award by the National Association of Agricultural Educators. This award is one of six hundred given nationwide by the 8,000 member professional group for agricultural educators. Cushman is currently the head Agri-Science teacher at Glastonbury High School’s […]
Agriculture & Farming
Ensuring a vibrant and sustainable agricultural industry and food supply
Northeast Extension Directors Appoint Nancy Bull as Executive Director
Kingston, Rhode Island – The Northeast Extension Directors (NEED) today announced the three-year, part time appointment of Dr. Nancy Bull as its Executive Director effective January 1. In her capacity as Executive Director, Dr. Bull will lead the region in the creation of partnerships among the northeast land-grant institutions, focusing on collaboration and funding opportunities […]
New York Produce Show
Thank you to Jim Prevor for inviting UConn College of Agriculture and Natural Resources faculty and students to the New York Produce Show and Conference. The Conference was sponsored by Produce Business and the Eastern Produce Council. UConn students attended the trade show, a career session, and toured Hunts Point Produce Market and urban agriculture in Brooklyn. […]
Successful Year for UConn Dairy Program
Mary Margaret Cole, Executive Program Director of the Kellogg Dairy Center (KDC) at UConn’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources has had a very successful year. Cole and the KDC staff are setting the stage for top quality milk for Connecticut dairy producers. At the 2013 Eastern States Exposition Holstein Show, Cole was awarded champion […]
UConn Creamery Excited to Return to Cheese Production
The UConn Creamery has been an integral part of the Animal Science Department since 1953. As the winner of countless “Best of” awards, the demand for the famous UConn ice cream is ever increasing. Meanwhile, throughout the United States, consumer interest in local foods including specialty and artisan cheeses continues to drive the explosive growth […]
AFIDA Report
AFIDA-Distribution of the Report ‘Foreign Holdings of U.S. Agricultural Land through December 31, 2011’ The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA) became effective on February 2, 1979. In particular, the regulations establish a system for the collection of information by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) pertaining to foreign investment in United States […]
Pictures from the Beginning Farmer Program
Eero Ruuttila of our Scaling Up Programs took these photos at the Beginning Farmer Conference in McAllen, Texas.
Beginning Farmer Program
During November 13-16th the USDA Beginning Farmer & Rancher Development Program supported by the National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA) held its 4th Annual Director Meeting. Hosted by the University of Texas-Pan American in McAllen, Texas, this year’s theme was: Cruzando Fronteras: Supporting Diversity in Agriculture. Attendees experienced first-hand agricultural issues and opportunities both […]
Agricultural Law Center launches Legal Guide for Locally Grown
Agricultural Law Center launches online legal guide to help farmers deliver locally grown foods The Drake University Agricultural Law Center has developed an online version of “The Legal Guide for Direct Farm Marketing” (http://directmarketersforum.org). Thanksgiving is the perfect time to consider how Americans can connect with farmers and the food they grow. This website provides farmers […]
Connecticut Food Justice Youth Corps
The Connecticut Food Justice Youth Corps (CTFJYC) is a team of five AmeriCorps VISTA’s increasing the collaboration and coherence of non-profits working the field of Food Justice. The strength of this collaboration begins and ends with an understanding of what each of these separate organizations seek to create: a community movement, driven by youth, to […]
More Awards & Honors!
Dr. Cathy Love received the Pharos Award from the APLU Commission on Access, Diversity and Excellence to recognize her lifetime commitment to addressing issues of diversity, access and success. She and Dean Gregory Weidemann are shown on 11/10/13 at the APLU meeting in Washington DC. Dr. Jack Clausen received the USDA Teaching Award for the Northeast Region on […]
Fall Scenes
UConn Extension’s Jude Boucher, who specializes in Integrated Pest Management in Vegetable Crops took these pictures. The pumpkins are a Hijinks variety that are a past winner in the All-America Seed Trials. The tomatoes are packaged and ready for sale at Bishop’s Orchards in Guilford. We also had a chance to enjoy some fall […]
2013 Green Pastures’ Dairy Farm of the Year for Connecticut
The Green Pastures Award judging team visited three Connecticut farms on Friday, September 13, 2013 before making their decision to choose Arethusa Farm in Litchfield, Connecticut as the 2013 Dairy Farm of the Year. The annual award is presented at the Big E Green Pastures’ banquet where each New England state presents their winning farm. […]
Rineicha Otero in Colombia – Day 8
Saturday, 8/24/2013 This week has gone by so fast; it’s my last day in Colombia. It has been an awesome opportunity, where I have learned about myself, the Colombian government, culture, nutrition views, entrepreneurship, and where partnerships can begin. I made my last trip to the University of San Buenaventura. Today, the outreach office offered […]
Rineicha Otero in Colombia – Day 6 & 7
Thursday, 8/22/2013 Today I got to visit la Universidad de San Buenaventura Cali, where Ginna received her degree. I could see Ginna’s pride while she gave me the tour, along with a colleague. The campus was environmentally friendly; it was surrounded by beautiful natural landscapes. I had the opportunity to present to a group of 30 […]
Buy Local
Senator Richard Blumenthal learns the 10% pledge at the Live Green Connecticut family festival in Norwalk on Sunday, September 15th. The Buy 10% campaign asks residents to spend 10% of their food and gardening dollars to locally grown produce. Find out more and take the pledge at buyctgrown.com – a partnership between UConn Extension and Cityseed.
Rineicha Otero in Colombia – Day 5
Wednesday 8/21/2013 Ginna works as mentor to entrepreneur students at ICESI University. Every year ICESI hosts a competition for entrepreneurs to showcase their businesses’ plans. The winner has the opportunity to showcase his or her business at the national level. The presentations I viewed were very impressive; all of the business plans and concepts were […]
Rineicha Otero in Colombia – Day 4
Tuesday 8/20/2013 Today I visited Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali, where I met with the director of the university’s social responsibility office. During this meeting, I learned about current programs established to target social issues in different communities throughout Cali. A two-week program has been created in collaboration with Gonzaga University (Washington) to focus on production of agriculture […]
Rineicha Otero in Colombia – Day 3
Monday 8/19/2013 The day has finally arrived; I was able to visit the San Jorge community. San Jorge is a community composed of displaced families. The community is comprised of 400 peoples, 125 being youth of diverse ages. Ginna has been working with this community to empower the women and children economically. There are three lines to […]
Rineicha Otero in Colombia – Day 2
Sunday 8/18/2013 I wake to find another gorgeous day in Cali. The clear skies and fresh air made it for a great day to have a walking tour. Ginna and I walk over to a near by lake known as Humedal El Cisne La Babilla Tomasa, where you can sit and feed the ducks or […]
Rineicha Otero – UConn Extension Fellow in Colombia
Saturday 8/17/2013 I finally arrived in beautiful Colombia! After much-anticipation, the visit has come and the expectation of reconnecting to the different cultures around the world has increased even more. As soon as the airplane touched the ground in Bogota the crowed cheered with excitement to be back in their homeland. I remembered the times […]
UConn Visits Grower Direct
UConn Extension visited Grower Direct Farms, a wholesale commercial greenhouse in Somers with UConn Vice Provost Mun Choi and Dean Weidemann of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Lend A Hand App
Lend A Hand App tells a story about farming shared interactively through a song originally written by Willie Nelson and Marty Dread. It provides hope for communities and a nation of hard working family farmers by building an awareness for children that supporting local farms can be healthy and fun. If you’d like to learn […]
Gardening Quick Tip: Japanese Beetles
Mary Concklin, UConn Extension Educator for Fruit Production and IPM offers this quick tip on dealing with Japanese Beetles: Using the Japanese beetle traps will actually attract the beetles to your planting. Instead, if you have the traps, place them at least 100 feet from the planting to try to draw them away from the […]
Liming Soils
by Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center An incredible number of chemical, biochemical and biological reactions occur in our soils. Through these reactions, nutrients, whether already present in the soil or added by fertilizers, are changed into forms that can be taken up by plant roots. The pH of the soil affects all […]
Be on the Lookout for Giant Hogweed, an Invasive Plant in Connecticut
UConn and the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group (CIPWG) are asking state residents to be on the lookout for Giant Hogweed, which typically blooms during July. Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) is an invasive, non-native plant from Eurasia that was first identified in Connecticut in 2001. This Federal Noxious weed has now been confirmed in 25 towns in […]
Latin American Development
By Joe Bonelli, Associate Extension Educator In-Residence UConn Extension hosted Ginna Rodriguez, a visiting Fellow from Columbia at the request of UConn Global Training and Development Institute (GTDI). Ginna is from the Universidad Javeriana and Universidad ICESI in Columbia and was at UConn participating in the Economic Empowerment Program at the GTDI. UConn Extension was […]
Soil Testing at UConn
The University of Connecticut Soil Nutrient Analysis Laboratory (SNAL) has been serving the farmers, greenhouse growers and residents of Connecticut for over 50 years. Currently, it is directed by Dr. Thomas Morris and managed by Dawn Pettinelli; Deborah Tyser is our full-time laboratory technician. Our Goals The Soil Nutrient Analysis Laboratory has three […]
Effects of Fungicide Timing and Tillage on Resistant Pumpkins
By Jude Boucher, UConn Extension Educator, Commercial Vegetable Crops Introduction (Current Fungicide Program) Before I can talk about this experiment, I need to remind you of how and why we use specific fungicides on pumpkins. I’ve talked about fungicide sprays on pumpkins before and mentioned how there are four annual diseases that we can protect […]
Are You Ready For Late Blight?
By Jude Boucher, UConn Extension Educator, Commercial Vegetable Crops Recap of 2012 Outbreak in CT During the week of June 20, 2012, a Prospect, CT homeowner brought late blight (LB) infected tomato plants to the CT Ag Experiment Station diagnostic center. The homeowner had purchased the plants from a local supermarket, but when contacted, the […]
Daffodil Labyrinth
Located at the Tolland County Agricultural Center is the Daffodil Labyrinth, a spring labyrinth made from flowers. When the yellow daffodils of spring appear in late March so does the labyrinth. As the daffodils fade in April violet grape hyacinths appear to hold the pattern into May. As summer arrives the labyrinth is mowed and […]
10 Tips for the May Gardener
UConn Extension’s Home and Garden Center offers you more tips to grow on: Ten Tips for the May Gardener: 1. If you want to get a head start on the season, plant container gardens and be ready to bring them indoors on cold nights. 2. When transplanting annuals and vegetables, be gentle with the root […]
10 Tips for the April Gardener
UConn Extension’s Home and Garden Center has a lot of knowledge to grow on. Ten Tips for the April Gardener: 1. Prune back bedraggled looking ground covers and fertilize lightly after April 15. 2. Check fruit trees for tent caterpillars, they emerge around the same time leaves sprout. Blast nests with a strong spray of […]
Not Too Late To Start Tomato Seeds!
Check out this recent post from UConn’s Home and Garden Education Center: As much as I try to accomplish tasks in a timely manner, life just seems to get in the way and things occasionally get done later rather than sooner. So it is this year with starting my tomato seeds. Here it is April […]
Proper Planting of Strawberries
Good afternoon, Proper planting of strawberries should include making sure the root system is not curled or ‘J’ planted. A study conducted in California showed an 18.5% reduction in fresh fruit yield with ‘J’ planted strawberries versus those planted correctly. In the diagram (from OSU Extension), plant A is correct with the crown at the […]
Invasive Pest Month
April is Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month when USDA/APHIS highlights how invasive species affect the economy, the environment and human health. Visit Hungry Pests, available in English and Spanish, to learn more. An Emerald Ash Borer The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today proclaimed April as […]
When to Turn Under Spring Cover Crops?
I heard the peepers last night for the first time this year. There have already been a couple of sunny, almost warm, spring-like weeks in my neighborhood. Recently the overwintered rye has switched its dull reddish-green color scheme to bright green. I remember reading a couple of years ago that stands of overwintered rye, if […]
UConn Study of Food Insecurity in Connecticut is New Tool to Combat Hunger
By: Sheila Foran & David Bauman for UConn Today 4/10/13 Connecticut residents generally have dependable access to food, but the picture is not all rosy. A recent U.S. Household Food Security study showed that about one in seven households in the state reported not having enough money to buy food they needed in 2011. And […]
New School Garden
Heather Pease from UCONN Hartford County Extension Expanded Food Nutrition Education Program and Food Corps member Deanna Lampo installed concrete block raised beds in the courtyard of Vance Village Elementary School in New Britain. Deanna teaches an after school garden and nutrition education class. The garden beds were built with concrete blocks that were purchased […]
Growing Nutrient-Dense Vegetables
Published by the University of Massachusetts Center for Agriculture Research and Extension Working to Curb Malnutrition From the Ground Up Empty calories. Depleted soil. Overproduction. By now, most Americans have heard reports that even as we’re eating more, we’re taking in fewer nutrients. Today’s ubiquitous fast foods and processed meals play a large part in […]