This year, the Farm Hub once again conducted trials on root vegetable varieties that are widely grown in the Hudson Valley. Because root vegetables store well, crops like carrots and beets can provide farmers with a source of revenue after the growing season is over. Building upon the information gleaned from last year’s trials, the Farm Hub partnered with Crystal Stewart of Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program (ENYCHP) to test how different varieties perform in the field and on the plate.
Sixteen varieties of carrots and 13 varieties of table beets were included in the trials this year. In late September, once the crops were harvested, farmers were invited to the Farm Hub for a twilight event led by Crystal. Along with taste tests, attendees were provided with an overview of the project. Crystal explained how Farm Hub and ENYCHP staff measured and tracked the traits of each variety during planting, harvesting, and storage stages, including resistance to disease, yield, quality, storability, and, of course, taste.
Harvesting beets at the Farm Hub
Both carrots and beets, for instance, are susceptible to fungi that can damage the leaves, making them harder to sell. Natural resistance to Cercospora (leaf spot in beets) and Alternaria (leaf spot in carrots) and other diseases can reduce the amount of necessary maintenance and management, increasing profitability and flavor. Under organic practices few materials are available to control these fungi. Storability is another important factor allowing for a steady income stream over the winter. Even if a carrot or beet comes out of the ground tasting great, it may not hold up well in storage due to poor cultural practices and genetics.
Standout carrot varieties from last year included newer hybrids, with fanciful names like Envy, Magnum, and Goldfinger. These produced favorable yields and maintained their taste over several months of storage. For red beets, Rhonda and Boro had the most yield, while Touchstone Gold came out on top among yellow beets. Interestingly, the tops of yellow and white beet varieties were much more resistant to fungal infection than those of red varieties.
Twenty pounds of each carrot and beet variety have now been placed in storage. In the months to come these will be tested for sugar content and taste. The results will be published next spring by Cornell Cooperative Extension.
For more information about the root trials and last year’s results, click aquí.
Integral to the Farm Hub’s mission is a commitment to testing promising new vegetables and grains through field trials tailored to Hudson Valley conditions. The lessons learned can be shared with local farmers so they can benefit from our observations before taking the risks involved in trying out new growing methods and working with unfamiliar crops. As part of this initiative, this past year the Farm Hub posed the question: Does edamame (commonly defined as unripened green soy beans fresh from the pod) have the potential to supplement green bean production for Hudson Valley vegetable growers?
Initial findings from the field trial show promise. With little modification, edamame can be grown using the same equipment as that used for growing green beans, and it is resistant to certain soil-borne diseases like white mold (sclerotinia) or insects that can plague green beans, such as potato leaf hoppers. Like green beans, edamame is beneficial to soil health in that it helps to fix nitrogen. But perhaps the most substantial benefit is the yield, which can be almost 40 percent higher than that of green beans. On just .8 acres, the Farm Hub harvested over 7,000 pounds of edamame this season, as compared to 5,000 pounds of green beans.
Machine harvesting edamame
For the trial, the Farm Hub worked with Martin Stosiek of Markristo Farm in Hillsdale, New York, and planted two varieties of edamame, Chiba Green and Midori Giant. With years of experience growing edamame organically, Stosiek offered his expertise to the Farm Hub on such aspects as when to harvest the crop and how to adjust machinery to optimize crop cleanliness. Now that the beans have been harvested, they will be evaluated to see how well their taste, texture, and quality hold up in the freezer. Freezing is an important factor as it can extend the time between cultivation and delivery to market, allowing a specialty product like edamame to appeal to wholesale buyers.
Although the season has shown some promising results, edamame cultivation is not without its challenges. Machine harvesting edamame requires more labor for picking and sorting than it does for green beans. As a result, it requires more harvesting and sorting time. It also requires greater precision in planting; for example, if the seeds are planted too deep they might not be able to emerge. Similarly, heavy rainfall after planting reduces the germination rate. The demand for edamame may not match that for green beans, which enjoy steady sales as a staple crop at farmer’s markets, but the Farm Hub team is optimistic about edamame’s potential and plans to take the trial one step further next season. To eliminate tillage practices, edamame and green beans will be planted in a rolled and crimped stand of rye. We look forward to sharing more about this intriguing crop in 2017.
Healthy soil grows healthy crops. Though this seems straightforward, many farmers have long diagnosed soil health chiefly by the presence or absence of a handful of simple basic nutrients: nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous. If the levels got too low, farmers typically added them using natural or processed fertilizers. Problem solved, right? Not necessarily. As shown through recent soil tests and demonstrations conducted at the Farm Hub, there’s more to healthy soil than just chemistry.
Last April, three intrepid Profarmer trainees, along with other members of the Farm Hub staff, set out to take soil samples from the Farm Hub’s 1200-plus acres to build a comprehensive map of overall soil quality. Led by Conrad Vispo from the Programa de Ecología del Agro-Paisaje de Hawthorne Valley, the team dug out 10 soil cores from each of the almost 100 fields and sent the samples to Cornell University for a comprehensive assessment of soil health. On August 25, several dozen farmers and scientists gathered at the Farm Hub to discuss the ratings at an event dedicated to learning more about healthy soil.
Held in conjunction with Glynwood, GrowNYC, y Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), the event was designed to explore the role farming practices can play in improving soil health. After an introduction by Crystal Stewart of the Cornell Cooperative Extension Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program, Vispo presented the results of the recent soil tests. In past years, when the farm was managed primarily as a large sweet corn operation, soil health was gauged and managed by adjusting nutrient and pH levels. This year’s soil samples have attested to this traditional approach, as conventional metrics like levels of pH, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium were generally very good. Other factors, however, were revealed to be less robust, including soil aggregate stability, organic matter content, and biological activity. Recent studies have shown the crucial importance of these additional factors to the maintenance of healthy soil, especially for farmers using organic methods. Fay Benson of CCE’s South Central New York Dairy and Field Crops Program was on hand at the workshop to demonstrate how, for example, soil with different management practices handles water retention and soil erosion.
Fay Benson demonstrated the effects of water on recently tilled and undisturbed soil
Soil health, Benson says, is all about “aggregate stability.” In layman’s terms, soil aggregates are clumps of particles that bind together, resisting disruption from wind or rain and providing spaces for pores to enhance respiration and water retention. The porosity of the soil can have profound effects on the retention of both water and nutrients. “Aggregates are like homes for the biology,” he explains, “creating a feedback loop that benefits the entire ecosystem. The biology creates the glues that hold the aggregates together, so when it rains the water won’t disturb them.” Sure enough, there was a big difference seen over the course of the demonstrations. The recently tilled soil completely disintegrated when submerged in water, compared to the undisturbed soil, which retained much of its shape.
Also illuminating was the New York Grazing Coalition’s rain test. In the rain test, five different trays were arrayed beneath a nozzle simulating an inch of rainfall over three minutes, ranging from soil that had been completely exposed to soil that had been covered with mulch (tilled) or plants (untilled). Water that hit the exposed soils ran over the surface, taking valuable nutrients with it. The covered soil prevented a substantial amount of runoff while the soil with plants that absorb water managed to prevent virtually all runoff. By looking at the murkiness of the the water that passed through the samples, the audience was able to see (or understand) how stable each soil specimen was against rain.
The rain test simulated the effects of rainfall on a variety of soil conditions
The differences were pronounced. Clearly, farming practices can play a huge part in soil management and the effects of rainfall. The issue, says Farm Hub’s associate director, Jean-Paul Courtens, is that tillage can be ecologically harmful. He calls “plowing, disking, and cultivating a field a major disruption; creating a kind of catastrophic condition.” Catastrophe in nature is normal, and over time the ecosystem will self regulate, he continues, “but when this happens once or twice every year, it’s taxing.” The impact of frequent tilling was evident in the soil health assessment. The Farm Hub has planted a variety of cover crops in order to compare their effectiveness for building soil and their ability to compete with weeds. The best plant types for revitalizing the soil, says Courtens, are grasses and legumes. These help capture atmospheric carbon and fix nitrogen into the soil, and the Farm Hub has identified several varieties to improve soil health. Adding flowering plants to cover crops helps in building biodiversity while improving the soil.
This year, a number of different mixtures of tall grasses, legumes, and broadleaf plants were planted on several acres, allowing the Farm Hub team to identify effective combinations. In the warm season cover crop group, one of the most promising has been a mix of Japanese millet, sunn hemp (or Crotalaria), and sunflowers. The millet is adept at capturing carbon, the sunn hemp helps fix nitrogen, while the sunflowers create good soil structure and provide additional shade against weeds. These plants are great for restoring soil health, as they grow tall very quickly. Further, the shade they produce suppresses weeds, and the sheer volume of biomass protects the soil against erosion over the winter. In this way, a nutrient-rich environment is made available for the next cash crop. Cover crops like these help support beneficial microorganisms in the soil while providing nutrients and organic matter for healthy soil and a healthier crop.
One of the most exciting projects to take root at the Farm Hub this season is the Native American Seed Sanctuary. Here on our northernmost plot of farmland bordering the Esopus Creek near Kingston, we are growing Native American varieties of corn, beans, squash and sunflowers for the purpose of providing education, seed saving, and, by extension, helping to preserve the rich agricultural and cultural heritage of the Native American people. Once harvested, the seeds will be repatriated to their home communities to keep these varieties and their stories alive.
This very special project is being conducted at the Farm Hub in partnership with the St. Regis Mohawk/Akwesasne Tribe of northern New York and with the support of the Hudson Valley Seed Library.
Walking through a waist-high field of rye with buckets, shovels, and a measuring contraption called a “penetrometer,” the Farm Hub ProFarmer trainees set out in the rain last week to take soil samples from fields across the farm. Led by Conrad Vispo from the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program, our ProFarmers, Jess, Andrew, and Jesse, joined members of the Farm Hub staff in digging and mixing samples from each field. They then plotted the site’s location using GPS and measured soil compaction with the penetrometer. The final samples were shipped off to Cornell University for the Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health, a test that goes beyond the usual chemical analysis of a soil sample by looking at biological and physical characteristics.
As part of an ongoing soil-monitoring program that will track the impact of the Farm Hub’s ecological farming methods over time, ten samples were taken from each of one hundred different fields over the course of two weeks. One of many projects the ProFarmers have jumped into since arriving at the Farm Hub in early April, the soil sampling typifies the ProFarmer program’s approach: project-based learning centered around the ecological health of the farm in the context of LEP’s larger mission in the Hudson Valley food system.
“Project-based learning uses real life experience to teach,” said Sara Katz, Associate Manager for Education Programs at the Farm Hub. “We are creating an alternative educational environment where people are learning by doing while also exploring the context and future implications of what they are growing.” This approach will no doubt prove rewarding as the ProFarmers, along with the farm crew, take on the farm’s thirty-two acres of vegetables this season – a five-acre market garden as well as four major vegetable enterprise crops (edamame and green beans, root crops, sweet corn, and broccoli and cauliflower). These vegetable enterprises provide a platform for intensive practical training in organic production through the season’s progression: from crop planning to budgeting, growing methods, harvesting, and marketing.
In addition to using project-based learning as a primary training method, ProFarmer team leaders are incorporating the principals of another alternative educational concept, “popular education.” In the words of Pancho Arguilles of Paz y Puente, an expert in participatory education who has provided curriculum guidance to the ProFarmer program this year, “Popular education is a methodology of participatory techniques and exercises used to create a space where people can share their experiences, learn from one another, and acquire the skills and knowledge to help them transform their realities.”
This means that everyone in the program has a role to play in teaching and learning. “It flips the traditional learning environment on its head,” Sara Katz added. “Rather than having one teacher leading the whole discussion, it becomes very learner-centered. I love using popular education with adults in a professional environment – they have so much knowledge and wisdom, and taking that as the center for dialogue in an educational setting is really effective.”
Popular Education works particularly well on a farm, where teamwork is essential to success and where ProFarmers, crew members, and teaching staff all bring a wide range of backgrounds and experiences to the work at hand. Whether working together to re-configure a tractor implement into an asparagus planter, creating a Spanish/English glossary for machine shop tools, or starting sweet corn in the greenhouse, the driving spirit behind curriculum design is evidenced in the sharing of individual experiences throughout the learning process.
In addition to daily practice and farm skill building, each day in the field, ProFarmers are contributing to the evolution of the Farm Hub’s collaborative learning environment. Additional trainings will be taking place in the coming months around communication and building a culture of inclusion, and the entire Farm Hub staff is active in the development of on-farm language learning that involves creating multi-lingual spaces and providing both ESL and Spanish instruction – all topics critical to the Farm Hub’s educational philosophy and as important to the health of our food system as the soil under our feet.
The application process for our 2017 ProFarmer program will begin soon. Applications will be online the week of June 20th, visit our Farmer Training page in the weeks to come for more information.
Each spring there is a narrow window when asparagus can be planted. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, it can be impossible to plant as much as a crop plan might demand. In an effort to become more efficient with our asparagus planting, our team took some time over the winter to develop a new asparagus planter with the goal of significantly reducing the time required for planting. In this video, Sam Tafolla Jr. explains the work he and the rest of the crew did to build the new planter.
Asparagus is a challenging crop for organic farmers. “Weed control in a perennial system is much more difficult than in an annual system,” according to Jean-Paul Courtens, Associate Director of Farmer Training. “We only planted two acres this year so we can try a few different approaches to weed control. If we’re successful then down the road we would hope to plant more.”
It is with great enthusiasm that we announce the selection of our first cohort of ProFarmer trainees: Jess Clancy, Jesse Goldfarb, and Andrew Pezzullo.
The ProFarmer trainees will make up a cohort that includes experienced crew members at the farm, some of whom have worked on the Farm Hub land for as many as twenty years. Through day-to-day training activities and skill-sharing workshops, together they will be informing and enriching the co-creative learning environment that is foundational to the Farm Hub’s expanding farmer education programming.
Jesse Goldfarb
“Farming is the basis of our connection to the eco-system, and our eco-system sustains life. The choices we make as farmers determine the present and future of our planet.”
After living and working in East Africa for six years, Jesse Goldfarb is returning to the U.S. to join the ProFarmer program. In Rwanda, Jesse has been the Director of Impact for One Acre Fund, a non-profit organization that works with farmers to increase productivity and create pathways out of hunger and poverty. Jesse founded and managed research station farms with over 700 unique plots that serve as the basis for services and training provided to farmers across the country. He also managed a diversified research portfolio including multiple trials with over 1,000 farmers.
Although this most recent phase in Jesse’s farming career has taken place on another continent, his initial exposure to farming unfolded only a few miles from the Farm Hub on a small organic vegetable farm which he started with his mother and sister in 2009. Here, Jesse designed and managed a permaculture installation, constructed greenhouses, grew a variety of vegetables, and sold food at local farmers markets.
Now, as he returns to the Hudson Valley and joins the ProFarmer program, he will undoubtedly bring a unique global view to our work in the regional food system and to the Farm Hub community itself.
Jess Clancy
“Initially I was intrigued by farming as a way to combine my interest in plants and science with social justice and environmental goals. Then I fell in love with the work.”
Jess comes to the ProFarmer program with seven years of experience in organic farming, most recently as the vegetable production manager at Fishkill Farms in Dutchess County. With a degree in environmental chemistry, Jess is interested in natural systems and ecological farming. This is one of many reasons she was attracted to the ProFarmer program’s mission-driven curriculum.
At Fishkill Farms she oversaw production of organic vegetables on fifteen acres for the farm’s 300-member CSA and four farmers markets. This involved extensive management responsibilities including hiring, training, and managing crew. Prior to moving to Fishkill, she worked in Massachusetts as an apprentice at Powisset Farm and as a farmers market and CSA manager at Atlas Farm in Deerfield. Originally from the Midwest (she grew up near Chicago), Jess’ early farming experiences were in Wisconsin – as a farmworker at an organic farm and a student at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute.
Jess’ years as crew member, salesperson, and production and crew manager have given her a deep respect for farm work, and a solid grounding in both the practical aspects of running a farm operation and the social and economic issues that challenge the food system.
Andrew Pezzullo
“I am committed to making farming my career because it is community-focused, purpose driven, and inextricably grounded in place.”
Andrew is a passionate young farmer with a solid foundation in organic agriculture and a strong personal interest in the ties between farming, ecology, and community.
Andrew grew up in southern Maine but now considers the Hudson Valley home. He has spent the last five years working on farms in our region. Most recently, he has worked at Sawkill Farm in Red Hook where he has prepped, packed, transported and sold farm products at NYC markets. Prior to working at Sawkill he was a harvest and transplant manager at Little Seed Gardens in Columbia County, a member of the Hearty Roots Community Farm field crew, and an apprentice at the Poughkeepsie Farm Project.
Community participation is integral to Andrew’s approach to life and work. He has been an active member of the Hudson Valley Young Farmers Coalition. At Wesleyan University, he co-managed the student run farm and organized an effort to bring agroecological methods to campus and town landscaping. He has managed harvest and pack for soup kitchens and facilitated the delivery of excess market produce to Hudson Valley prisons. Andrew was particularly drawn to the ProFarmer program’s combined emphasis on food justice and regenerative agriculture.
It is a common misconception that all birds fly south for the winter. In reality, winter offers the unique opportunity to see certain species of birds that only spend the colder months in our area. Winter in the Hudson Valley brings a timely succession of sparrows, waterfowl, raptors, and other birds that spend the warmer months of the breeding season farther north.
This winter, the Farm Hub participated in two efforts that allowed us to learn more about the birds that call the farm home during the non-breeding season: a series of winter raptor surveys conducted by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the 116th Audubon Christmas Bird Count. These two projects contribute to regional and national initiatives that monitor bird populations and, in turn, aid in informing decisions concerning the conservation of wildlife. Moreover, understanding and observing the wildlife at the farm allows us to intimately understand the ecological synergy between the agricultural landscape and the wildlife that use it.
For example, the Dark-eyed Junco, a small, handsome, slate-gray songbird, breeds in the Catskills, Adirondacks and farther north during the summer months. As a general rule, in the wintertime Juncos move southward to lower elevations. They turn up at our backyard feeders as well as fields and hedges where they feed on grass seeds and weed seeds to sustain themselves.
Another familiar visitor is the White-throated Sparrow with their “Old Sam Peabody” song (or oh-sweet-Canada depending on who you ask) and attractive facial markings. White-throated Sparrows can be seen hopping gregariously on the ground in weedy fields and hedgerows. Other birds that can be seen at the farm in the winter include American Tree Sparrow, Eastern Bluebird, Bald Eagle, Snow Goose, Great Horned Owl, and Northern Harrier, among others.
Peregrine Falcon, photo courtesy of Peter Schoenberger
The main objective of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) winter raptor surveys is to document the roosting and feeding sites of Short-eared Owls and Northern Harriers. In New York State, Short-eared Owls are listed as an endangered species and Northern Harriers are classified as threatened. Both raptors prefer to winter in large tracts of open habitats such as grasslands and farm fields.
The first survey began at dusk on a gray, breezy and unseasonably mild evening and continued until just after sunset. At the start of the survey, a Northern Harrier was observed on the ground feeding on prey in a field of recently harvested grain corn. Northern Harriers spend the breeding season in open areas such as grasslands, tundra, fields and prairie habitats. During migration and in the winter months, harriers hunt and communally roost in farm fields and grasslands among other habitat types. At the close of the survey, NYSDEC staff had documented five harriers, all aged as juvenile birds from the 2015 breeding season. Other species recorded included a Cooper’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, a pair of Bald Eagles, and a Peregrine Falcon which swooped in to take a Mourning Dove.
On December 19th, birds were recorded at the Farm Hub as part of the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, or CBC. This year marked the 116th count nationwide and the 66th CBC for the Mohonk Lake/ Ashokan Reservoir area, which includes the Farm Hub property. The CBC is an annual volunteer-run census of birds in the Western Hemisphere conducted on behalf of the National Audubon Society. Historically, around Christmas competitive bird hunts took place with the objective to shoot and kill as many birds as possible. It wasn’t until December of 1900 that the suggestion was made to count birds instead of kill them. And thus, the Christmas Bird Count was born. The main objective of the CBC is to show population trends of bird species for the purpose of wildlife conservation efforts. Highlights of the Christmas Bird Count at the Farm Hub included a pair of Great Horned Owls, five Northern Harriers, a pair of Bald Eagles, sixteen American Pipits, one Savannah Sparrow, and one Red-winged Blackbird. (Click here to read the Full Report)
Some birds, such as our migratory shorebirds, only pass through the Farm Hub on migration in the spring and fall to refuel for the journey ahead. Others are only in our area during the breeding season, migrating south to Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean for the fall and winter. Increasingly, with the shifting climate, some species of birds that once migrated in the winter now stay in our area as long as there is adequate food and water available. Some examples include Canada Goose, American Robin, and Great Blue Heron.
Northern Harrier, photo courtesy of Peter Schoenberger
Birds are not only agreeable to observe, they can teach us valuable information about the landscape in which we live and work. Through projects such as the Christmas Bird Count and NYSDEC winter raptor surveys, we are able to contribute to avian conservation efforts in our region. By more profoundly understanding birds and other wildlife, we deepen our own relationship to the land. Although on the surface winter can sometimes appear gloomy, frigid and dismal, really there is plenty to appreciate, experience, and observe. Winter birding offers the perfect remedy for cabin fever. This winter, bundle up, hit the fields and enter the world of winter birds. It is a story that is being told all around us every day, if we only take the time to stop and listen.
Contributed by Anne Bloomfield, Field Technician, Hudson Valley Farm Hub
At the end of the fall, as the last of the harvest comes in and the days start getting shorter, work on the farm shifts into a lower gear. “Winter is a much calmer time of year for us,” Farm Hub Associate Director Jean-Paul Courtens told us recently. “Unlike the busy schedule demanded by the growing season, these months allow us to go back to a more regular work week.” With the seasonal workers gone, the farm buildings take on a quiet that matches the stillness out in the fields.
Nevertheless, there are essential tasks that go on during the winter, including maintenance of farm equipment and farm buildings, crop planning, staff training, planning programs for the coming year, and clearing around fields. With the sudden need to plow after a snow storm things can quickly become busy. In February, we begin prepping the greenhouses and starting seeds, and soon enough we’ll be back in the fields planting.
From time to time during the growing season, Ken Greene and colleagues from the Hudson Valley Seed Library could be seen walking through Farm Hub fields off Hurley Mountain Road, checking on rows of meticulously planted squash and broccoli. What was the “Seed Squad” doing at the Farm Hub?
Because certain vegetables can easily cross-pollinate with other varieties of the same species, conducting projects that involve reproducing reliable seed can be challenging. Fortunately, this year the Farm Hub was able to provide the Seed Library with space for a satellite growing station where, with no similar species growing nearby, the likelihood of interbreeding would be significantly lessened.
This was particularly important for the broccoli variety planted this year. Building on a participatory breeding project initiated by the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC), the Seed Library planted 1,000 plants of an open pollinated broccoli variety specifically developed for organic farmers. Open pollinated seeds have more genetic diversity, which allows them to adapt to local conditions over time. This gives them a number of advantages over hybrid seeds, which cannot be saved from year to year. An open pollinated broccoli variety would allow broccoli growers to direct sow, avoid expensive greenhouse transplanting, cut costs by saving seeds, and adapt varieties to local conditions.
In the case of the squash, the seed will turn into a Thanksgiving feast for the Open Hands soup kitchen in Kingston and the Bread and Life soup kitchen in Brooklyn. “Squash ripens at the same time as the seed, which is not the case for most vegetables,” Ken Greene, founder of the Hudson Valley Seed Library told us. This year that means that after the seeds have been scooped out, the rest of the 1,000 squash brought in from the fields will be donated to soup kitchens to be used for Thanksgiving dinner.
It is a fitting finale to a successful partnership this season, bringing seeds to farmers and gardeners and, at the same time, supporting local communities.
Jesse Goldfarb
Jess Clancy
Andrew Pezzullo
