The Purdue Initiative for Family Firms (PIFF) is a new initiative in Purdue’s College of Agriculture, housed in the Department of Agricultural Economics. PIFF is an integrated research, outreach, and teaching program. It offers educational programs that address the major competencies needed for effective family business ownership and management. The goal of the initiative is…Read more about Introducing PIFF: The Purdue Initiative for Family Firms[Read More]
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We can never emphasize too much the importance of conducting soil tests. Ideally, soil test should be conducted on a yearly basis. The reason soil testing is so important is because it provides information about the nutrient composition of the soil so that growers will know how much fertilizer to apply for the following season….Read more about Soil Tests[Read More]
Effectively managing foliar diseases including late blight (LB), early blight (EB), and Septoria leaf spot (SLS), is one of the biggest challenges facing organic tomato growers. New, resistant hybrid varieties are available, but organic growers often plant heirloom varieties instead because they are perceived to have superior flavor and growers can save seed. Copper fungicides…Read more about The TOMI Project Aims to Help Tomato Growers Better Manage Foliar Diseases[Read More]
Screening can be an effective measure to exclude unwanted pests from colonizing your crops. In high tunnels, one of the biggest challenges to successfully implementing exclusion screening is managing the unintended side effect: reduced airflow. In spring we are clamoring to get inside the warmth that high tunnels provide, but by mid-summer they can become…Read more about High Tunnel Screening for Insect Pest Management[Read More]
The transdisciplinary faculty from eight states (Texas, California, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, and Arizona) are preparing a research proposal for submission to the USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative. The research and outreach activities will be conducted on melons.Your participation either as a producer, a retailer, or a consumer will help to establish a need…Read more about A Survey on Melons Needs Your Participation[Read More]
2017 Indiana Small Farm Conference Indiana Small Farm Conference will be held from Thursday, March 2 to Saturday, March 4, 2017 in Danville, Indiana at the Hendricks County Fairgrounds. The Indiana Small Farm Conference is a three day learning and networking event supporting small or diversified farms. Information about this year’s programs, registration and lodging…Read more about Upcoming Events[Read More]
NCR-SARE’s Professional Development Program (PDP) provides funds for professional development projects that provide sustainable agriculture training to agricultural professionals and educators. Projects can be up to three years in duration, and funding level is capped at $75,000 for each project. The 2017 call for proposals is now available online at http://www.northcentralsare.org/Grants/Our-Grant-Programs/Professional-Development-Grant-Program Proposals are due at…Read more about NCR-SARE 2017 Professional Development Program Call for Proposals[Read More]
OCCSP provides cost share assistance to producers and handlers of agricultural products who are obtaining or renewing their certification under the National Organic Program (NOP). Certified operations may receive up to 75 percent of their certification costs paid during October 1, 2016, through September 30, 2017, not to exceed $750 per certification scope. Certified organic…Read more about Organic Certification Cost-Share Program (OCCSP)[Read More]
There are several potential benefits of growing grafted tomatoes, particularly for early season tomato production in greenhouses or high tunnels. If you are interested in trying this technique but wondering whether it is possible to graft tomato plants by yourself, a Purdue extension publication, Techniques for Tomato Grafting, (https://extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/HO/HO-260-W.pdf ) provides a step-by-step guideline for small…Read more about Growing Grafted Tomatoes in High Tunnels[Read More]
As part of a multi-state effort being headed by Dr. Ian Kaplan at Purdue University in the Department of Entomology, we are investigating how to best manage insect pests on cucurbits, in our case watermelons, while having the least possible impact on pollinators. The research is being funded through the USDA/NIFA Specialty Crop Research Initiative….Read more about Purdue Looking for Watermelon Growers to Collaborate on Research Study[Read More]
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