The growth of local food movements offers small farmers economic opportunities to access attractive, high-value markets for sustainably and locally grown leafy greens. Still, farmers face a myriad of decisions regarding what markets to sell into and which technologies to invest in. Access to costs and financial information can hinder farmers’ ability to set the…Read more about Webinar Series on Financial Tools for Leafy Green Growers[Read More]
Vegetable Crops - General
On October 1, the Safe Produce Indiana team welcomed Katheryn Parraga as its newest team member. Katheryn will serve as a Food Safety Research and Outreach Specialist in the Department of Food Science. She will be stationed at the Purdue Extension Food Safety Training Hub in Vincennes. Katheryn received her Ph.D. and master’s degree in…Read more about Safe Produce Indiana Welcomes New Team Member[Read More]
While our daytime highs across the state have been in the upper 70s, our nighttime lows have been in the 40s. This is a great time to start thinking about the timing of the first frost and freeze events of the season when the 7-day average 4-inch soil temperature falls before 50°F, and the viability…Read more about A Chill Is In The Air – Online Tools for Monitoring and Climatology[Read More]
Introduction A contingency plan is a course of action to help a business determine how to respond to possible future events. Contingency plans are often referred to as “Plan B”. One of the most common contingency plans used by small businesses relates to how to respond to the departure or absence of key personnel. Contingency…Read more about Contingency Planning for Cash Flow Shortfalls[Read More]
Families can create policies without realizing it. A decision made about who can come into the business and when they can come into the business can develop into an expectation of how things will be done from then on, which then becomes a policy. In other words, it is an implicit policy and, as such,…Read more about Policies before Problems: Setting Expectations in Your Family Business[Read More]
Welcome to the Vegetable Crops Hotline (VCH), Purdue Extension’s exclusive newsletter for people in the business of growing vegetables. This is our last issue for 2024. I cannot believe that the growing season has gone by that fast. So far this year, the Vegetable Crops Hotline web page has had 174,162 views and 124,515 active…Read more about From The Editor’s Desk[Read More]
OFRF believes in supporting organic farmers and ranchers in their constant search for innovation and farm profitability. The FLT program puts farmers in the driver’s seat, and recognizes their wisdom, experimentation and problem solving skills. Built in the spirit of curiosity and collaboration, this program will support farmers and ranchers in conducting impactful research that…Read more about OFRI Farmer-Led Trials Program – Applications Open October 2024[Read More]
NIFA is recruiting industry representatives (growers, packers, shippers, staff from organizations that represent specialty crops, etc.) to review pre-applications for the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) for 2025. This is an opportunity for commodity sectors to make sure that SCRI projects are tackling a critical need for the sector. The time commitment for a relevancy reviewer is…Read more about Recruiting SCRI Industry Reviewers (Paid Opportunity)[Read More]
The Clearspring Produce Auction is located just 2 miles south of US 20 in Clearspring Township in the Heart of the LaGrange-Elkhart Amish Settlement. It is within easy driving distance of the towns of Shipshewana, Topeka, Emma, and LaGrange. Produce is sold three days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday) throughout most of the growing…Read more about Clearspring Produce Auction Price Update[Read More]
Dennis Parr is a seasoned market grower with a wealth of knowledge in plant cultivation. He utilizes various resources to enhance his skills and techniques, including Purdue Extension’s Vegetable Crops Hotline (VCH). Earlier this spring, a VCH article highlighted the cucumber beetle, a pest of cucurbits (link). A few days later, another article alerted growers…Read more about Dennis Parr’s Beetle Battles and Lifelong Learning Journey[Read More]