Welcome to a new year of the Vegetable Crops Hotline (VCH), Purdue Extension’s newsletter for people in the business of growing vegetables. As usual, we will have fifteen issues throughout the 2018 growing season. The first issue of the year is sent to all who subscribed to VCH via US-mail in 2017 as well as new subscribers for 2018. To…Read more about Welcome to a New Year of Vegetable Crops Hotline[Read More]
Vegetable Crops - General
This is the final issue of the Vegetable Crops Hotline (VCH) for 2017. Now is the time for subscribers who receive a paper copy in the mail to renew. A renewal form is included with this issue. Note that we provide an up-to three years’ subscription of VCH with a reduced price. You can also sign-up for…Read more about Time to Renew[Read More]
Farmers markets are a centerpiece of local food systems. These markets connect farmers with consumers and provide important economic benefits. While Indiana farmers can take advantage of the opportunities from selling directly to consumers, they face a dearth of information regarding pricing and marketing strategies. Information about pricing and product quality requirements are generally available…Read more about Indiana Farmers Markets Price Reports: How, Where, and Why[Read More]
Winter is the best time to recharge. In the last issue of this years’ Vegetable Crops Hotline newsletter, I would like to highlight a few free webinar resources that I found very useful in the past season. Hopefully, you can also benefit from them, and have a productive winter. eOrganic webinars http://articles.extension.org/pages/25242/webinars-by-eorganic A lot of great…Read more about Educational Resources[Read More]
In the last two months, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released several communications dealing with the Produce Safety Rule (PRS). The following is a brief summary of those communications: Guidance On September 5, FDA released Guidance for Industry: Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption: What…Read more about Produce Safety Rule Updates[Read More]
The new SafeProduceIN website is now live and may be accessed at www.SafeProduceIN.com. SafeProduceIN is a collaboration between Purdue Extension, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, and the Indiana State Department of Health. The purpose of the collaboration is to assist Indiana produce growers with implementation of the Produce Safety Rule. The new website will…Read more about New SafeProduceIN Website is Up and Running[Read More]
Soil solarization can be used as a tool for soil disinfestation. It is accomplished by covering moist soil with transparent polyethylene film for 4 to 6 weeks in the summer. During this period, soils are heated to temperatures that are lethal to many soil pathogens, nematodes and weed seeds. This summer we conducted a demonstration…Read more about The Update of Soil Solarization in a High Tunnel at SWPAC[Read More]
This publication is the second part of a series of publications that aim to help farmers selling at farmers markets and other local markets. Below we offer information on price determination and pricing strategies for farmers markets. The importance of understanding pricing information Pricing is probably the single most important driver of farm profitability and…Read more about What You Need to Know about Selling in Farmers Markets—Let’s Talk about Prices[Read More]
Farmers markets continue to grow in number and locations. According to the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS), there are currently 8,702 farmers markets in the United States, an increase of almost 400 percent since 1994 (USDA-AMS, 2017). The USDA-AMS directory of farmers markets reported 191 farmers markets in Indiana by August 2017:…Read more about What You Need to Know about Selling in Farmers Market — Farmers Markets and Its Benefits[Read More]
When mixing fertilizers, it is important to check fertilizer compatibility before application. If incompatible fertilizers are mixed, they form insoluble precipitations that can clog drip emitters and damage sprayers used to apply foliar fertilizers (Figure 1.). This article discusses a few scenarios for which special attention should be paid on the solubility of mixed fertilizers….Read more about Fertilizer Compatibility[Read More]