Welcome to the Vegetable Crops Hotline (VCH), Purdue Extension’s exclusive newsletter for people in the business of growing vegetables. It almost felt like summer for the past 10 days. That is until we got the cold weather again on April 16. It’s just a reminder that we should not get too eager to plant tender[Read More…]
We are happy to announce that Purdue Extension is presenting its annual Fruit and Vegetable Field Day on July 20, 2023, at the Throckmorton/Meigs Horticulture Farm, Lafayette, IN. More information about the upcoming field day will be available beginning May 2023. Registration will open soon! Contact Lori Jolly-Brown ljollybr@purdue.edu or Petrus Langenhoven plangenh@purdue.edu if you[Read More…]
Welcome to the Vegetable Crops Hotline (VCH), Purdue Extension’s exclusive newsletter for people in the business of growing vegetables. Spring arrived, and that included severe storms and tornadoes. Our hearts go out to those families and farms that were affected by last week’s storms. This issue contains a lot of information about emergency preparedness and[Read More…]
The 2022 Purdue Small Farm Education Field Day was a big success. Nearly 72% of attendees reported that they learned something new. Nearly half indicated they plan to adopt recommended practices for diversified farming systems, and over a third (36.0%) plan to adopt recommended practices for creating, improving, or strengthening their business. Half (52.0%) indicated[Read More…]
Purdue Extension presented its first Fruit, Vegetable and Hemp Field Day post-pandemic at the Meigs Ag Center in July 2022. Extension Specialists and Graduate Students presented specialty crop research to 45 attendees. Attendees had only good things to say about the event. ” Great information and research.” “Great variety of experiences and knowledge.” “I felt[Read More…]
Dr. Betty Feng’s lab within the Department of Food Science at Purdue University is hosting a series of webinars this March and April. The webinars are free to anyone who wishes to participate and will cover various topics, including on-farm food safety and agriculture soil management. Good Agricultural Practice April 11 -The Importance of Produce[Read More…]
This Spring has already tested emergency response services. Much of Indiana is experiencing severe weather (thunderstorms, heavy rain, strong straight-line winds, and tornadoes). Indiana PREPared (www.inprepared.org) has a number of resources about severe spring weather events. Two specific sites to check out are our “Spring & Summer Severe Weather” page and “Flood Resources for Educators[Read More…]
High tunnels are essential for every vegetable grower as they can modify the growing environment for crop earliness, protect the crop against environmental stress, reduce disease and insect pressure, and extend the growing season. Growing in a high tunnel is like growing crops in an irrigated desert. Natural rainfall is unavailable inside your high tunnel,[Read More…]
This article was adapted from an Indiana FSA newsletter dated April 4, 2023. For more information about storm damage and disaster relief, read the newsletter. USDA offers several programs to help with recovery from the storms that have impacted farmers in several Indiana counties. Risk Management For producers who have risk protection through Federal Crop Insurance or[Read More…]